Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what mechanisms are in place to enable members of the UK's armed forces or legal officers to report concerns about the legality of a military action.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK is bound to ensure that the Law of Armed Conflict is widely disseminated and this includes the provision of training by service lawyers for all military personnel. Members of the UK's armed forces must individually comply with the Law of Armed Conflict and report any concerns surrounding potential violations to their chain of command. Military commanders are responsible for preventing violations of the law, for reporting possible serious offences to the service police and for taking any necessary disciplinary action.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's process is for assessing the credibility of reports of civilian harm submitted to it.
Answered by James Heappey
Every care is taken to avoid or minimise civilian casualties. To this end, the UK has robust procedures to ensure that our actions, including airstrikes and subsequent battle damage assessments, are conducted in accordance with UK law and International Humanitarian Law.
However, we accept the possibility that there could be instances of civilian casualties about which we are unaware, despite our best efforts to assess battle damage. For that reason, in 2016, the then Defence Secretary committed that Ministry of Defence officials would work with civil society organisations on this issue. As a result, we always re-examine any new information relating to a potential incident submitted to us by such organisations, where it is possible that UK forces may have been involved.
Parliament will always be informed of any instance where we assess a UK airstrike is responsible for a civilian casualty incident, whether incurred during a new strike, or as a result of re-examining historic strikes using new information.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what criteria were used by the Civil Aviation Authority in deciding whether to allow General Atomics to fly its SkyGuardian drone in the UK in summer 2021; and whether General Atomics or his Department submitted the request to the CAA to conduct those flights.
Answered by James Heappey
During the deployment, SkyGuardian will always operate in controlled airspace in agreement with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and NATS. Whilst flying in the UK, SkyGuardian will be governed by and will operate accordance with CAA regulations and guidance - primarily the Air Navigation Order and CAA Publication CAP722, "Unmanned Aircraft System Operations in UK Airspace". SkyGuardian has previously flown in UK airspace in 2018 when it took part in the Royal International Air Tattoo.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what safeguards and controls he is putting in place to regulate and oversee the use of the Protector military drone during any domestic surveillance operations it conducts in the UK.
Answered by James Heappey
Protector will not conduct any domestic surveillance operations in the UK.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to undertake a public evaluation of the effectiveness of detect and avoid technology, including its safety implications, prior to any certification being given for the Protector military drone to be integrated into UK airspace.
Answered by James Heappey
Detect and avoid technology standards are defined by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and Protector will be built and certified against those standards. Protector will be the first Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS) to be designed, built and certified against stringent NATO and UK Safety Certification standards as required for all aircraft.