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Of hello and welcome to BBC Parliament's live coverage from the | :00:00. | :00:10. | |
House of Commons. In an hour's time the shadow health secretary will ask | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
an urgent question about the imposition the new contract for the | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
junior doctors. After that there'll be to select committee statement on | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
the appointment of the commission of Public appointments and on private | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
member's bills. The main business sees MP debate to back business | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
motions on the introduction of national living wage and changes to | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
employee contracts and educational attainment in Yorkshire and the | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
Humber. To me for a round in the day in both houses of parliament at 11pm | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
this evening. But first we will have questions to the defence secretary. | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
Michael Fallon and his team of ministers. The first question is | :00:50. | :00:50. | |
from the Paisley MP. Order, order. Questions to the | :00:51. | :01:10. | |
Secretary of State for defence. Question number two Mr Speaker. As | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
my right honourable friend the Prime Minister made clear on the 10th of | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
February, we will bring forward a debate and vote in this house at the | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
appropriate moment and announce it in the usual way. Can the Minister | :01:26. | :01:34. | |
confirm in value terms where Trident falls in regards to the cost-benefit | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
ratio used in the government's own standard appraisal mechanism? Any | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
confirm that the appraisal has been conducted and will he make this | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
available to members in the comments library? I will of course make | :01:46. | :01:52. | |
available what figures we can to the honourable gentlemen. Let me be | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
clear though, the overall cost of the successor programme was set out | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
in the strategic defence and security review that will be | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
published in November and it is ?31 billion, which should be seen in the | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
context of a deterrent that will serve us for over 30 years. It is an | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
open secret that the Ministry of defence wanted this debate to take | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
place in the spring, and so I do not blame the Secretary of State for the | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
fact that it has not happened, but he is on the record as saying that | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
people are worried about the wavering position of the labour | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
opposition on this matter. Would it not assist to restore bipartisanship | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
on the issue for the debate to be brought forward at least prior to | :02:41. | :02:47. | |
the Labour Party's conference, or does the government and by that I | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
mean number ten, prefer to see dissension at a Labour Party | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
conference to bipartisanship on a particularly important issue? Well, | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
no. The position is that we announced our commitment to replace | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
the existing Vanguard submarines in November and we would like that | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
principle to be endorsed by a vote in this house. I obviously would | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
like that vote to take place as soon as possible. Respecting of course, | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
the things that exist in the spring and summer. Does the Secretary of | :03:24. | :03:32. | |
State understand that unlike some on this side, we will not allow any | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
individual questions over cost, valid though they may be in and of | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
themselves, as an excuse to wiggle out of our commitment to the British | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
people? Those who remain true to the spirit will do the right thing for | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
Britain. I am very glad to hear that and I would certainly caution the | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
Labour Party from moving away from the moderate mainstream support for | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
our deterrent, which every previous labour government has supported. | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
Indeed I note that the honourable Lady's advisors told journalists | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
that her review would be fudged as "The last thing we want is another | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
reason for those who opposed Jeremy to call for him to go", she seems to | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
be the only person that seems defending our country means | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
defending the labour leader. Can my honourable friend confirm that the | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
tried and revealed concluded that in fact there was no credible or | :04:31. | :04:33. | |
affordable alternative to a Trident based nuclear deterrent? Yes, the | :04:34. | :04:40. | |
alternative was looked at exhaustively as part of the Trident | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
alternatives review, three years ago. And I said out the principal | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
arguments as to why we are making this replacement in a speech to | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
Policy Exchange on the 23rd of March. Last Monday I visited | :04:55. | :05:05. | |
Northwest Derby on a successor programme and one of the things they | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
wanted is certainty. Certainty on the budget on this programme but | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
also certainty on the future. With the Secretary of State agree with me | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
that any notion that sometime in the future, say next general election, | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
where an easy option to cancel this programme would be disastrous, not | :05:22. | :05:24. | |
just in terms of our defence but for our workforce? It would be | :05:25. | :05:31. | |
disastrous for our defence and for jobs in this country but also | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
disastrous for our relationship with all of our principal allies. Let me | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
be very clear, this programme is already going ahead, we have spent | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
some nearly ?4 billion as authorised by this house. Work is under way in | :05:44. | :05:52. | |
Derby and at a number of other locations across the country, | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
including those in Scotland and is already employing several thousands | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
of people in small companies. The ministry of State for defence | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
procurement wrote in November 2014 and I quote" the security | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
requirement to sustain certain capabilities within the UK, for | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
instance a nuclear submarines, means that single source procurement or in | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
a significant activity. Taxpayers are entitled to know this money is | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
being spent properly. That is why the single source regulations office | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
has been established." So can the Secretary of State tell the House, | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
and he meetings his department has had so far with the SS are all about | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
the successor programme? I am very happy to write to the honourable | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
Lady the number of meetings that may or may not have taken place. But let | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
us be very clear, this programme is now under way and I think it is time | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
she made up her mind about whether or not she is going to support it or | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
whether we will be taking a message to our allies, including the | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
president of the United States, who visits on Friday, that the party | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
opposite is no longer prepared to support a deterrent they have always | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
supported in the past. I dare say we will find out what people think when | :07:08. | :07:16. | |
the vote comes. I asked the secretary of state specifically | :07:17. | :07:18. | |
about the as SRO and successor programme, I appreciate he does not | :07:19. | :07:21. | |
know the answer so let me tell him. There have been no meetings, I have | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
a letter from the Ministry of defence. The as SRO was tasked with | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
saving at least ?200 million last year through its MRD contracts but | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
because the Secretary of State will not -- will not allow it to do its | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
job probably, there is only a savings of ?300,000. Why is it not | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
being allowed to scrutinize the successor contract? Is it because of | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
the department saying quote the government needs a safe space away | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
from the public gaze to allow policy options, unfit for public comment, | :07:54. | :07:56. | |
and therefore... This is not good enough. We demand that he reversed | :07:57. | :08:03. | |
this decision and open up the successor programme to the | :08:04. | :08:05. | |
independent scrutiny that it requires. She appears to completely | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
misunderstand the function of the single source resource office which | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
is to supervise contracts once they are signed. This particular contract | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
is still under negotiation and I am certainly not going to go into | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
details of the negotiation with her or indeed in this house until it is | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
signed. Once it is signed, then of course we will make sure that it is | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
properly scrutinised. Number three sir. Our growing defence budget | :08:36. | :08:45. | |
allows us to expand the defence network, including new posts in | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
Finland, Albania, and Senegal, also covering a number of other places as | :08:51. | :08:58. | |
well. We are also creating new posts in Afghanistan, Latvia, Lithuania, | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
and Georgia. The expansion of the DA network will increase defenses | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
global reach and influence and will strengthen our partnerships around | :09:08. | :09:14. | |
the world as set out in SDSR 2015. I think the Minister for that reply, | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
it is critical we are continually vigilant of the security threat | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
coming from Russia. Will he ensure that there are sufficient numbers in | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
the Baltic states, Central Europe, and the Ukraine and Poland to | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
provide the analysis, and expertise required to fully understand the | :09:30. | :09:31. | |
security defence dynamics of the region? Indeed. I am sure my | :09:32. | :09:39. | |
honourable friend welcomed the announcement of the new DA in | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
Finland and the new deputy post in two of the Baltic states. On his | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
point on expertise, I should stress that we are not just expanding the | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
number of DAs, we are also expanding the career path and expertise. For | :09:57. | :10:04. | |
example we opened a new defence post in Sharon and we reviewed those | :10:05. | :10:13. | |
conditions of service. I'm a big supporter of our DA network but it | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
is also important that the defence is a robust and relationships to | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
their host countries. What representations does the defence | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
have in regards to the allegations of targeting citizens in Yemen, not | :10:26. | :10:28. | |
least after allegations that a missile made in the UK was located | :10:29. | :10:36. | |
at one of the sites? The department gets a constant stream of advice | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
from the DA and from a number of other sources on the matter that the | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
honourable gentleman has ingeniously managed to work into his | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
supplementary. Does my horrible friend agree with me that army 2020 | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
and the creation of regional forces that is implied by that will help | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
very much grow future defence areas and enable officers in the future to | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
have a career pathway that will include a substantial element of | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
foreign service and in particular allow them to have the skills they | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
need to be able to be effective in the defence? My honourable friend is | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
exactly right on that matter. Of course he knows having previously | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
done the international brief in the MOD. The new approach would be for | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
grades with them facing parts of the world means that expertise and | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
institutional memory on particular regions will grow, combining this | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
with the greatly improved career prospects for the DA should greatly | :11:40. | :11:48. | |
increase our representation. Can I threw the Minister thanked the | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
defence areas in Libya for their brief on the foreign affairs | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
committee about four or five months ago. And also for their candour and | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
rigour given to us. I wonder what the Minister can do to tell the | :12:02. | :12:09. | |
House about the proposed visiting of the international assistance Mission | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
in what the individual contribution might be considered. My honourable | :12:13. | :12:23. | |
friend has shown a certain ingenuity in managing to work that question in | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
as a supplementary here to stop as he knows very well, this matter has | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
not yet been decided, but I am delighted that he has received such | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
a typically excellent assistance from the DA? The Minister does not | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
have to sound so surprised, because ingenuity as we have discovered is | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
not an entirely novel phenomenon in the House of Commons. Number four. | :12:48. | :12:57. | |
As from this month, Ministry of defence's budget has risen to over | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
?35 billion and increase of 800 million on the year just ended. This | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
is the first real terms increase in six years, reflecting the priority | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
set out by this government in 2015 spending review, through increasing | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
defence spending by half a percent above inflation every year to 2020, | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
2021. This government has committed his country to meeting the Nato | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
guideline to spend to synergy on defence every year this decade. I | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
welcome this increased budget. Can the Minister said that if we were to | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
adopt a position at the -- advocated by some and not spending 2%, what | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
would the impact be on the morale of our troops, their equipment, and our | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
security? My honourable friend is quite right to identify that the | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
threats we face are growing in scale, complexity, and concurrency. | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
A failure to meet this good -- commitment would significantly | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
impact our ability to deliver the capability needed to face these | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
threats and would send a very wrong message to our defence. Our | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
commitment to spend 2% on defence makes one of the most capable Armed | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
Forces in the world, to spend hundred ?78 billion in equipment and | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
support over the next decade, and to fund an increase in the regular | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
personnel for both the Navy and Air Force and an increase in the reserve | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
for British Army. The Minister cannot really pull the wool over our | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
eyes on this one because we all know that defence spending was set for | :14:36. | :14:43. | |
bloat GDP, but a government including things that have never | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
been included in the Nato and also is before like war pensions and | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
indeed the pension contributions of MOD civilian staff. So can the | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
Minister now come clean, will he have to resort to these kinds of | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
accounting gimmicks to be able to assure Nato that in future we are | :15:00. | :15:06. | |
going to maintain 2% spending? The honourable gentleman in | :15:07. | :15:10. | |
characteristic style is looking for a smoke where there is no fire. We | :15:11. | :15:16. | |
use the native definition to make a calculation of our GDP spent. -- | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
Nato. They assert the figure and then publish it. We have done in the | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
past under previous administrations and will do it again under this | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
administration. The government's defence review set out ?178 billion | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
programme of investment in equipment for our Armed Forces in the next | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
decade. Will my right honourable friend ignore calls from the other | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
parties to cut defence spending which would mean smaller, weaker | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
Armed Forces and a loss of highly skilled jobs in that sector? I thank | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
my honourable friend for giving me the chance to workers again our | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
commitment to increase spending for each and every year in this | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
Parliament on defence and security. That would be a real terms increase, | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
we published our 10-year forward equipment plan which shows the | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
contribution that the defence will be making to the prosperity of the | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
nation, another objective which we have taken on in the defence review | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
for the first time. That will benefit both the security of our | :16:14. | :16:21. | |
nation and the economy as a whole. Despite his department's claims, | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
they reality is that the Royal Navy has between 2010 and 2015 had a | :16:28. | :16:36. | |
decline of 33% and carriers and ships, a 17% decline in summer rains | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
and a 17% decline in destroyers and forgets. We are a maritime nation | :16:41. | :16:47. | |
and yet our Navy is declining. Is it not time that we placed greater | :16:48. | :16:50. | |
investment in our maritime capability? The honourable lady is | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
very experienced in these matters and she will note that in 2010, the | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
then Coalition government inherited a dire financial situation across | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
the public sector and especially in defence. Some very difficult | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
decisions were taken in 2010 to reduce certain front line elements, | :17:11. | :17:16. | |
including aircraft carriers. She is also fully aware that we are in the | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
midst of a largest shipbuilding programme this country has ever | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
known and early next year we expect to see the first of the Queen | :17:26. | :17:28. | |
Elizabeth aircraft carriers moved out of a city to take up its | :17:29. | :17:35. | |
position with be wrong Navy. The private member's bill last year | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
requiring the government to enshrine in law that we spend at least 2% of | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
an defence, may I welcome today's announcement and hope that the | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
honourable member is wrong and this doesn't represent new money. Can I | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
take this opportunity to congratulate my friend on whether... | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
Alongside the lead given by the Prime Minister in this endeavour and | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
welcome the 24 typhoons which have been sold to Kuwait and I hope that | :18:02. | :18:07. | |
this will contribute to the MOD's budget. I would like to thank my | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
right honourable friend who himself in a previous role has | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
responsibility for promoting and I have even better news for them. The | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
announcement last week of someone Demarco typhoons to Kuwait was not | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
for 24 aircraft but for 28. What defence spending can be guaranteed | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
for the steel industry, given the community procurement rule to allow | :18:32. | :18:41. | |
community benefit? This government has undertaken a new set of | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
procurement guidelines for steel, which we have implemented through | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
the Ministry of defence through a combination of briefings to the | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
defence suppliers undertaken by the Secretary of State and I have | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
written personally to the chief executives of the 15 largest | :18:57. | :18:59. | |
contractors where -- we are cascading that to the supply chain | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
to ensure future defence procurement, there is every chance | :19:04. | :19:11. | |
for steel manufacturers to bid. Members opposite appeared to be | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
insinuating that the party are advocating a reduction in defence | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
spending and it is entirely untrue. They may be unfortunate that the | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
honourable member should say that the impact the defence cuts have on | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
the morale of ground forces because I have a letter from the Secretary | :19:29. | :19:31. | |
of State confirming from the Ministry of defence that they agreed | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
to make ?5 million of savings after the budget this year. In the end, | :19:36. | :19:43. | |
the government... For the first time since 1982, we left the Falcons | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
without a Navy frigate protecting it. Can he clarify the record that | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
we have a government that is cutting defence spending, massively in | :19:54. | :19:56. | |
recent years, and leaving the nation less protected as a result of it? | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
The honourable government really needs to read those letters more | :20:02. | :20:03. | |
carefully. The reduction that he referred to related to the in year | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
spending of the department, which ended at the beginning of this | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
month. The defence budget for the current and future year is going up | :20:14. | :20:16. | |
in the question he needs to answer with his colleagues is why wants his | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
party commit to the 2% Nato commitment as we have? Number five. | :20:21. | :20:27. | |
With your permission I will answer this question together with | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
questions of 11, 14, and 15. My next regular meeting with my counterparts | :20:33. | :20:36. | |
in the Coalition is on the 4th of May. The campaign against Daesh is | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
making progress with Coalition support, Iraqi forces now are | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
clearing it and have begun preparatory operations. In Syria, | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
Daesh has been driven from Allison Dottie, clearing a supply route to | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
Iraq. Can I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. With the | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
advent of a new government in Libya, does the secretaries they believe | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
that preparing the ground to request military assistance from the UK, | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
does he think that's part of that request that they will require | :21:14. | :21:17. | |
assistance against, with air strikes against Daesh target in Libya? I am | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
grateful to the honourable member, in the early days the Foreign | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
Secretary visited Tripoli this morning and the board of the new | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
government. I am fellow European union defence ministers will be | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
meeting in Luxembourg tonight to hear it directly from Prime Minister | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
so Roche as to how he thinks we can best establish that new government. | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
We do urgently need to engage with it, not least to help close down the | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
very dangerous migration route that is seeing so many lives lost in the | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
Mediterranean and to help the government tackle the spread of | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
Daesh on the coast. Can my right honourable friend confirm that | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
contrary to the propaganda, Daesh has lost most of its territory data | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
held a year ago and now is the right time to back the Iraqi security | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
forces in taking the fight to them? My honourable friend is quite right, | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
with Coalition support, Iraqi security support has taken around | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
30% of the populated areas that Daesh once held in Iraq. A city is | :22:27. | :22:34. | |
in the process of being cleared along with many others. We continue | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
to provide vital air support as well as specialist training and | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
equipment. Experience tells us that unless he gets civil institutions up | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
and running quickly after a conflict and, you can end up with a failed | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
state. Could my right honourable friend advise what steps his | :22:54. | :22:56. | |
Department is taking to ensure that does not happen in Syria once Daesh | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
have been driven out? I am grateful to my honourable friend, following | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
these Syria conference held in London in February, there is now a | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
stabilisation plan for Syria, that we are working to deliver with our | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
international partners. We are already working with existing Syrian | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
institutions to try and restore stability in communities on local | :23:20. | :23:22. | |
government and defence. But stabilisation in Syria depends on a | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
sustainable peace deal that protects communities from attack, either by | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
Daesh or the regime. We are supporting that peace deal through | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
the international Syrian support group. Tomorrow the Mayor of London | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
will unveil intrabulbar Square reconstruction of the arch of the | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
temple of Bell from Palmyra, as a symbol of our defiance against Daesh | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
and our commitment to protect culture in war zones where it is | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
reasonably possible to do so. In December the Secretary of State | :23:57. | :23:59. | |
announced that he was commissioning a group within the Armed Forces of | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
modern-day monuments men to lead forward this agenda and bring the UK | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
into compliance with the Hague convention. I hope that will be in | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
the Queen's speech shortly. Can we get an update on that? I'm grateful | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
to my honourable friend. The government has announced it will | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
renounce --... That includes the establishment of the military | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
cultural property property unit. My ministry is art engaging with the | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
stabilisation unit to further develop plans for that capability to | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
help better protect such important monuments in future. It is also of | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
course important to deny Daesh the revenue they have earned from | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
selling artifacts and coins from archaeological sites? We've only | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
stabilise Libya by having ground forces. Will he accept that that may | :24:53. | :24:59. | |
include British forces? It is up to the new government of national | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
Accord being established in Libya with our support, led by Prime | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
Minister to make clear what assistance he needs. A number of | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
countries including ourselves have already indicated that we will be | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
part of a Libyan international assistance mission, but it is far | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
too early to speculate as to what form that assistance might take, | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
whether it is training or advice in the ministries or other support. My | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
right honourable friend will be all too aware of the evidence of the | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
trustees being committed by Daesh and religious minorities in areas | :25:38. | :25:44. | |
they control. Can the Secretary of State update me as to what specific | :25:45. | :25:47. | |
actions have been taken in the military campaign against Daesh to | :25:48. | :25:54. | |
prevent this? We have to continue to degrade and eventually to defeat | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
Daesh to bring some of these horrific attacks that we have seen | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
on the persecution of those of other faiths that we have witnessed, | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
particularly the persecution of the minority. In the end, Daesh has to | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
be defeated so that we can have a tolerant and comprehensive | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
settlement in Syria that protects all minorities. | :26:19. | :26:26. | |
Best wishes to the Royal Regiment of Scotland, on Friday with a service. | :26:27. | :26:36. | |
I'm sure the whole house will join me and pressing on for that | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
position. Mr Speaker, let me, as it increases when becoming the focus of | :26:42. | :26:44. | |
the campaign by the international community to defeat Daesh, given | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
that the UK's last intervention was by any measure a catastrophic | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
failure, could the Minister tell us what plans have the government had | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
to make sure that we have cleared the object is, we have exit | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
strategy, and a transparent policy for rebuilding the country | :27:04. | :27:10. | |
afterwards? Let me certainly join with the honourable gentleman in | :27:11. | :27:12. | |
wishing our Regiment of Scotland a very happy 10th birthday, and to | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
acknowledge the contribution they make. To the military tradition in | :27:18. | :27:23. | |
Scotland. Let me be clear with the House, no decisions in respect to | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
any involvement in Libya have yet been taking. We are waiting of | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
course to hear from the new government of national court on the | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
what kind of assistance they need. We have a very strong interest in | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
helping that government rapidly stabilise the country. Not least | :27:45. | :27:46. | |
because of the spread of AIS, along with those... A very direct threat | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
to Western Europe and ourselves. Thank you Mr Speaker. The government | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
are considering sending ground troops to Libya. Could the Minister | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
give us a cast-iron guarantee that any such deployment of foot soldier, | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
British ground troops into Libya would be a matter that would be | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
discussed on the floor of this house and voted on by the sounds? Hear, | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
hear! First of all, let me be clear that | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
no such decision has been taken and we are not contemplating at the | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
moment a commitment of that time, but what I can say to him is that if | :28:23. | :28:31. | |
we are, in the future, to deploy military forces in a combat role | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
into a conflict zone, we would of course, as the Prime Minister has | :28:38. | :28:39. | |
made clear, come to this house first. Emily Thornbury. This is a | :28:40. | :28:46. | |
very important constitutional issue and I'm sure that the Secretary of | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
State will understand. How can it be that we read in the media that the | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
government have already drawn up plans to send a thousand troops to | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
the Libyan unity government in order to fight Daesh, and when asked | :28:58. | :29:01. | |
whether or not they will be deployed in hostile areas a defence source | :29:02. | :29:04. | |
told the daily e-mail that it wasn't clear yet. Surely it is important | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
that, instead of briefing the media, the Secretary of State committed to | :29:11. | :29:13. | |
coming to this house and answering questions directly. I'm their | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
concern that a written answer today that about the Secretary of State | :29:18. | :29:20. | |
said he reverts -- reserves the right to take military action | :29:21. | :29:23. | |
without this. Does this mean we will not have a proper debate on proposed | :29:24. | :29:27. | |
employment or will he come to this house, allow us to have a proper | :29:28. | :29:30. | |
debate, answer questions and allow us to have a proper road? First of | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
all, let me caution the honourable Lady against believing everything | :29:35. | :29:36. | |
she reads in the daily mail. LAUGHTER | :29:37. | :29:43. | |
Secondly, let me... Let me make it very clear that we are not going to | :29:44. | :29:50. | |
be planning and deployment as reported in that newspaper. Thirdly, | :29:51. | :29:53. | |
let me make it clear I'm always prepared to answer questions in this | :29:54. | :29:56. | |
house, which I am indeed doing at the moment. And thirdly, the written | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
answer that I tabled today makes it very clear the circumstances in | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
which we will, of course, come back to Parliament for its approval. But | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
I should also emphasise that the Prime Minister and I have to take | :30:12. | :30:14. | |
decisions about the deployment of ships and planes and troops and that | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
we do not want, as Daesh will understand, to be artificially | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
constrained in action to keep this country safe. Hear, hear! | :30:25. | :30:27. | |
We will keep Parliament in form and we will, of course, is against birth | :30:28. | :30:34. | |
damn -- to get approval before deploying -- seek its approval | :30:35. | :30:41. | |
before deploying British forces. Question number six, Mr Speaker. | :30:42. | :30:48. | |
Nato remains the cornerstone of our defence, but the European Union has | :30:49. | :30:51. | |
an important company to reroll in addressing and managing | :30:52. | :30:53. | |
international crises, especially when Nato cannot or chooses not to | :30:54. | :30:59. | |
act. Our response to the complex security threats we face require us | :31:00. | :31:06. | |
a united comprehensive approach to including the European Union's | :31:07. | :31:09. | |
diplomatic humanitarian and economic levers. Hear, hear! | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
Mr Speaker, our most important defence includes a certain US | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
president will visit this week, have recognised that the leadership and | :31:22. | :31:24. | |
membership of the US vital for Britain's national security. Hear, | :31:25. | :31:26. | |
hear! And our place in the world, so what | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
assessment has he made and the implications of leaving BEA on our | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
transatlantic alliance and for our national events? -- leaving BEA. I | :31:35. | :31:44. | |
can't think of one ally, other than the United States, I can't become | :31:45. | :31:47. | |
one that thinks the world would be safer or that we will be safer if we | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
left the European Union. Let me be clear, our central defence rests | :31:52. | :31:59. | |
upon our membership of Nato. But there are things that the European | :32:00. | :32:02. | |
Union can add to that, not least, for example, in the recent action | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
taken against Russia by the European Union, after its annexation of | :32:08. | :32:11. | |
Crimea and its interference in eastern Ukraine, it was the European | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
Union that was able to apply economic sanctions, something Nato | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
cannot do. Hear, hear! President Obama is indeed visiting | :32:21. | :32:23. | |
the country later this week. Nobody doubts for a second the total | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
commitment of the United States to Nato. Nobody claims for a second | :32:29. | :32:33. | |
that just because the United States is not in BEA it is any less | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
committed to national defence to Nato or anything else -- not in the | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
DU. Indeed the United States would not surrender a jot of its | :32:44. | :32:46. | |
sovereignty. The fact is our security depends on the excel, it | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
does not depend on EU and if we leave the EU we will be just as safe | :32:51. | :32:54. | |
then as we are now. Hear, hear! Honourable friend and I, although I | :32:55. | :33:00. | |
think have been friends for many years, we differ on this particular | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
matter. Let's be clear, let us be very clear... The United States, as | :33:05. | :33:11. | |
we do, shares its sovereignty by its membership of Nato. By being | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
prepared to come to the aid of other Nato members to the obligations of | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
Article five. There are many international ways in which we | :33:23. | :33:26. | |
decide to share our sovereignty for the common good and also for the | :33:27. | :33:34. | |
better security of our country. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Does the | :33:35. | :33:37. | |
Secretary of State recognised the enormous value of EU membership to | :33:38. | :33:46. | |
our defence industry? LAUGHTER Recently, Jordan 70% of countries | :33:47. | :33:54. | |
want Britain to remain in DU -- saw that. Does he agree with me that to | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
European funded in particular sector development is critical for British | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
defence companies to maintain a leading edge in the global market? | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
Well, I do agree with much of that. We just heard, Mr Speaker, earlier | :34:11. | :34:14. | |
this afternoon of the success of the typhoon sales to Kuwait, a European | :34:15. | :34:21. | |
consortium put together with four different European countries. | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
Successfully selling and aircraft now to eight separate nations. There | :34:27. | :34:31. | |
are ways in which projects and programmes are of such a scale that | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
the European collaboration is only beneficial. Should this country | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
decide to leave the European Union, my right honourable friend undertake | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
to use his best endeavors to secure as much of the ?10 billion a year we | :34:49. | :34:51. | |
would save to boost the defence budget? Hear, hear! | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
LAUGHTER I don't anticipate this country | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
actually taking such a dramatic step, let me repeat again, I don't | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
know any of my defence minister colleagues around the world who | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
would like this country suddenly to start leaving the international | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
alliances and partnerships that it's entered, so I don't think the money | :35:14. | :35:16. | |
that my honourable friend thinks might be available will be. Number | :35:17. | :35:28. | |
eight, the Minister at the box. My right honourable friend the | :35:29. | :35:30. | |
Secretary of State has our he indicated earlier that the nuclear | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
deterrent is at the apex of the UK's full-spectrum of defence capability. | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
The UK's defence nuclear enterprise is gearing up to deliver the | :35:40. | :35:42. | |
successor to be vanguard class submarines. Last month we announced | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
a further ?642 million of preparatory work ahead of the | :35:48. | :35:50. | |
investor decision for this programme. This investment in | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
successive summer will not only help to Britain safe but will support | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
over 30,000 jobs across the UK. Thank you, Mr Speaker. With Russia | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
openly menacing our allies and at the same time we are on because of a | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
security of the greatest sacrifices ever made by our armed forces | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
defending this country, would it not be both foolish and totally | :36:15. | :36:17. | |
inappropriate for us no longer to be prepared to make relatively so small | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
and financial sacrifice to maintain the on asset that can Duricic -- | :36:21. | :36:23. | |
guarantee the freedom of this country. I think my honourable | :36:24. | :36:30. | |
friend is absolutely right. As the Secretary of State has indicated in | :36:31. | :36:33. | |
his speech on nuclear deterrence before Easter, we do have both a | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
political and a moral responsibility to protect our people and allies. | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
The nuclear deterrent is a sign to Nato and, as a leading member of | :36:43. | :36:45. | |
Nato, we cannot and should not outsource our commitments to others. | :36:46. | :36:48. | |
There has been a broad political consensus for it decades in this | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
house, on this need to maintain the UK's independence strategic | :36:54. | :36:57. | |
deterrence. We are clear on this side of the House where we stand. | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
This remains the official policy of her majesties official opposition, | :37:02. | :37:06. | |
and it is in our view, there is possible that the honourable Lady | :37:07. | :37:08. | |
and her leader appear determined to put the ultimate security of our | :37:09. | :37:17. | |
nation at risk. LAUGHTER Thank you. The Minister and indeed | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
earlier the Secretary of State referred to belong held -- the | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
long-held and well-known views of the Leader of the Opposition on this | :37:28. | :37:30. | |
issue. The people who will put this resolution to the House on the | :37:31. | :37:34. | |
Secretary of State and the Prime Minister. Given that there is | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
overwhelming support for the renewal, from the Ministry of | :37:40. | :37:42. | |
defence, from the forces, from industry, from the workforce, and | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
there is a majority in this house, will be get the message through to | :37:47. | :37:52. | |
dinner and a fair number ten stop playing party politics with this | :37:53. | :37:55. | |
issue of national security, but people here in this house? Hear, | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
hear! I think the honourable gentleman who | :38:01. | :38:03. | |
speaks with some knowledge on these matters, has been a strong | :38:04. | :38:07. | |
indication to the House that there will be a broad measure of support, | :38:08. | :38:11. | |
which we thoroughly welcome. I will offer the Prime Minister his advice. | :38:12. | :38:17. | |
Mr Speaker, two weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting Rolls-Royce | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
appealed Road in Bristol. I met with apprentices and workers of the | :38:23. | :38:26. | |
defence aerospace operations and turbines manufacturing facility. I | :38:27. | :38:29. | |
witnessed important work Rolls-Royce is doing around the country for | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
manufacturing nuclear engines and servicing the vessels. Does the | :38:34. | :38:36. | |
Minister agree that tried it stands to benefit the economy by voting for | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
the many jobs it will create gastritis? I think my honourable | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
friend for highlighting that the fact that this programme will not | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
just benefit those folk working for Rolls-Royce in the various parts | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
particularly around Derby, but all of the employees will be a system to | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
the contractor, but it will benefit countries and gas companies and | :39:02. | :39:02. | |
constituencies right across this country, including his own. -- it | :39:03. | :39:10. | |
will benefit companies. What's we will always investigate serious | :39:11. | :39:13. | |
allegations of wrongdoing, we are committing -- committed to and ... | :39:14. | :39:22. | |
Opportunist investigation to our armed Forces. Prime Minister chaired | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
a national Security Council meeting on this subject in February looking | :39:29. | :39:31. | |
at a range of options which we had developed and taxed my honourable | :39:32. | :39:34. | |
friend, the Minister for human rights and myself, to bring forward | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
a comprehensive package to address the problem. We expect to make | :39:40. | :39:42. | |
announcements very shortly. Thank you. Two weeks ago I'm a justice | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
said that the public interest lawyers showed "A serious failure to | :39:48. | :39:54. | |
observe essential ethical standards when they claim that British | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
soldiers were as possible for the death of a child close call. Does he | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
agree that this is the latest example of the hounding of our | :40:04. | :40:06. | |
forces, something that we committed to clamp down on in our manifesto, | :40:07. | :40:09. | |
and this must not be investigated? Hear, hear! | :40:10. | :40:13. | |
I do agree with my honourable friend. It's right that public | :40:14. | :40:16. | |
interest lawyers have been referred to the solicitors disciplinary | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
tribunal, the Justice criticised them for failing to take action when | :40:22. | :40:25. | |
they discovered inconsistencies between their payments accounts and | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
mowers, Windows inconsistencies were pointed out to them the fact that | :40:31. | :40:37. | |
they ignored them and continued. In his words nor as possible lawyer | :40:38. | :40:39. | |
conscious of their duties to the client and the court would have felt | :40:40. | :40:42. | |
able to advance that original allegation. Would it have not helped | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
to deter future legal cases against soldiers in the House red the | :40:49. | :40:51. | |
remarkable speech made last Thursday in this house by the Member for... | :40:52. | :41:00. | |
Who said from his position as a formal soldier and journalist that | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
many untruths by ministers, civil servants, and an military resulted | :41:06. | :41:08. | |
in grave errors in the war in Afghanistan. Where can we start a | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
full inquiry into the reasons we went into Helmand? I know the | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
honourable gentleman cares passionately about these issues and | :41:19. | :41:21. | |
I would point him to the number of investigations which have gone on | :41:22. | :41:26. | |
him above produced very lengthy investigation by the Ministry of | :41:27. | :41:29. | |
defence, but also committees of this house that have looked into | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
Afghanistan and am in particular, Helmand in 2006. I think what is | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
important is that we might be lessons from those inquiries and I | :41:40. | :41:42. | |
hope that he will be able to see from operations today, particular, | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
that we are acting on those lessons learned. Number 12, sir. Mr Speaker, | :41:48. | :41:54. | |
the UK is proud to be one of five Nato countries who meet the 2% of | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
GDP spending on defence commitment. Since the defence investment pledge | :42:00. | :42:02. | |
was made at the Wales Summit in 2014, progress has been made with 16 | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
allies increasing the defence spending in real terms and 24 allies | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
now spending more of their defence budgets on equipment. As it happens, | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
the leadership role which the UK is headed given within Nato on this | :42:17. | :42:19. | |
issue was warmly welcomed once again by the US to be the -- Deputy | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
defence Secretary. I had discussions with them last Friday. What signal | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
would it send to our Nato governments and our Verza reads | :42:31. | :42:33. | |
ahead of the Brussels summit if the government took the advice of some | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
in this house and failed to commit to spend 2% of GDP on defence? -- | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
Warsaw Summit. What my honourable friend update the House on the Libya | :42:43. | :42:49. | |
and wider Middle East situation? I'm not sure that the Speaker will give | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
me enough time to answer both of those issues. I will work as on the | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
first of five May. The Secretary-General was here last week | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
and he praised the United Kingdom for our leadership on defence | :43:02. | :43:03. | |
spending and our contribution to Nato. I the Nato summit in Warsaw in | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
July, we expect to see further progress on the part of our allies | :43:10. | :43:12. | |
and working to meet Nato's 2% guideline, but my contrast the | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
deafening failure to match this commitment by the party opposite | :43:17. | :43:19. | |
sense precisely the wrong message but to our allies and even worse, to | :43:20. | :43:26. | |
our anniversaries. Mr Speaker, the Minister has made much of this 2%. | :43:27. | :43:29. | |
2% in the United Kingdom is quite different from a measurement of 2% | :43:30. | :43:35. | |
of the Nato allies. This process of self assessment, does the Minister | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
not agree that it has profound applications that applied his method | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
of tabulation of GDP expenditure in the militaries? I've already | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
indicated earlier this afternoon that there is Nato who makes the | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
definition and Nato assesses the contributions that are made by each | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
member nation to their return. So it is not for the United Kingdom to | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
make that determination, it is Nato. Number 13, Mr Speaker. In the recent | :44:03. | :44:12. | |
SDSR, Minister defends agree a new strategic objective of country | :44:13. | :44:15. | |
beating to the nation's prosperity. We do that in many ways, not least | :44:16. | :44:19. | |
by spending some ?20 billion a year with industry, around half of which | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
is in the manufacturing sector and some were billion pounds with SMEs. | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
Could the Minister tell the House just how much his department has | :44:29. | :44:32. | |
saved by buying cheap steel from Sweden? Does he think that in any | :44:33. | :44:35. | |
way it offsets a devastating impact on our steel industry? I'm in a | :44:36. | :44:44. | |
position to update the House in relation to the steel component of | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
the aircraft carrier contract, much the largest defence procurement | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
contract where, of the structural steel, some 95,000 tonnes have been | :44:55. | :45:02. | |
procured from UK steel mills over the period of that contract. Mr | :45:03. | :45:09. | |
Speaker, can the Minister confirm that United Kingdom works very | :45:10. | :45:11. | |
closely with countries like Pakistan on defence procurement. Will he join | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
me in welcoming the former Minister of Pakistan who sits in welcoming | :45:17. | :45:18. | |
the former minister of Pakistan's music to the public Valerie at the | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
top? -- who sits in the public gallery. Currently he ought to know | :45:23. | :45:29. | |
and second, it's wide of the question. Mr Stephan Phillips. Mr | :45:30. | :45:36. | |
Phillips is here, splendid! LAUGHTER How could I've thought otherwise for | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
moment with Mac only that the honourable gentleman has eliminated | :45:41. | :45:45. | |
to a different position in the chamber -- has moved to the | :45:46. | :45:48. | |
different position and the timbre. LAUGHTER | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
Very well there. Thank you, my department is committed to improving | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
the quality of service and the accommodation provided to our | :45:58. | :45:59. | |
service personnel and their families who have been working closely to | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
deliver these improvements. Works to improve accommodation has resulted | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
in the upgrading of some 3000 homes to complete refurbishment of the | :46:09. | :46:09. | |
separate installation of around 10,000 new kitchens, baths perms, | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
and central heating systems -- bathrobes. I will be short which may | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
be why you didn't see me earlier. LAUGHTER | :46:20. | :46:26. | |
Service housing is absolutely critical, Knowle to the well-being | :46:27. | :46:29. | |
of our servicemen and women and their families, but also to their | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
morale. Brilliant Amy has been an appalling contractor and of | :46:35. | :46:36. | |
department has taken this issue seriously. Cannot hurt -- encourage | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
my honourable friend to continue to be robust and take the contract away | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
from them but less and until they start to discharge their operations | :46:46. | :46:50. | |
properly? My honourable friend is absolutely right to highlight the | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
poor performance of Karelian game to date. I am determined as indeed the | :46:56. | :46:58. | |
Secretary of State is, to improve this matter which is why we will | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
continue to work closely with brilliant Amy. I can assure my | :47:05. | :47:09. | |
honourable friend that CarillionAmey has committed to me all the key | :47:10. | :47:12. | |
performance indicators across state contracts including the national | :47:13. | :47:20. | |
housing by the end of May 2000 16. Question number one please, Mr | :47:21. | :47:25. | |
Speaker. My priorities are main success in our operations against | :47:26. | :47:28. | |
biased and implementing our SDSR commitments. This month the defence | :47:29. | :47:32. | |
budget increases for the first time in six years and will increase in | :47:33. | :47:36. | |
every year of this Parliament. Our choice to spend more on stronger | :47:37. | :47:42. | |
defence will help keep us safe. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Secretary | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
of State will know about the worrying number of cancers and | :47:47. | :47:49. | |
terminal illnesses reported amongst groups of personnel working in | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
Scotland in the 1980s and 90s, who worked in a toxic soup of chemicals. | :47:55. | :48:01. | |
He will know of the distressing inconsistencies and financial | :48:02. | :48:04. | |
support for those affected. Can he confirm that the government -- the | :48:05. | :48:07. | |
government scare to properly investigate in this and to | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
compensate victims fairly? Hear, hear! | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
Yes, when a veteran considers that their service is led to an illness | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
or injury, they are entitled to make a claim for compensation through our | :48:22. | :48:25. | |
legal claims department. Or to apply enhancements to their pensions. Let | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
me assure the honourable member that the veterans welfare service will | :48:30. | :48:33. | |
listen and will provide all necessary support. Last week the | :48:34. | :48:38. | |
parliamentary undersecretary responded to a debate in Westminster | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
by our honourable friend, the Member for a Mr, about air Cadet training | :48:45. | :48:54. | |
facilities. 1312 training Cadet unit used up the facilities for gliding | :48:55. | :49:02. | |
that about my honourable friend... Will he make sure those facilities | :49:03. | :49:04. | |
are still made available to our cadets? Wethersfield, the facility | :49:05. | :49:13. | |
you are referring to, has been identified for disposal on the new | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
site as yet to be selected, but I can reassure my honourable friend | :49:19. | :49:21. | |
that we are strongly committed to gliding and 614 volunteer gliding | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
goblin, will be expanding into its new role as a regional hub. Our | :49:27. | :49:32. | |
immediate priority is to get cadets that flying again. Starting in and | :49:33. | :49:38. | |
this year it should be a fully delivered by 2018. Those injured in | :49:39. | :49:47. | |
the course of their duties should receive the financial support they | :49:48. | :49:51. | |
need, but currently the value of compensation payments is being | :49:52. | :49:55. | |
eroded by a comparative third under the armed Forces compensation | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
schemes income payments and the war disablement pensions supplement. | :50:02. | :50:04. | |
Applying the triple lock to military compensation payments will ensure | :50:05. | :50:07. | |
that the higher of earnings, inflation or two and a half percent | :50:08. | :50:12. | |
is paid. When would the government take everyday is to review the | :50:13. | :50:14. | |
statements and make some of the impacts of the real terms from the | :50:15. | :50:21. | |
current system -- 2.5%. We always keep our payment systems under | :50:22. | :50:24. | |
review and of course the honourable Lady will be aware that in the | :50:25. | :50:27. | |
recent budget the Chancellor decided that the were the first time the | :50:28. | :50:30. | |
payments under the war pensions scheme would be set aside for care | :50:31. | :50:35. | |
costs. These of these positive measures that we do keep under | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
review in support of our veterans. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Does my | :50:41. | :50:43. | |
honourable friend agree that to wade's decision to buy 28 world | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
beating typhoons is testing to the skill of the PAD workforce, many of | :50:50. | :50:55. | |
whom live in my constituency -- Kuwait. We welcome wholeheartedly | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
this month's contract signed by the Kuwait for the Typhoon aircraft. | :51:02. | :51:07. | |
Record to become the eighth country to select the euro fighter Typhoon | :51:08. | :51:10. | |
and the third in the Gulf. It is positive for our bilateral defence | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
relationship and for jobs across the British aerospace and defence | :51:16. | :51:17. | |
industry, including the thousands employed by BEA systems at Wharton | :51:18. | :51:23. | |
in Lancaster, many of her constituents, it is excellent news | :51:24. | :51:27. | |
for the House right across the UK. Following the Foreign Secretary's | :51:28. | :51:30. | |
statement that we stand to provide further assist Ms. Bass assistance | :51:31. | :51:34. | |
to Libya and its people, can the Secretary of State confirm what kind | :51:35. | :51:37. | |
of assistance the UK would be willing to provide and how much | :51:38. | :51:40. | |
notice this house would have before a vote on military action in Libya? | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
I've made it clear that we are waiting to hear from the Prime | :51:46. | :51:49. | |
Minister and the new government, which has only just been established | :51:50. | :51:53. | |
in the last few days. What kind of assistance they want, whether it is | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
training or other support. So far as I noticed that a notice to this | :51:58. | :52:03. | |
house is concerned, Ira Pete, there is no plan at the moment to deploy | :52:04. | :52:09. | |
British troops and any kind of combat role and if there was such a | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
plan in a conflict zone anywhere in the world we would come to this | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
house first -- I repeat. Those particularly nasty force of Daesh | :52:21. | :52:25. | |
has ceased territory at the top of a valley in Lebanon. Can my right | :52:26. | :52:28. | |
honourable friend assure the House that the British Government is doing | :52:29. | :52:31. | |
everything it can to support the government of Lebanon in tackling | :52:32. | :52:34. | |
this particularly nasty group of people who are inflicting misery on | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
local people? Yes, I discussed with the Lebanese defence minister last | :52:40. | :52:46. | |
week the threat they faced and the importance of Lebanon's security. We | :52:47. | :52:50. | |
have recently committed to spending a further ?23 million on equipment, | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
mentoring and training to help the Lebanese Armed Forces to secure | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
their entire border with Syria. We plan to spend an additional four and | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
a half million on operations training so that by 2019 some 20,000 | :53:03. | :53:09. | |
Lebanese soldiers will have received British training -- spend an | :53:10. | :53:17. | |
additional 4.5 million. Making sure the very high percentage of UK steel | :53:18. | :53:22. | |
is used in defence and particular will he say that these steps moving | :53:23. | :53:30. | |
forward... Will help UK steel to do any successive Trident submarines? I | :53:31. | :53:37. | |
can assure the honourable gentleman that the government as a whole is | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
committed to supporting the UK steel industry and the Ministry of defence | :53:42. | :53:45. | |
Department have the policy guidance to the contractors to address | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
barriers to be open market. I am working closely with our contractors | :53:50. | :53:51. | |
to make sure that they support this new policy. In relation to the | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
submarine contracts as and when they are placed, there are some special | :53:58. | :54:02. | |
steels were the United Kingdom suppliers have a very important role | :54:03. | :54:06. | |
to play. There are some others where we don't at present have many | :54:07. | :54:10. | |
factors capable of supplying in the UK, so it's a balance. Is the | :54:11. | :54:15. | |
Secretary of State aware that the standard of food for military and | :54:16. | :54:19. | |
HMS and other similar naval establishment has become the source | :54:20. | :54:23. | |
of so many complaints that service personnel have been banned from | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
taking photographs on social media to critique it? What does he do to | :54:29. | :54:31. | |
make sure that our service men and women are properly taken care of in | :54:32. | :54:37. | |
a basic areas such as food. Corn mills covering breakfast lunch and | :54:38. | :54:43. | |
dinner, nutritional standards, including unlimited access to | :54:44. | :54:46. | |
carbohydrates and vegetables. I have experienced food which our armed | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
forces personnel have. Personally I got eight experience, however the | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
normal process is to be a complaint down the chain of command, but I | :54:59. | :55:01. | |
will be more than happy to look into it for my honourable friend. Mr | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
Speaker, ministers this afternoon have member markedly coy about the | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
timing of the decision for the Trident successor programme. I | :55:12. | :55:14. | |
understand the point about that, but can the Minister helped the House by | :55:15. | :55:21. | |
giving an indication of whether or not we are likely to get a verdict | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
after the 24th of June and before the House rises for the summer | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
recess on the 21st of July? I hope we will have an early debate and | :55:31. | :55:38. | |
vote on the principle of supporting the replacement of power for | :55:39. | :55:41. | |
existing submarines. I should explain to the honourable lady that | :55:42. | :55:44. | |
this will not be on the main gate decision because there is not one | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
main gate decision, we are obviously negotiating with our suppliers for | :55:49. | :55:55. | |
four separate submarines. The Secretary of State is a suave and | :55:56. | :55:59. | |
polished by the mystery performer. Hear, hear! | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
Which is why the defence select committee would like to see a little | :56:05. | :56:09. | |
bit more of him and why it's doubly disappointing that, despite trying | :56:10. | :56:12. | |
since the beginning of March to agree with his private office, to | :56:13. | :56:19. | |
our slots before the end of May, so far we have only achieved one and | :56:20. | :56:22. | |
the offer of a second which happens to be our local bans on local | :56:23. | :56:26. | |
government election day, that's far from ideal. With economy have an | :56:27. | :56:31. | |
idea with his private office and asked them to extract their | :56:32. | :56:35. | |
proverbial digit... LAUGHTER And thus avoid our two quite | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
important inquiries on the Middle East and on Russia being either | :56:41. | :56:43. | |
delayed or having to be written without his valuable input? | :56:44. | :56:49. | |
I always enjoyed my appearances before my honourable friend and his | :56:50. | :56:57. | |
colleagues on the select committee. It is sometimes not always easy to | :56:58. | :57:05. | |
reconcile their offers with some of my international travel commitments | :57:06. | :57:07. | |
by I will certainly today have a look at them. They seem like busy | :57:08. | :57:14. | |
man with many commitments and a full diary but House committees are very | :57:15. | :57:17. | |
important and I'm sure the Secretary of State will not forget that. Get | :57:18. | :57:26. | |
it sorted, man. Hawks are built at my constituency and promote the best | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
of British, so I wonder if there are plans to procure new plans for the | :57:31. | :57:38. | |
red arrows? I recently announced a new support contract for the Hawk | :57:39. | :57:42. | |
aircraft which takes it out to November 2020 and we have time to | :57:43. | :57:48. | |
decide how to sustain them beyond that. What I would like to say | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
though is that the red arrows are due to commence a substantial | :57:54. | :57:56. | |
programme of displays in this country and overseas this summer and | :57:57. | :57:59. | |
I hope many members of the House have an opportunity to watch them. | :58:00. | :58:07. | |
100 years ago, my constituency was established as a centre to deal with | :58:08. | :58:13. | |
nerve gas attacks. They continue to do a fantastic job tackling the | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
grave threats we face in this country from Daesh. Following the | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
visits of the Secretary of State and other ministers, what reflections | :58:23. | :58:28. | |
would they have on the continuing role of DSTL in my constituency? | :58:29. | :58:34. | |
DSTL is meant to defend our nation and forces against a wide range of | :58:35. | :58:37. | |
threats, it is just as crucial today as it was 100 years ago. We will | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
continue to invest in science and technology to stay ahead of our | :58:43. | :58:45. | |
adversaries and I would like to congratulate all of our staff there | :58:46. | :58:53. | |
and in my own constituency on reaching this milestone and for the | :58:54. | :58:56. | |
remarkable work they do in helping keep our country safe. With both | :58:57. | :59:03. | |
existing and potential success of programme in mind along with tried | :59:04. | :59:07. | |
and, what measures have this department taken to identify on | :59:08. | :59:15. | |
exported -- unexplored ordinance? The department takes a safety of our | :59:16. | :59:21. | |
nuclear fleet at the highest possible level, so there are | :59:22. | :59:26. | |
continuous attempts to ensure that any potential threat to our | :59:27. | :59:30. | |
submarines are monitored. If the honourable gentleman has something | :59:31. | :59:33. | |
specific you'd like to draw to our attention, he should do so and I | :59:34. | :59:36. | |
would be happy to meet to discuss it. Tata steel develop new types of | :59:37. | :59:45. | |
steel for our aircraft carriers. Can my outer friend ensure that British | :59:46. | :59:48. | |
steel manufacturers continue to innovate and deliver for the Royal | :59:49. | :59:56. | |
Navy? I am grateful to my honourable friend for highlighting the success | :59:57. | :00:01. | |
of Tata Steel in supplying to the aircraft carrier. There are other | :00:02. | :00:04. | |
grades and types of steel, which are not presently available in this | :00:05. | :00:08. | |
country, and we would certainly be able to talk to the ministry about | :00:09. | :00:11. | |
what steps they can take to make such types available. The Army | :00:12. | :00:21. | |
reserve in my constituency... They are being in correspondence with the | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
Minister and have yet heard a response from rumours he had to be | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
confirmed or consulted with the wider community about its imminent | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
closure, can I have a response please, Minister? I am grateful to | :00:33. | :00:40. | |
the honourable Lady for her letters on this. We have also had a word in | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
the margins, we are looking into this matter, we do have a robust | :00:45. | :00:52. | |
system for appeals to this and so far I am unable to offer the | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
honourable lady any comfort but I will come back to her shortly. | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
Further to the question I asked by my honourable friend, the 1206 | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
training squadron in Litchfield is one of the biggest in the West | :01:06. | :01:08. | |
Midlands but it too has been suffering from the lack of glider | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
training position. What hope can you give my friends and core members | :01:12. | :01:20. | |
that their training will be resumed? I am delighted to be able to answer | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
a question from the distinguished president of that squadron. | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
LAUGHTER Two years ago, nearly two years ago, all had to be disbanded | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
for safety reasons. We have been unable to find a contractor who can | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
credibly take on the repair of the vigilance, but the Vikings are all | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
on their way up, together with a small number of vigilance. By 2018, | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
we will be delivering a full programme of colliding with an | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
enhanced level of powered flying with more tutors in starting this | :01:59. | :02:07. | |
year. Some 5000 service personnel serving overseas, they want to have | :02:08. | :02:09. | |
postal votes. They've applied for that and tell me that their votes | :02:10. | :02:17. | |
are sent to the regiment, to those overseas, that they are | :02:18. | :02:19. | |
disenfranchised. And I asked the ministers question. What is he doing | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
to ensure that these votes are given to those overseas who wish to vote? | :02:23. | :02:31. | |
We actively partook in the governmentwide scheme which is lost | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
on the February -- 1st of February to ensure our service personnel were | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
aware that they could register. We will be doing the same again through | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
issuing a defence information notice in me with the regards to the EU | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
Referendum, but it is ultimately down to individual service, and | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
whether they do or do like her register or vote. Could I ask my | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
right honourable friend or perhaps the Minister of state, the | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
honourable and very gallant lady,... LAUGHTER Gallon because she is in | :03:02. | :03:12. | |
the Royal Navy reserve. Could I ask whether they could assure the House | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
that no investigator used by either public interest lawyers is paid for | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
for any service by the Ministry of defence? I can give that assurance. | :03:25. | :03:33. | |
Although the Ministry of defence does not direct the investigations | :03:34. | :03:42. | |
of them, it is responsible to ensure public money is being spent well and | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
efficiently. Although we can clearly justify investigations into | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
wrongdoing and investigations that exonerate our armed forces, we | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
cannot justify spending money on processes which frustrate those | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
processes and we have given very clear ministerial direction that | :04:03. | :04:05. | |
those agents are not to be paid with public money and we have received | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
assurances that that is the case. I am sorry it demand exceeds supply | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
but we must now move on. Urgent question. Heidi Alexander. If you | :04:15. | :04:27. | |
will make a statement on the imposition of a new | :04:28. | :04:29. |