30 Oct 15. Defence Committee – Third Oral Evidence Session:
Flexible Response? An SDSR Checklist Of Potential Threats.
Tuesday 3 November 2015
Committee Room 15, Main Committee Corridor, House of Commons
Witnesses:
At 11.30am
• Dr Alia Brahimi, Visiting Fellow at the Oxford University Changing Character of War Programme
• Jon Marks, Chairman and Editorial Director, Cross-border Information Ltd;
At 12.15pm
• Edward Schwarck, Royal United Services Institute
• Dr Igor Sutyagin, Royal United Services Institute
• Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London
This is the second session for this inquiry. Discussion will concentrate on the regional threats. The purpose of the session is to understand current and emerging threats from a regional perspective.
House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers
Q
Asked by Cat Smith
(Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Asked on: 28 October 2015
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence: Saudi Arabia
13794
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what training is provided to officials of his Department working on the Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Programme and the Saudi Arabia National Guard Communications Project on responding to whistleblowers from the private sector.
A
Answered by: Mr Philip Dunne
Answered on: 05 November 2015
Members of the MOD Saudi Armed Forces Projects (MODSAP) and Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications (SANGCOM) Project attend a mandatory bribery and fraud awareness workshop which explains current legislation in this area, assists members to understand their responsibilities under the provisions of the legislation and identifies areas of risk of bribery and fraud within the workplace. This training highlights the statutory protection against dismissal and victimisation provided to whistleblowers under the provisions of the Public Disclosure Act 1998 and provides advice on reporting suspicious activity.
Q
Asked by Dr Paul Monaghan
(Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Asked on: 28 October 2015
Ministry of Defence
Nuclear Submarines: Iron and Steel
13886
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2015 to the hon. Member for Reigate to Question 12151, whether he plans for the boats built to replace the nuclear submarine fleet to be built with steel manufactured in the UK.
A
Answered by: Mr Philip Dunne
Answered on: 05 November 2015
Steel for key defence programmes, including submarines, is sourced from a range of suppliers. It is the responsibility of prime contractors to obtain the steel required to complete MOD programmes at a competitive cost, within time constraints and to the required quality.
I expect a range of UK suppliers and others will be invited to bid and provide steel for the Successor programme.
Q
Asked by Toby Perkins
(Chesterfield)
Asked on: 28 October 2015
Ministry of Defence
Defence Equipment
13934
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which of the items of equipment referred to in UK Defencein Numbers, published by his Department in August 2015, are (a) not capable of use on the front line and (b) have been retired.
A
Answered by: Mr Philip Dunne
Answered on: 05 November 2015
The Defence in Numbers booklet is a snap shot of the UK’s Defence capability and how we are spending the fifth largest Defence budget in the world. As well as giving details on civilian and personnel numbers and current operations, it also includes a list of the Ministry of Defence’s equipment holdings, the vast majority of which are in service and deployable. We will continue to review the Defence in Numbers booklet to ensure that it best reflects the breadth of defence equipment.
The pieces of equipment listed in the Defence in Numbers booklet that are not capable for use on the front-line are: Jet provost aircraft, BAE-125 aircraft, Wessex helicopters, Challenger 1 battle tanks, FH70 Towed Howitzers and Chieftain Armoured Vehicl