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Welcome to BBC Parliament fly from Westminster. In an hour's time the | :00:11. | :00:17. | |
MPs will look at the notification of withdrawal rubble, the article which | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
starts the formal process of Britain leaving the EU. Live to the House of | :00:24. | :00:32. | |
Commons. Order order. Questions to the Secretary of State of defence, | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
Liz McInnis. Question number one Mr Speaker. The provision of quality | :00:37. | :00:43. | |
accommodation is at the heart of the Armed Forces covenants. Around 94% | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
of the UK service family accommodation is at decent standard | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
or above. Only service family accommodation of the standards will | :00:53. | :00:58. | |
be allocated to new occupants. Since April 2016 around 14 and a half | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
thousand kitchens, bathrooms, kitchens, roofs, and some thousands | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
of new boys have been installed. Thank you for the response that the | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
arms forces continuous attitude survey in 2016 showed a significant | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
drop in satisfaction amongst those living in service family | :01:19. | :01:21. | |
accommodation with a decrease of seven percentage points to just 50%. | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
Can the Minister assure the House that a further drop in satisfaction | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
would lead to urgent action being taken? I can but I'm confident after | :01:32. | :01:40. | |
the intervention last year and the get well planned that was in the | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
Druze we have seen significant improvement which may not have yet | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
to filter down. The recent stats from that show we have risen to a | :01:50. | :01:58. | |
61% satisfaction rate. We take this very seriously which is why I'm | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
keeping a close eye on it and I believe the standard should improve. | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
Mr Speaker, could I congratulate my honourable friend on the progress | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
they have made on the contract that would he agree with me that | :02:14. | :02:22. | |
continuing to have service family accommodation is absolutely critical | :02:23. | :02:23. | |
in providing a supportive arrangement for families when their | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
loved ones are away on operations are indeed upon extended exercises? | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
I think what our want is choice and support. What I would say to my | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
honourable friend is that only last week I visited Salisbury Plain and | :02:42. | :02:51. | |
where I saw some 1000 brand-new service family personnel, they do | :02:52. | :02:59. | |
take the matter seriously and I'm confident that SFA will continue to | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
be provided and some of those homes are a first-rate standard but it is | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
about trying to support the modern lifestyle of our service families in | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
the way that they work. A recent survey on the future of military | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
housing showed that if SFA was reduced in favour of a rental | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
allowance, 30% would leave the army and a further 46% would consider | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
leaving. What does the Minister think the Government's future | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
accommodation model would do for retention rates? It is all about | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
choice and if the honourable Member looked at the survey he would | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
realise that the overwhelming number of young soldiers, sailors and | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
airmen support the model that we are supposing. We are yet to make any | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
firm decision, we have reduced it to seven options that I will keep the | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
House fully informed as we progress. Thank you Mr Speaker, whilst I | :03:59. | :04:01. | |
welcome the comments, so far we still have 40,000 members who have | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
not been consulted on the future accommodation model and for those | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
that have there is anxiety as to whether the SFA remains a real | :04:12. | :04:18. | |
option. I will refer to the earlier comments as I say only last week I | :04:19. | :04:27. | |
visited Salisbury Plain where we are building 1000 new SFA units. SFA | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
will remain an option but it is absolutely clear that one size does | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
not fit all and depending where you are serving in the United Kingdom, | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
different options will have to be available. Mr Speaker, last November | :04:39. | :04:47. | |
the National Audit Office reported and I quote exactly that, poor | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
accommodation for service families is affecting the morale and the | :04:53. | :04:55. | |
recruitment and retention of service personnel. In other words the | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
situation is deplorable. My concern is lip service is being paid. Surely | :05:03. | :05:09. | |
the goodness, warm words and tinkering is not enough, real action | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
is needed. Why would the minister acknowledged this and not introduce | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
improvements quickly? I'm disappointed to hear the honourable | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
Member's comments, only last year some ?64 million was invested in | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
service family accommodation, next year will be investing some ?80 | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
million, perhaps rather than sitting on the green benches in Parliament, | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
he would like to take up my offer to see some of the new build that we | :05:39. | :05:49. | |
are building. Here it is, so come rather than constantly carping. When | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
service personnel are on active service abroad, the last thing they | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
need our problems with the domestic arrangements and accommodation at | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
home so will the Minister and short when service personnel are an active | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
deployment that the helpline works perfectly for the partners at home. | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
I think my honourable friend makes a valuable point. I think when spouses | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
are overseas, this is absolutely the time when they must focus on | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
offering support. I will look very carefully at what my honourable | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
friend says. Does the Minister agree that accommodation is central to | :06:27. | :06:29. | |
satisfaction rate and Woody therefore agreed that after | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
investing the money in Chester it would be a false economy to now | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
close down the barracks? The driver for the better defence is military | :06:40. | :06:46. | |
capability, it is important that we have good quality accommodation and | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
as he knows it would be relocated in his part of the world and we will | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
carefully at that. Question to. I regularly discuss the need to reform | :06:56. | :07:03. | |
Nato including the new secretary of defence James Mattis who I met at | :07:04. | :07:06. | |
the Nato defence Mr meeting last month. We want Nato to become | :07:07. | :07:13. | |
genuinely adaptable which is less bureaucratic, faster and better at | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
making decisions and to respond more effectively till wide range of | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
threats including cyber, hybrid international terrorism. Thank the | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
Minister for his response and I would ask with the Nato operation in | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
Afghanistan, still it is most significant, will my right | :07:33. | :07:34. | |
honourable friend join me in paying tribute to all of those who have | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
served and agreed that this underlines that Nato has the | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
comparability is to combat terror and going into the future would be | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
more? Yes. We remember the service and sacrifice of those who fought | :07:49. | :07:55. | |
terrorism in Afghanistan. Our commitment as part of the resolute | :07:56. | :07:57. | |
support mission remains crucial in helping to build the capacity of the | :07:58. | :08:03. | |
Afghan security forces to defend their country as my honourable | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
friend implies. It is Nato that has the mandate, the operational | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
experience and the tools to help the fight against international | :08:13. | :08:15. | |
terrorism and we will continue to push Nato to do more in the Middle | :08:16. | :08:22. | |
East and North Africa. Can I ask the Secretary of State when he has had | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
discussions with his US counterpart on what he thought about the | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
capabilities of Nato in terms of dealing with Russia and elsewhere? | :08:29. | :08:36. | |
This is the year in which Nato is deploying its enhanced forward | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
presence and Britain is leading that deployment and we will, our troops | :08:43. | :08:51. | |
would be leaving for Estonia this week and will be deploying in Poland | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
and in Romania. The best way to reassure our allies in Nato and to | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
deter any aggression is for Nato to stand up. It has been made clear to | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
start at a recent assembly Nato has a of allies on the Hill on Congress | :09:10. | :09:17. | |
on both sides, does my right honourable friend agree that he | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
needs to make the case to Europe stepping up to commitment to spend | :09:21. | :09:28. | |
at least 2% of GDP on defence? We will make that commitment, the | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
United States, ourselves and the rest of Nato back at the oral summit | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
2.5 years ago. We meet the spending target and we continue to press our | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
allies to step up to the plate and do so too. Can I push the Secretary | :09:41. | :09:47. | |
of State to tell the House, but by the American saying about what size | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
Nato should be? Not just a percentage of GDP but how big should | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
it be, how does it compare with the strength of the Russians and what | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
will we do if the Russians invaded across some of the countries in | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
Europe? To be responded to with the legendary prisoner so the Secretary | :10:08. | :10:16. | |
of State. The purpose of the Alliance, America want to see all | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
members of the alliance making a fairer contribution to the overall | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
standing. The collective nature of the defence has been underlined by | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
invoking article five only once before in favour of the United | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
States. Number three Mr Speaker. With the mission missed this week I | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
would like to answer questions three and 15 together. The 2016 Cumberland | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
annual report demonstrates the progress that has been made since | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
the covenant was enshrined by law. Today I am pleased to announce a new | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
initiative by the main broadband providers. Personnel posted to a | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
location not covered by their current provider can now cancel | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
their broadband without incurring any additional fees, I would like to | :11:03. | :11:04. | |
thank beat C, E, plus net, talk Councillor McCarthy in Rochdale | :11:05. | :11:18. | |
Council go above and beyond when it comes to delivering the Armed Forces | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
covenants, this includes having a dedicated council officer to ensure | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
that those who fought for our country are properly looked after. | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
Will the Minister congratulates Rochdale Council in its successes | :11:33. | :11:35. | |
and encourage other councils to follow suit? I heartily congratulate | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
and thank all those at Rochdale Borough Council and the honourable | :11:41. | :11:43. | |
member for their efforts. They've introduced measures that make a real | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
difference to the Armed Forces community. These range from | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
practical support to our ex-service community seeking social housing to | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
the naming of streets in recognition of their local Armed Forces heroes. | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
I commend this fine example and wish them well in their support of the | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
covenant. There is an amazing work being undertaken by the British | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
Legion and other charities across the UK. The head of the Armed Forces | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
charity has warned that the Armed Forces government lacks bite and | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
many local authorities think it is an option rather than an obligation. | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
Can the Minister tell us more about the government is doing to reinforce | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
how essential the covenant actually is? There is acceptance across this | :12:29. | :12:37. | |
House over how important it is. Every local authority in the UK has | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
signed the covenant. Last year we sent out a survey to try and | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
establish better practice. We now move onto the next page which is to | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
ensure that we are looking carefully at the authorities and other | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
organisations that are not doing what they said they would do. | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
Ultimately, we can revoke the agreement with them, but I would | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
like to think we would never get to that stage. Can he say a bit more | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
about the corporate governance, the business element of the covenant, so | :13:09. | :13:16. | |
many companies make attempts to help service families and personnel. As | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
my honourable friend knows, we have now combine both the community | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
covenant and the corporate covenant into the Armed Forces covenants. I | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
would buy later this week we would be in a position where 1500 but must | :13:32. | :13:40. | |
-- 1500 businesses have signed up to this. It is a two-way deal word is a | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
case for the Armed Forces also through the skill sets that we give | :13:46. | :13:48. | |
to our Armed Forces personnel to provide skills that will help | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
businesses as well. Could the Minister help me please replied the | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
department will be spending the savings bid from the cancellation of | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
a contract to improve communications were serving personnel? Since its | :14:02. | :14:13. | |
peak, the use of Ede police has produced by 96%. Sometimes it can | :14:14. | :14:20. | |
cost ?17. All of the money that has been saved will be reinvested and | :14:21. | :14:22. | |
there is no where overseas who don't have access to the Internet, but we | :14:23. | :14:28. | |
are looking carefully to ensure that nobody will be disadvantaged when | :14:29. | :14:35. | |
the new services introduced. At a recent session of the Defence Select | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
Committee I shared with the Minister correspondence from the Ben Health | :14:41. | :14:42. | |
Minister from Northern Ireland, neither leader of Sinn Fein in | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
Northern Ireland, who pointedly said the Armed Forces covenant does not | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
apply here. What advice and guidance can the Minister give in this face | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
of such intransigence? We all understand that the Armed Forces | :14:58. | :15:00. | |
covenant applies throughout the United Kingdom. I appreciate there | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
are specific challenges in Northern Ireland. I have said that they're | :15:07. | :15:10. | |
making that a priority this year and I will be visiting Northern Ireland | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
very shortly. Question number four, Mr Speaker. 365 days a year the | :15:16. | :15:29. | |
Royal Navy are deployed. Whether maintaining our contingency, | :15:30. | :15:31. | |
providing reassurance for overseas territories, or to counter | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
narcotics, we will be there when we are needed. Given that the Ministry | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
of Defence has confirmed that Plymouth will be the centre for the | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
Royal Marines, has my right honourable friend considered basing | :15:47. | :15:55. | |
all of the type 23 is in Devonport? We will be looking very carefully at | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
exactly where as the new ships come on stream and the huge expenditure, | :16:00. | :16:05. | |
?63 billion of expenditure, on the Royal Navy in the next few years. | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
I'm sure as we look at that we will make sure Devonport gets a very | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
good-looking. One of the key roles of the Royal Navy is to meet the | :16:15. | :16:25. | |
Nato commitments we have. Could he say whether or not the new type 31 | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
frigate will actually be able to meet those commitments in Nato? I am | :16:31. | :16:40. | |
sure when the type 23 frigates comes in its... Type 31, I apologise. We | :16:41. | :16:48. | |
commit with Nato around the world. HMS Ocean has just returned from the | :16:49. | :16:57. | |
Gulf. HMS daring is just back from the Straits of her movies. I was | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
woken in the early hours because one of our civilian yachts was in | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
distress with the crew of 14 and injured, that type 45 sale 500 miles | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
to rescue them. That is exactly what her Navy is for. Clearly, the role | :17:11. | :17:16. | |
of the Royal Navy going forward will be even more important in the | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
future, could my honourable friend update the house on exactly how many | :17:21. | :17:23. | |
ships will be bought and what type of ships they will be? We will have | :17:24. | :17:31. | |
new frigates, new submarines, new aircraft carriers, new patrol | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
vessels to support them. ?63 billion of expenditure going forward. The | :17:36. | :17:42. | |
Royal Navy are at the forefront of tackling the migration crisis in the | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
Mediterranean by training the Libyan coast guard. Are they not allowed to | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
enter Libyan waters are supposed international waters, because that | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
is the way to stop the people traffickers sending the votes in the | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
place? He is absolutely right. We have been pressing for this for some | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
time. We have been training Coast Guard and we want to do more but at | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
the moment we can't enter that area. For some two decades Nato has my | :18:14. | :18:22. | |
focus has been largely land-based. When I acknowledge that the threat | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
is increasingly going to come in the north Atlantic and Arctic, | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
particularly with the reinvention of the Russian concept, and Nato will | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
have to turn its attention back to that area of threat. Ensure that we | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
would all agree that the Royal Navy is capable of doing what we ask it | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
to do and like we had is with the return to Eastern Europe for me. We | :18:49. | :18:51. | |
are turned away from that situation, with land event is an air defences, | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
that is what the Royal Navy will be doing as well. We have astute class | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
submarines which are too slow to keep up with the US carriers, we | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
have no maritime patrol aircraft, we are also waiting for the type 26 | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
contract to be signed and still no sign of the shipbuilding strategy. | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
At a time when Russian incursions are going through the waters at cold | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
water levels, does the Minister agree with me that it is time for | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
the Scottish people to take these decisions for themselves and defend | :19:27. | :19:34. | |
our country? If the Scottish people want to have their Armed Forces | :19:35. | :19:37. | |
rundown and tomorrow lies they should listen to what the gentleman | :19:38. | :19:48. | |
has just said. Does my right honourable friend agree with me that | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
after we leave the European Union this is something that we should | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
continue to use fully cooperate with our European neighbours on? We are | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
leaving the European Union, not leaving Europe. We continue to | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
consider what we can do with our European friends, even though we | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
will be leaving the European Union. Last week there were reports of | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
increased activity and a number of ships move in and check the UK | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
waters having deactivated their tracking system. A separate ship | :20:19. | :20:24. | |
called in health -- called into Algeria Ben Moreau got the coast of | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
either in my constituency. With this increased level of suspicious | :20:30. | :20:32. | |
activity and Scotland's proximity to the Arctic that we have a sufficient | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
number of large surface ships to meet that threat? The ships don't | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
have to be based in Scotland to protect Scotland and protect the | :20:46. | :20:48. | |
United Kingdom. They are at sea and that is what they should be doing | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
and that is what we are doing. How can the Minister said that they | :20:55. | :20:57. | |
don't need to be based in Scotland to protect Scotland's underworld's | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
hotspot is the high North Sea and Arctic. Does the Minister think that | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
having no large Royal Navy surface ships based in Scotland is the best | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
way to protect Scotland and to meet our obligations to our Nordic | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
neighbours and allies in the high North? All of our submarines, | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
including the nuclear deterrent, but that party wants to get rid of our | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
based in Scotland. Ships at sea is what we need not hiding imports. | :21:27. | :21:36. | |
Number five, Mr Speaker. The department's career transition | :21:37. | :21:39. | |
partnership provides a robust and effective system to protect service | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
personnel entering the civilian workforce. It provides one-to-one | :21:43. | :21:50. | |
advice and guidance and training opportunities to 15,000 service | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
personnel each year. It is entirely unacceptable that the unemployment | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
rate for veterans should be a third higher than that for non-veterans. | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
Service personnel have said to me they find it difficult to translate | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
their important experience on the battlefield into the softer skills | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
that industry requires to date, such as teamwork, management, | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
communications except. What is he specifically doing to address that? | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
I have no idea with the honourable lady gets her facts from -- where | :22:21. | :22:28. | |
the honourable lady gets facts from. 85% of bird service personnel find | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
implement within six months which is 10% higher than the UK population. | :22:34. | :22:41. | |
Service leavers have been highly trained and possess highly | :22:42. | :22:44. | |
transferable skills which add value to any company. What more can be | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
done to ensure that civilian employers understand the value of | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
former service personnel? I think this is exactly where the Armed | :22:54. | :22:56. | |
Forces covenant comes in and why we must be so careful in the size when | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
he seemed determined sometimes to talk our veterans died. The sort of | :23:02. | :23:04. | |
skills that they can bring to civilian companies are very valuable | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
and something that reinforced by that 95% of our recruits join an | :23:10. | :23:17. | |
apprenticeship scheme. Our affair printer some of the most | :23:18. | :23:20. | |
hard-working dedicated and experienced men and women that any | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
employer could ask for yet many of us have heard troubling stories of | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
discrimination against former service men and women in the jobs | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
market. Does the Minister agree that we should act to make discrimination | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
against the forces community are legal in order to protect our | :23:37. | :23:38. | |
service personnel from any prejudice service personnel from any prejudice | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
they may face? I welcome him to the dispatch box and couldn't agree more | :23:44. | :23:46. | |
with his opening comments and perhaps he needs to educate his | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
colleagues about that. This is precisely why we have the Armed | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
Forces covenant because this is what we are trying to do through that | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
mechanism to ensure that the value of veterans is fully understood but | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
the wider society. Question number six. Ministers have regular | :24:02. | :24:08. | |
discussions with international counterparts on Nato's 2% of GDP | :24:09. | :24:14. | |
spending target. It is important that all Nato allies meet the 2% | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
commitment then made at the wheel summit in 2014. Can the Minister | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
name which of our Nato allies do not currently spend 2% of GDP on defence | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
and what excuses are given for not doing so? Click 23 that don't spent | :24:30. | :24:41. | |
2% would take too long to list, but I can reassure my honourable friend | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
that the five that to meet the 2% target by the US, the UK, Poland, | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
Greece and Estonia and I'm sure my honourable friend can't deduce the | :24:52. | :24:59. | |
absentees. Germany currently spends 1.23% of GDP, 36 billion euros. This | :25:00. | :25:07. | |
then 2% it would need to almost double that to 60 billion euros. | :25:08. | :25:17. | |
Does the Minister appreciate that are rearmed Germany would | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
concern to some of their neighbours, concern to some of their neighbours, | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
but also to Russia? It would in fact potentially increase the difficulty | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
is that we face with tensions on the Russian border? With the greatest | :25:31. | :25:38. | |
respect, we think it is incredibly important that all of the countries | :25:39. | :25:45. | |
that are members of Nato, that share the responsibility, joint | :25:46. | :25:47. | |
responsibility, for the defence of the Alliance have all committed to | :25:48. | :25:54. | |
spend 2% at the Nato conference in Wales in 2014 and we welcome the | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
fact that there are now eight further countries that are on a | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
clear trajectory to me that 2% and we continue to have discussions, | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
ministers across all departments of government, to encourage them to | :26:08. | :26:15. | |
reach that 2%. I thought that was an extraordinary statement about | :26:16. | :26:18. | |
Germany, I'd associate myself from her remarks. How many people come to | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
the dispatch box to say the same thing? Some of our European partners | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
take this whole thing for granted and know that we are the Americans | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
picked up the bill. What are we going to do to get them to pay what | :26:33. | :26:39. | |
they should pay? I like to reassure my honourable friend that there is | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
progress, five countries now meet the 2% target, up from three in | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
2014. There are now ten countries that meet the 20% pledge on major | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
equipment and research and the cuts to defence spending overall have | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
been halted. I'm sure that everyone could agree with the sentiments | :27:00. | :27:02. | |
expressed that we cannot reiterate this too often, that we do hope that | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
everyone will reach the 2% pledge soon. Last month the International | :27:09. | :27:15. | |
Institute for strategic studies concluded that the government had | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
missed the 2% Nato defence spending target and would have missed it by | :27:21. | :27:23. | |
even more evident not included budgetary having such as pensions | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
that do not contribute to our defence capabilities and were not | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
included when Labour was in government. Is it not time that we | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
went back to the criteria used for defence spending when this party was | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
in power so we may give our Armed Forces the resources they need. I | :27:42. | :27:50. | |
wonder if he has read the report of a Roman House of Commons Select | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
Committee which says that they commend the UK Government's | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
commitment to UK defence and finds that it's accounting criteria for | :28:00. | :28:02. | |
firmly within existing native guidelines as does Nato itself. What | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
would be worrying is that we followed his party who wants to see | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
cuts to defence spending, abandonment of our Nato allies and | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
scrapping of the nuclear deterrent. May I suggest there is one way she | :28:16. | :28:27. | |
could avoid these arguments and that is to recognise that the last time | :28:28. | :28:29. | |
we faced threats I appreciate my honourable friend's | :28:30. | :28:52. | |
campaign but we are proud of the fact that we are spending more than | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
the 2% and we have a growing defence budget for the first time for many | :28:58. | :29:04. | |
years and we are on track to have a ?178 billion equipment plan over the | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
next decade. With permission, I would like to answer this question. | :29:12. | :29:17. | |
Iraqi forces continue to make good progress against Daesh. Yesterday, | :29:18. | :29:27. | |
RAF Typhoon is supported them by demolishing a Daesh base. There are | :29:28. | :29:40. | |
ten kilometres from the stronghold in Raqqa. Can my right honourable | :29:41. | :29:48. | |
friend confirm that British forces and the coalition will continue to | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
maintain pressure on Daesh and develop plans? Yes, we want to keep | :29:52. | :30:01. | |
up the pressure on both. Forces are making good progress. Senior | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
coalition officers, including from the UK, are working on how the | :30:08. | :30:22. | |
coalition might support Raqqa. Recent reports from Iraqi state that | :30:23. | :30:28. | |
mass graves have been uncovered in territory formerly held by Daesh. | :30:29. | :30:35. | |
Can I ask the Ministry of Defence what support they are offering the | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
Iraqi government to ensure these perpetrators are brought to justice | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
swiftly? I'm grateful to the honourable lady. We are working to | :30:45. | :30:53. | |
see how we can accumulate the evidence of those from Daesh, so | :30:54. | :30:56. | |
they can be properly brought to justice, either in Iraqi or | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
elsewhere. Will my right honourable friend update the house on how the | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
coalition is monitoring the dispersal of Daesh fighters from | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
Iraqi to other theatres? We work with other countries in the region | :31:14. | :31:18. | |
to coordinate efforts to manage the threat posed by the dispersal of | :31:19. | :31:25. | |
fighters. Around 30-40,000 extremists around the world travel | :31:26. | :31:32. | |
to Syria and Iraq. Many will be killed in combat or relocate to | :31:33. | :31:41. | |
other areas. Our current assessment is the large-scale dispersal is | :31:42. | :31:49. | |
unlikely. Independent monitors report the International coalition | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
has killed as many as 370 civilians in air strikes in one month. Have | :31:53. | :32:00. | |
they investigated these claims and can they us that the UK deaths will | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
not include that the UK strikes will not include this? The Royal air | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
force make every effort to minimise the risk of civilian casualties. We | :32:12. | :32:18. | |
work very closely with organisations where there are allegations that | :32:19. | :32:21. | |
civilians have died as a result of coalition air strikes and we want to | :32:22. | :32:24. | |
see those allegations fully investigated. Can my right | :32:25. | :32:30. | |
honourable friend reassure the house we've done everything to help local | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
and indigenous forces on the ground in relation to the liberation of | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
Mosul and elimination of Daesh, not only equipment but access to medical | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
care, what they are doing with their wounded, expertise... I can give my | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
honourable friend that assurance and I'm proud British forces have | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
trained nearly 40,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops. Much of that | :32:59. | :33:06. | |
training has been devoted to reducing the casualties they are | :33:07. | :33:15. | |
likely to face and the operations to liberate Mosul. We've obviously seen | :33:16. | :33:27. | |
significant progress in Mosul and I'm sure the house joins us in | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
sending praise and gratitude to those serving. I wonder what you can | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
tell me we are learning from her success to apply them to the battle? | :33:38. | :33:47. | |
I will do my best. The campaign in Mosul is particularly complicated. | :33:48. | :33:52. | |
Mosul, the West in particular, is a dense urban area, twice the density | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
of the East, and precision strikes are all the more difficult for | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
coalition aircraft. But as the campaign goes on, the use of | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
precision air power and the training the Iraqi forces have received make | :34:09. | :34:15. | |
it more likely they will be successful, both in Iraq and in | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
Syria. What can be done to ensure that liberated Sunni communities | :34:21. | :34:27. | |
will be embraced by the political economy of Iraq? My honourable | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
friend is absolutely right that we need to stabilise these areas as | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
quickly as possible, not simply in giving them access to essential | :34:36. | :34:42. | |
services but in encouraging process to ensure the SUNY areas -- the | :34:43. | :34:49. | |
Sunni areas, that they feel they have a sufficient stake in the | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
future development of Iraqi. That is a point I made to the Prime Minister | :34:54. | :35:04. | |
of Iraqi. Has the UK Government received any requests from allies to | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
deploy drone troops in and around the fight against Daesh and if this | :35:10. | :35:15. | |
came in would the parliament have an opportunity to vote on it? I've been | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
clear with this house that we are not committing combat troops to | :35:20. | :35:27. | |
Syria. I referred to coalition commanders. We are not committing | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
combat troops to the fight in Syria and if we did we would come back to | :35:33. | :35:39. | |
Parliament. Would my right honourable friend confirm the | :35:40. | :35:47. | |
importance we place on our collaboration with the Egyptian | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
government and their fight against Daesh? I can confirm that. I met the | :35:53. | :35:59. | |
chief of defence staff of rejects on his recent visit to this country and | :36:00. | :36:07. | |
Egypt has a big part to play in ensuring the different factions and | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
loyalties in Libya can be brought together for a political settlement | :36:13. | :36:19. | |
in the country. On my recent visit to Cyprus I was very pleased to meet | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
the crews who work night and day to keep up the fight. I'm concerned | :36:25. | :36:33. | |
there is currently no specific medal to recognise the dedication and | :36:34. | :36:35. | |
bravery of the service men and women available. They are protecting | :36:36. | :36:45. | |
citizens from the threat posed by Daesh. Will the Secretary of State | :36:46. | :36:49. | |
commits to recognising the service with a specific medal? I am glad the | :36:50. | :36:57. | |
honourable lady had a successful visit and I'm sure the house will | :36:58. | :37:03. | |
join her in recognising and thanking our brave service men and women who | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
have committed tirelessly to this campaign. So far as the issue of the | :37:11. | :37:18. | |
medal is concerned, we are keeping that under review and as soon as a | :37:19. | :37:27. | |
decision is made on the appropriate recognition, an announcement will be | :37:28. | :37:37. | |
made to the house. It is heartening to see the progress being made to | :37:38. | :37:47. | |
liberate morsel, and yet we know this was only part of the campaign. | :37:48. | :37:55. | |
As the focus will turn to Syria, can the Secretary of State tell us in | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
greater detail what role he expects the RAF to play in the battle for | :38:00. | :38:09. | |
Daesh strongholds? It is important to recognise that Daesh have lost a | :38:10. | :38:12. | |
considerable amount of ground in Syria as well as Iraqi. They play a | :38:13. | :38:24. | |
major part in carrying out precision strikes as recently as yesterday. We | :38:25. | :38:32. | |
will continue to play that part, providing precision air strikes, | :38:33. | :38:35. | |
gathering intelligence from the hour and are doing what we can to make | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
sure that they are driven out of Syria. The strategy strengthens the | :38:42. | :38:54. | |
historic role of the Navy. Royal Navy ships are deployed around the | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
globe, supporting economic interests. I believe she was waving | :39:02. | :39:09. | |
the flag for Britain and our exports with HMS Penzance in Abu Dhabi. | :39:10. | :39:16. | |
Doesn't she agree it is not just protecting the seaways but also | :39:17. | :39:23. | |
waving the flag and promoting exports. I was delighted to be | :39:24. | :39:36. | |
welcomed on board HMS Penzance and thank the crew for the valuable | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
contribution they are making. The Royal Navy will deploy ships. Only | :39:41. | :39:51. | |
last week, HMS Ocean visited Beirut, acting as a showcase for Midlands | :39:52. | :40:00. | |
industry. When the United Kingdom leaves the EU, can my right | :40:01. | :40:08. | |
honourable friend assure me that we will have enough Royal Navy ships to | :40:09. | :40:14. | |
ensure that our assurers and trade routes and commitments are met? He's | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
right to highlight the importance of the Royal Navy. It prepares to | :40:22. | :40:30. | |
welcome submarines, frigates, aircraft. | :40:31. | :40:37. | |
Number nine, Mr Speaker. The MoD is conducting assessments at sites | :40:38. | :40:45. | |
which is expected to take between 12 and 18 months to complete. Good | :40:46. | :40:55. | |
progress is being made. In launching the review, the Minister said that | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
it would release land to boost local economies. The disposal of land has | :41:00. | :41:10. | |
to follow Treasury guidelines, but for example in his own constituency | :41:11. | :41:17. | |
I am glad that Angus Council have expressed an interest in purchasing | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
the land and delighted that progress is continuing on Thursday when our | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
officials will meet council officials. I wonder what | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
consideration has been given to the deuce of the Ballykeel site in | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
Northern Ireland for social housing or housing for veterans in Northern | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
Ireland? There have been discussions recently over the potential use of | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
the accommodation at that site and those discussions will continue. The | :41:46. | :41:52. | |
honourable member for Sleaford and North Hykeham is also a doctor and | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
erroneously the fact that she a doctor was not listed on the paper, | :41:57. | :42:02. | |
so I hope that won't happen again. Doctor Caroline Johnson. | :42:03. | :42:12. | |
Questionable ten, Mr Speaker. In 2015 the government committed ?50 | :42:13. | :42:15. | |
million to increase the number of cadet units in the UK state school | :42:16. | :42:22. | |
sector. This joint Ministry of Defence and Department for Education | :42:23. | :42:29. | |
project targeted areas of social and economic deprivation. We are on | :42:30. | :42:38. | |
target to hit 500 by 2020. The Lincolnshire Army Cadet Force to | :42:39. | :42:41. | |
valuable work with young people, particularly the two Squadron | :42:42. | :42:44. | |
detachment based on Sleaford. I am delighted that so many people in the | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
county have a chance to become a cadet that this is not the case | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
everywhere. Can he confirmed that he will prioritise approval of new | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
units in areas where young people do not have the opportunity to become a | :42:58. | :43:04. | |
cadet? I was an academic and Army before I joined the Armed Forces so | :43:05. | :43:13. | |
I need to declare an interest. Can I say to my honourable friend that | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
this on Georges and can be in her constituency has expressed an | :43:19. | :43:21. | |
interest and we hope to give them an indication in the autumn if that has | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
been approved. Question number 11. Add better defence estate is a | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
military led review. The estate optimisation was developed in | :43:33. | :43:35. | |
consultation with senior military officers to optimise the vent in the | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
structure to better support military capability. The MoD will continue to | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
engage with local authorities to maximise local economic development | :43:45. | :43:47. | |
as well as value for money for defence. It would result in over 500 | :43:48. | :43:55. | |
civilian and contractor jobs lost in York, a local economy already | :43:56. | :43:58. | |
struggling. Why isn't the Minister of following JSP 507 which | :43:59. | :44:05. | |
determines that a social impact assessment has to take place first | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
and work across government to make sure we can secure jobs in York. The | :44:10. | :44:16. | |
site she talks about is due for disposal in 2031, in 14 years. We | :44:17. | :44:21. | |
will be following all due process but the economic impact is as much a | :44:22. | :44:25. | |
useful document for the local authority to see what gaps may come | :44:26. | :44:28. | |
as a result of the estate being closed so we can work closely with | :44:29. | :44:35. | |
local authority so we can move forward. Further Jim meeting last | :44:36. | :44:39. | |
week with the Minister regarding housing at Ballykeel and army camp | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
and further to the question from the honourable member for South Antrim, | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
good the Minister detail the nature of those further discussions and | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
what detail will be provided to ensure that those houses are | :44:55. | :45:03. | |
released to meet unmet housing need? We did discuss this in detail last | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
week so I think it is perhaps that ice will simply do as I said I would | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
do in that meeting and write to June course. Question number 12. I have | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
regular discussions with the Chancellor, burst Spending Review | :45:19. | :45:21. | |
about spending plans for the remainder of this Parliament. The | :45:22. | :45:24. | |
Chancellor confirmed last Wednesday that the government is committed to | :45:25. | :45:29. | |
growing the defence budget and not .5% inflation each year until 2021. | :45:30. | :45:40. | |
The defence budget will rise from ?35 billion this year. Almost ?40 | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
billion by the end of this Parliament. Why does the | :45:45. | :45:50. | |
government's defence spending return to Nato include ?1 billion of | :45:51. | :45:57. | |
civilian pensions? These don't contribute to our defence and were | :45:58. | :46:00. | |
not included under a Labour government. Concern over these | :46:01. | :46:05. | |
accounting tricks undermine confidence in our defence spending | :46:06. | :46:13. | |
targets. The returned that we make to Nato captures all of the spending | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
that false to the defence budget and it is for Nato to decide whether | :46:19. | :46:24. | |
that return is properly completed. A committee of the size find the | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
accounting criteria but falls firmly within existing Nato guidelines. | :46:30. | :46:32. | |
Question number 16. As part of an ongoing programme on | :46:33. | :46:47. | |
land that is surplus to defence requirements is sold in accordance | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
set at the Treasury. This release of site supports the department's | :46:53. | :46:55. | |
contributing to the public sector land release target to help the | :46:56. | :47:03. | |
housing shortage and contribute to economic development. Some people | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
will be concerned with the release of MoD land but I think for people | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
who want a home or business premises, this can't come quickly | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
enough. Indeed. I would point the hosted the recent sale of the whole | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
Abington site and I'm delighted that was Bob Iser James Dyson. While it | :47:24. | :47:26. | |
may not be going directly to housing it will become the Dyson global | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
Randy Hub which will bring much-needed economic development to | :47:32. | :47:35. | |
the area. Topical questions. Niall Carmichael. Our priorities remain | :47:36. | :47:44. | |
operations against Daesh and implementing a Strategic Defence | :47:45. | :47:48. | |
Review. Last Thursday her mad to see the Queen and build a monument to | :47:49. | :47:51. | |
the surface sacrifice of our Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. For | :47:52. | :47:55. | |
too long those troops faced false allegations made by Mr Phil Shiner | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
and my department supplied evidence that finally saw him struck off last | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
month. I am therefore pleased to confirm that the Iraq historic | :48:08. | :48:11. | |
allegations team will close by the summer. With Sweden announcing they | :48:12. | :48:20. | |
are planning and reintroducing conscription, does that signal and | :48:21. | :48:23. | |
awareness from countries like Sweden that there is an increasing problem | :48:24. | :48:26. | |
from Russia and elsewhere and should that be translated for supporting 2% | :48:27. | :48:36. | |
of GDP in this supporting defence. Europe faces a wide range of | :48:37. | :48:44. | |
threats. European nations meet the capabilities to respond and the | :48:45. | :48:47. | |
funding to provide those capabilities. I'm reminded of a | :48:48. | :48:50. | |
meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers last week, of the | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
importance of all of us who are members of Nato of meeting that Nato | :48:56. | :49:03. | |
spending target. Outsourcing of public services frequently results | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
in lower levels of staffing, less continuity, less training and | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
vetting. Given that the MoD guard service was set up in the wake of | :49:12. | :49:14. | |
the 1989 bombing of the Royal Marines building in deal when 11 | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
Marines died and failures by private security firms were identified, will | :49:21. | :49:23. | |
the government recognised the sensitivity of the work done but the | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
MoD guards and abandon plans to privatise the service? Lefty make it | :49:28. | :49:33. | |
clear that we are currently considering the options for the | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
future provision of an effective unarmed guarding service throughout | :49:38. | :49:40. | |
the United Kingdom which at the moment is being provided by a | :49:41. | :49:46. | |
multiplicity of different services. The aim is to achieve maximum value | :49:47. | :49:50. | |
for money to ensure that we can focus resources on military | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
capability, but security remains a priority and no decisions will be | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
made which would compromise the security of our personnel, our | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
information or her physical assets. Can my right honourable friend is | :50:07. | :50:17. | |
recall a time when... When a deployment of British forces to Nato | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
has not been supported by the whole house? We have a long history of | :50:22. | :50:26. | |
supporting our allies. I am disappointed that the Leader of the | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
Opposition has described this week's defence of deployments to Estonia | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
and Poland as escalator really. I hope that the Shadow Defence | :50:37. | :50:39. | |
Secretary will take this opportunity to condemn those remarks today. The | :50:40. | :50:47. | |
Duke of Lancaster Regiment headquarters and Hussein will be | :50:48. | :50:50. | |
sold off well at 2nd Battalion woollies have of its complement of | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
soldiers moved onto short, just one regular infantry battalion in the | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
north-west by 2020. This regiment has no headquarters identified after | :51:02. | :51:06. | |
2022. What message does this government think that it serves to | :51:07. | :51:11. | |
serving service men and women in this part of the world? The best | :51:12. | :51:18. | |
message we can send is to that unit that they are one of the best units | :51:19. | :51:25. | |
in the British Army. We will support them all the way through and at the | :51:26. | :51:29. | |
same time we must get the best estates for the best parts of the | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
Army. 35 years on, our Armed Forces still play a vital role in | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
safeguarding security of the Falkland Islands and other British | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic. Can my right honourable | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
friend confirm that this government is committed to maintaining a strong | :51:48. | :51:49. | |
Armed Forces presence in the Falklands less Chamakh 35 years on | :51:50. | :51:57. | |
we not only continue but will enhance the protection of the | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
Falkland Islands and they know many honourable colleagues have visited | :52:02. | :52:04. | |
the boxers recently and see the excellent work that Armed Forces do | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
far away from home. We will continue to support them with the typhoons, | :52:09. | :52:11. | |
the rapier and the other battalions the rapier and the other battalions | :52:12. | :52:23. | |
that are there. But this is in my community have supplied the military | :52:24. | :52:29. | |
for six generations. The GK's Manufacturing industry is more than | :52:30. | :52:33. | |
capable but new Trident submarines and offshore patrol vessels are | :52:34. | :52:40. | |
being is built using foreign scale. When will a proper strategy be | :52:41. | :52:45. | |
developed so we can start supporting UK steel and manufacturing rather | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
than buying off-the-shelf from abroad? Of course we want to see UK | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
steel used wherever possible. That is why last year we published the | :52:57. | :53:00. | |
full pipeline of steel across the whole of government that we will be | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
needing. Of course we work with our suppliers to encourage them that | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
weather is available steel, to include British Steel producers in | :53:11. | :53:16. | |
the pipeline. These questions on the 30th of January I asked how many | :53:17. | :53:19. | |
people were currently working in defence procurement and what plans | :53:20. | :53:22. | |
the government has to reduce it. She has written to me and said that | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
11,500 people are working in procurement. Given that this equates | :53:28. | :53:33. | |
to a people per ship in the Royal Navy, 14 people per aircraft and the | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
royal air force and one procurement person per seven soldiers, will she | :53:39. | :53:41. | |
know say what steps the government will take to reduce this extremely | :53:42. | :53:50. | |
large number of people? I would like to emphasise to make honourable | :53:51. | :53:52. | |
friend that a lot of those people will be uniformed, so what happens | :53:53. | :53:57. | |
often is that they rotate through the teams that are involved in the | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
procurement because no one better than our uniformed personnel to | :54:04. | :54:06. | |
decide on the requirements that are needed, but he is absolutely right | :54:07. | :54:11. | |
that they are not immune to the need across the whole of the to continue | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
to find ways to spend more efficiently. Last week a report was | :54:18. | :54:24. | |
published demonstrating that the Royal Navy is no longer designed to | :54:25. | :54:29. | |
this have control of the north Atlantic. There is not a large | :54:30. | :54:36. | |
vessel based in Scotland. Will the strategic balance be addressed? Is | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
yet again the Scottish National Party want to run down the Royal | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
Navy and the fantastic work they are doing. What is important is our our | :54:46. | :54:54. | |
submarines there, our ships their question but yes, they are. The two | :54:55. | :55:00. | |
largest warships ever protrudes either Royal Navy are currently | :55:01. | :55:06. | |
being fitted out in Scotland. Scotland is much use today. Could he | :55:07. | :55:12. | |
take this opportunity to remind the house of the great defence benefits | :55:13. | :55:15. | |
to Scotland remaining part of the United Kingdom? Yes. I visited both | :55:16. | :55:24. | |
carriers last week, they will be huge assets to the Royal Navy and | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
for this country. Let us be clear, Scotland is getting all of the road | :55:30. | :55:33. | |
may be's submarines, it is getting a major army base and it is getting | :55:34. | :55:41. | |
huge investment at Lossiemouth with an additional typhoons quadrant and | :55:42. | :55:45. | |
the deployment of a new maritime patrol aircraft. Scotland plays a | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
huge part in the defence of the United Kingdom. The latest figures | :55:50. | :55:56. | |
from UK Armed Forces monthly show that while 6690 joined the reserve | :55:57. | :56:03. | |
in the last 12 months, over 5,000 left. What more is being done to | :56:04. | :56:08. | |
encourage the retention of the service is? We remain ahead of | :56:09. | :56:13. | |
target when it comes to recruiting our reserves but the key to | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
retention, I declare my hand as a serving reservists, is that we | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
continue to offer exciting opportunities and training within | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
the reserves. The Saudi-led Islamic military alliance to defeat Daesh | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
has grown from 34 members to 40 members. The role of Islamic | :56:36. | :56:41. | |
countries in defeating Daesh is key, can my right honourable friend tell | :56:42. | :56:44. | |
me what update he has from the Saudis on the progress made by the | :56:45. | :56:51. | |
Saudi coalition? The role that Saudi Arabia has taken in this in leading | :56:52. | :56:57. | |
the effort to discredit the so-called ideology of Daesh. League | :56:58. | :57:03. | |
2 are leading work here on strategic communications and we hosted | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
recently the latest coalition conference that brings together all | :57:08. | :57:11. | |
of our international efforts but I'm particularly pleased that this | :57:12. | :57:15. | |
campaign is being strengthened by the commitment of Saudi Arabia to | :57:16. | :57:21. | |
read this religion of its appalling extremism. | :57:22. | :57:30. | |
Following the answer from my honourable friend, can the minister | :57:31. | :57:39. | |
name which product British Steel is being used in to safeguard British | :57:40. | :57:47. | |
steelworkers jobs? I can inform him that we are committed to building | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
type 26 frigates and that forms part of the sideline. We know that our | :57:53. | :58:02. | |
main supplier is running a competition in which I believe five | :58:03. | :58:09. | |
UK firms are participating. Doctor Gillian Lewis. Did ministers see the | :58:10. | :58:21. | |
evidence given last Tuesday by four eminent professors of law indicating | :58:22. | :58:25. | |
there is no legal reason why a statute of limitations cannot be | :58:26. | :58:29. | |
brought in to prevent the founding of service personnel for Belfast | :58:30. | :58:39. | |
agreement related matters? Will ministers join with the committee by | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
working with us and giving evidence to us that enables a statute to be | :58:44. | :58:49. | |
brought forward? We've been following proceedings and my right | :58:50. | :58:59. | |
honourable friend's committee, we want any investigations to be fair, | :59:00. | :59:03. | |
balanced and proportionate given that 90% of the deaths were caused | :59:04. | :59:11. | |
by terrorists and not members of the security forces and we do not want | :59:12. | :59:15. | |
to see cases reopened unless there is new and credible evidence to | :59:16. | :59:25. | |
reopen them. We continue to hear stories of personnel without heating | :59:26. | :59:30. | |
or being unable to take a shower, as detailed in recent reports about the | :59:31. | :59:37. | |
Wellington Barracks. If the government really thinks it is | :59:38. | :59:40. | |
acceptable to leave brave service men and women in these conditions, | :59:41. | :59:47. | |
can they say this? We don't, which is precisely why we invested ?60 | :59:48. | :59:53. | |
million last year and will invest ?80 million this year. No service | :59:54. | :00:04. | |
home that does not meet the standards, service personnel are not | :00:05. | :00:10. | |
allowed in it. Part of my constituency has a large amount of | :00:11. | :00:13. | |
land which will be available for housing. Will the Minister meet with | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
me to discuss ways this can be released for urgently needed | :00:18. | :00:25. | |
housing? I would be delighted. Can the Defence Secretary tell us what | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
discussions he had with the US government about the announcement | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
over the weekend of the deployment of hundreds of US Marines to Syria, | :00:34. | :00:42. | |
what their purpose is and what cooperation will take place? I did a | :00:43. | :00:49. | |
review of the campaign in Syria with the Defence Secretary at our meeting | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
in Brussels a couple of weeks ago. We are not deploying combat troops | :00:54. | :01:03. | |
but the United States is committing more support forces and working as | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
part of the international coalition to ensure they have all the | :01:09. | :01:17. | |
assistance and advice they need. Could the Secretary of State confirm | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
that the deep maintenance of the engines of all British F 35 fighters | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
will be done in Turkey and what, if any of the concerns, will be done? I | :01:30. | :01:40. | |
can follow up with the honourable gentleman but can say that North | :01:41. | :01:49. | |
Wales has been selected as the global hub for all maintenance and | :01:50. | :02:03. | |
repair of avionics. We've seen there is a kill list targeting UK | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
citizens. What happens to the commitment to come to the house at | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
the earliest opportunity and does the kill list extend beyond | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
geographical areas where military action has been authorised by this | :02:19. | :02:30. | |
house? Those involved in supporting Daesh are liable to be killed by | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
coalition forces and those who pose a very direct threat to this country | :02:37. | :02:44. | |
are also likely, if there is no way to forestall that threat, to be | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
targeted. Even if the defence strategy was implemented in full | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
there would still be an ?8.5 billion budget shortfall. The strategy is | :02:58. | :03:05. | |
absolutely fit for purpose and has been based on delivering military | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
capability. We have less estate to look after and we can reinvest over | :03:11. | :03:22. | |
the next 20 years. I would like to inform the host that we are visited | :03:23. | :03:30. | |
today by the Catholic Archbishop of Burma, a country with which we have | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
a programme of Parliamentary building. It is a delight to have | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
him during our proceedings. It is the second time he's come in recent | :03:43. | :03:45. | |
months. He clearly cannot get enough of us and I'm sure colleagues will | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
want to impress the great man with the decency of their behaviour. | :03:51. | :03:58. | |
Point of order, Patrick Grady. I would like to seek your guidance | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
regarding the Convention of members notifying each other when they visit | :04:03. | :04:05. | |
constituencies. On Saturday morning on the way to my surgery I came out | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
of Hillhead subway station and met some very wet Labour supporters and | :04:10. | :04:18. | |
when I said, are you waiting for someone special, they said they were | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
not. Then I read on social media that the right honourable member for | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
Islington had visited that street and undertaken a walkabout. I | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
received no notification of this. I understand they sent an e-mail to my | :04:34. | :04:34. |