27 Oct 11. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Performance: Committee Meeting. The Foreign Affairs Committee is to conduct an Inquiry into FCO Performance and Finances. The first of two evidence sessions is to take place on Tue 8 Nov 11 at 10.10hrs in Committee Room 21, Palace of Westminster (room subject to change). (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 11/42, 31 Oct 11)
27 Oct 11. Defence Committee, Select Committee ORAL EVIDENCE: Operations in Libya. Change of Witnesses. Wednesday 26 October 2011. Committee Room 8, Palace of Westminster Witnesses:
At 2.30 pm
* Nick Harvey MP, Minister for the Armed Forces
* Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope GCB OBE ADC, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff
* Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton KCB ADC, Chief of the Air Staff
* Lieutenant General Richard Barrons CBE, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations)
House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 26 Oct 2011
Arms Trade: Exports
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which (a) Ministers and (b) officials from his Department attended the recent Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition. [76645]
Peter Luff: The exhibition was attended by the previous Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), the Minister for International Security Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Mr Howarth), the Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Mr Robathan), the Under Secretary of State for Defence, my noble Friend Lord Astor of Hever and myself. A wide range of officials at various grades attended from the Ministry of Defence including: the Permanent Secretary, the Chief of Defence Material, the Chief of the Naval Staff, the Chief of the General Staff, and the Chief of the Air Staff.
BAE Systems
Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what effect the recent redundancies announced by BAE Systems have had on his industrial strategy for defence.
Peter Luff: UK industry plays a vital role in equipping and supporting our armed forces. A White Paper setting out the Government’s approach to equipment, support and technology issues in the defence and security areas will be published later in the year.
European Fighter Aircraft
Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of the potential effects on levels of employment of a slow-down in orders for tranche 3A of the Eurofighter.
Peter Luff: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 17 October 2011, Official Report, column 600W. Members: Correspondence
Military Bases: Radioactive Waste
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reason the clean-up of radioactive contamination arising from radioactive luminous dials from redundant military aircraft dismantled at Donibristle military airfield at Dalgety Bay in Fife was not included in the programme of work described in his Department’s Nuclear Liabilities Management Strategy published in September 2011.
Mr Robathan: The Nuclear Liabilities Management Strategy deals with the liabilities which have arisen from the Defence Nuclear programme, which covers the building and operating of nuclear submarines and the manufacture and management of nuclear weapons. The former Royal Naval Air Station Donibristle did not form any part of either the current or historic Defence Nuclear programme. Consequently, the aircraft dismantling activities in question and the potential for radioactive land contamination associated with luminous dials fall outside of the scope of the strategy and have therefore not been included.
Radioactive Waste
Mr Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish any advice obtained by his Department in relation to the risk to health from radioactive pollution found at Dalgety Bay in Fife.
Mr Robathan: We are curren