Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has taken recent steps to develop faux fur King's Guards ceremonial caps.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Our Guardsmen take immense pride in wearing the bearskin cap which is an iconic image of Britain, and the quality and sustainability of the caps is incredibly important. To date, and to the Department’s knowledge, no faux fur sample has been produced and tested which meets the standards set by the Department to provide an effective replacement for the bearskin ceremonial caps.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many former service people are housed in military housing in Bolton South East constituency as of 30 March 2023.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This information is not held. There are no Service Family accommodation properties in the Bolton South East Constituency.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much Official Development Assistance his Department was allocated in the financial years (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21; and what estimate his Department has made of the amount of Official Development Assistance his Department will be allocated for the financial year 2021-22.
Answered by James Heappey
The Ministry of Defence was allocated £5.5 million in Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding for financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21. Given the Department receives a ring-fenced budget for ODA expenditure, it is expected the allocation for 2021-22 will be similar to the previous two financial years.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has allocated Official Development Assistance to any programmes that are targeted at supporting women and girls.
Answered by James Heappey
Only a very small proportion of Ministry of Defence expenditure counts as Official Development Assistance. The majority of this is spent on certain categories of Defence education. We have recently implemented measures to improve the representation of women on these educational programmes, in support of the UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will assess the potential merits of appointing a committee of parliamentarians to oversee the operations and budget of special forces, similar to the functions of the Intelligence and Security Committee in respect of the intelligence services.
Answered by Michael Fallon
No.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether soldiers from Burma Army military operations command 2 (MOC-2) light infantry battalion (LIB) 9 or Burma Army Battalion 330 have received any form of training funded by the UK Government.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 January 2016 to Question 21564, which stated that we do not provide combat training to the Burmese Army. We do however provide educational training, as well as English Language Training. We have no information to indicate that participants on these educational courses were Burmese Army soldiers from Burma Army military operations command 2 (MOC-2) light infantry battalion (LIB) 9 or Burma Army Battalion 330.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Caroline principles are applied to any further targeted killing carried out in self-defence of the UK.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
In taking any action in self-defence of the UK, we will take account of well-established principles of self-defence. As the Attorney General pointed out to the Justice Select Committee on 15 September 2015, the Caroline case goes back to the 19th century and was concerned with very different circumstances to those facing us now. However as the Attorney General also made clear, the principles still apply and action in self-defence may be lawful in relation to an attack which has not yet materialised but is imminent. In addition any such action must, like all other action in self-defence, comply with the requirements of necessity and proportionality.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the UK Reaper supporting the US drone strike on Mohammad Emwazi in Syria on 12 November 2015 (a) used its laser designator capability to identify the target and (b) was armed.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans for UK personnel to train at or otherwise attend the new General Atomics unmanned aircraft business park being built in North Dakota.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
A number of options are being developed to meet the training demand for UK Reaper aircrew in the coming years. It is anticipated that initial training for some UK student aircrew will be conducted under contract by General Atomics at their North Dakota facility.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether UK Reapers have been made available for use by the US or other coalition partners in Syria for operations since January 2015.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
No UK Reapers have been flown on missions by US personnel or those of any other Coalition nation in Syria since January 2015. US personnel have operated UK Reaper aircraft a small number of times to aid with the launch and recovery of the aircraft only, not the mission itself. A Memorandum of Understanding has been agreed between the UK and US Air Forces which allows the US to request the use of UK Reaper aircraft to conduct missions and vice versa, though to date this has not occurred. Such use by the US would be subject to UK permissions.