Asked by: Nicola Richards (Conservative - West Bromwich East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to support Israel to tackle Iranian-backed terror groups in the Middle East.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK Government has long condemned Iran's destabilising activity throughout the Middle East, including its military, financial, and political support to several militant and proscribed groups. These groups represent a danger to global security such as through attacks on international shipping. The UK works closely with several nations in the Middle East, including Israel, to defend our strategic interests in the region from these malign actors. We have also deployed additional military assets to the Eastern Mediterranean and East of Suez to deter attacks on international shipping, reinforce regional stability and prevent escalation.
Asked by: Lord Richards of Herstmonceux (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it will be possible for a fully formed and equipped 3 Commando Brigade to be embarked on shipping that (1) is owned by, or is under the control of, Her Majesty's Government, or (2) that can be made available to Her Majesty's Government (a) whatever the intentional circumstances, and (b) without significant recourse to the United States assets.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
As set out in the Integrated Review, the Royal Marines are now in transition to the Future Commando Force (FCF). The FCF re-designs how Commando Forces operate and fight.
Through one element of this, they will form two Littoral Response Groups (LRG) with associated enablers, including shipping. One LRG will be persistently deployed East of Suez, with an Initial Operating Capability in 2023.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment has he made of the UK's icebreaker ship strength to protect UK interests in the Arctic.
Answered by James Heappey
As the Defence Command paper made clear, the High North and maintaining security in the defence of the North Atlantic remains of great importance to the UK.
The Royal Navy has the capability to project force using a variety of assets in the High North and Arctic, dependent on the location, season and threat, including Littoral capabilities. It has one purpose-built Ice Patrol Ship (HMS Protector) and two ice strengthened survey vessels (HMS Echo and HMS Enterprise).
As announced in the 2021 Defence Command Paper, we will develop a new Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance capability to better understand the High North underwater environment, protect our underwater CNI and improve our ability to detect threats in the North Atlantic. The Defence Command Paper also announced major investments in a new generation of Anti-Submarine Warfare frigates and support shipping, enabling us to project UK forces into the High North and Arctic, and ensuring our freedom to operate in the North Atlantic.
The UK Defence Contribution in the High North will outline the range of capabilities the UK has and is developing to ensure we continue to be able to protect UK interests in this key region.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on the (a) hire or purchase, (b) installation, (c) maintenance and and (d) replacement of shipping containers for use by probation services, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) provided front-line probation services for medium-low risk offenders from 2015 to June 2021. All front-line probation services transferred to the Probation Service on 26 June, in addition to assets that were required for the operation of services under the Unified Model.
CRCs will have had sub-contracting arrangements for their back-office operations, including shipping container installation and maintenance. These contractual relationships were between the CRC and their contractors.
During the lifetime of the contracts, CRCs were not obligated to provide an annual breakdown of spend on their back-office operations to the Authority and we, therefore, do not hold this data.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with relevant stakeholders on HMRC’s enforcement of classification of long- and short-term assets for commercial maritime vessels.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Treasury officials are in regular contact with HMRC colleagues.
HMRC do not classify which assets should be written down at the main or special rate of writing down allowances. Instead, businesses should identify whether an asset they have acquired has a useful economic life (UEL) of more or less than 25 years when new. This UEL test for plant and machinery should be applied on the asset as a whole, rather than individual components, since for tax purposes the asset is depreciated as a single unit.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with relevant stakeholders on changing the classification of long-term assets in the maritime sector.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Treasury officials are in regular contact with HMRC colleagues.
HMRC do not classify which assets should be written down at the main or special rate of writing down allowances. Instead, businesses should identify whether an asset they have acquired has a useful economic life (UEL) of more or less than 25 years when new. This UEL test for plant and machinery should be applied on the asset as a whole, rather than individual components, since for tax purposes the asset is depreciated as a single unit.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions officials in his Department have had with relevant stakeholders on HMRC’s enforcement of classification of long-term and short-term assets for commercial maritime vessels.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Treasury officials are in regular contact with HMRC colleagues. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
HMRC do not classify which assets should be written down at the main or special rate of writing down allowances. Instead, businesses should identify whether an asset they have acquired has a useful economic life (UEL) of more or less than 25 years when new. This UEL test for plant and machinery should be applied on the asset as a whole, rather than individual components; since for tax purposes the asset is depreciated as a single unit.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an inquiry to determine how shipping containers containing medical waste were exported from the UK to Sri Lanka between September 2017 and January 2018.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) as the competent authority for waste shipments for England, is proactively engaging with the authorities in Sri Lanka regarding the 263 containers of waste being returned to England and is leading the investigation on this matter. Despite media reports suggesting that medical waste was illegally shipped from England to Sri Lanka, the EA has not received any indication or evidence from the Sri Lankan authorities to corroborate those reports. Unless or until the EA receive such evidence to the contrary or come across it ourselves, it is the view of the EA that these media reports are incorrect and misleading.
With 31 containers now back on English soil, EA enforcement officers will seek to confirm the types of waste shipped, who exported it and the producer of the waste. Those responsible could face a custodial sentence of up to two years, an unlimited fine, and the recovery of money and assets gained through the course of criminal activity.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his (a) US and (b) Saudi Arabian counterparts on the effect of Iranian activity on the accessibility to shipping of the Persian Gulf.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK regularly speaks to the US about Iran at official and ministerial level, most recently during the Foreign Secretary's visit to Washington last month. We regularly discuss Iran with Saudi Arabia at ministerial and official level, most recently this month. The UK remains concerned by Iran's destabilising activity throughout the region and we continue to maintain a permanent military presence in the Gulf to underpin our enduring contribution to regional security. The deployment of UK maritime assets in the Gulf protects shipping lanes which are important for the world's energy supply.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Written Statement of 1 May 2018, HCWS660, on beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, whether information on merchant shipping beneficially owned in Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies is included in the Exchange of Notes arrangements.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Exchanges of Notes concluded with the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies in 2016 provide for the exchange of information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and legal entities incorporated in these jurisdictions. As ships are assets, and not corporate and legal entities, the beneficial owners of merchant ships registered in the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies would not be covered by the Exchanges of Notes, unless the vessels are owned by corporate and legal entities incorporated in these jurisdictions.