Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the extent of the damage to HMS Prince of Wales; and what estimate he has made of the amount of time it will take to repair that damage.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
HMS PRINCE OF WALES has suffered a shaft coupling failure which requires a complex repair. She arrived in Rosyth to prepare for dry dock repairs on Monday 10 October. It is important to remember that our Carriers are complex ships and sometimes mechanical faults occur. The role of the Royal Navy in these situations is to react quickly, make assessments, conduct repairs and ensure a timely and safe return to operations.
Currently, it is too early to comment on the cost of repairs to HMS PRINCE OF WALES, however, we will repair her and get her back on operations, protecting the Nation and our Allies as soon as possible.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of repairing damage sustained to HMS Prince of Wales following her recent propeller shaft fault.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
HMS PRINCE OF WALES has suffered a shaft coupling failure which requires a complex repair. She arrived in Rosyth to prepare for dry dock repairs on Monday 10 October. It is important to remember that our Carriers are complex ships and sometimes mechanical faults occur. The role of the Royal Navy in these situations is to react quickly, make assessments, conduct repairs and ensure a timely and safe return to operations.
Currently, it is too early to comment on the cost of repairs to HMS PRINCE OF WALES, however, we will repair her and get her back on operations, protecting the Nation and our Allies as soon as possible.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made for the implications of his policies of the National Audit Office, Optimising the defence estate, published in June 2021.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Department has carefully considered the four main recommendations from the National Audit Office Report and has already implemented a number of measures to enhance delivery of our estate optimisation plans, including: a re-baselining of the disposals schedule; a review of the Defence Estates Optimisation Portfolio governance model; plans to adopt a new Delivery, Commercial & Procurement Strategy; and improved data collection.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has plans to assess other countries’ practice in respect of the disposal of surplus government land, including Italy, France and Germany where redundant defence sites are given to agencies separate from defence ministries.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Ministry of Defence works in accordance with HMT guidelines for the disposal of land. Once a site is declared surplus to Defence it is first advertised on a cross-Government database to see if it is required for other Government purposes, before if that is not the case being advertised on the open market. On sale we seek to maximise sales receipts for the taxpayer.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the report by the National Audit Office, Optimising the defence estate, published in June in 2021, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) potential impact of closure of sites on local communities and economies and (b) compatibility of HM Treasury's policy on seeking best financial return with local needs and aspirations for renewal of those sites.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Ministry of Defence has a requirement to deliver its defence tasks as efficiently as possible and where sites are no longer required or critical defence tasks are better met through using another site this includes their disposal. Individual social and/or economic assessments are not routinely conducted as part of this process, however, the Department continues to work closely with local authorities to determine the impact of these decisions and how we can release surplus military sites for meaningful future use.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to support Armed Forces Day 2022 celebrations in Portsmouth through increasing (a) public access to HMNB Portsmouth to encourage local historical and cultural knowledge and (b) armed services recruitment and retention.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth is an operational, secure site which is operated for the Royal Navy (RN) and the wider Ministry of Defence, and there are few opportunities for it to be open to the public.
The RN will be supporting the wider plans to mark Armed Forces Day in Portsmouth, working alongside colleagues within the Historic Dockyard and the National Museum of the Royal Navy to enable the public to engage and learn about the RN.
Armed Forces Day is an opportunity to celebrate the entire Armed Forces community, encompassing serving personnel, reservists, veterans, cadets and, most importantly, their families, who support them in their endeavours.
The RN will be running a recruitment campaign at the time of Armed Forces Day 2022, but not specifically focused around it.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing local visitors aboard a Royal Naval Warship in Portsmouth to mark Armed Forces Day 2022.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Royal Navy continues to explore options to identify a suitable opportunity to open ships to the public within Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth.
We regret that this will not be possible over Armed Forces Day 2022 weekend due to operational commitments.