House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers
Defence Equipment: Procurement
Question for Ministry of Defence
Martin Docherty-Hughes
Scottish National Party
West Dunbartonshire
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the conclusions of the First Report of the Defence Committee, Ready for War?, HC 26, the Eighth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts, Improving Defence Inventory Management, HC 66, and the Nineteenth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts, MoD Equipment Plan 2023-33, HC 451.
Answer
James Heappey
Conservative
Wells
Commons
Answered on 21 March 2024
We welcome each of the reports on our Armed Forces Readiness, Inventory Management and the Equipment Plan. We are in the process of reviewing all the recommendations and formulating our responses to the reports.
NATO
Question for Ministry of Defence
Stephen Morgan
Labour
Portsmouth South
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK meets its obligations to NATO.
Answer
James Heappey
Conservative
Wells
Commons
Answered on 21 March 2024
The UK continues to be a leading ally in NATO. We contribute to every NATO mission and offer the full spectrum of our defence capabilities to the Alliance. We meet NATO’s Defence Investment Pledge to invest at least 2% of GDP on defence, and have done so in every year since 2006.
Naval Ships Delivery Group: Finance
Question for Ministry of Defence
Maria Eagle
Labour
Garston and Halewood
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for the Naval Ships Delivery Group in each year since 2019.
Answer
James Cartlidge
Conservative
South Suffolk
Commons
Answered on 20 March 2024
The Naval Ships Delivery Group was formed in 2020 as a part of the wider Ship Acquisition Directorate and has no separate centrally recorded budget. For these reasons the requested information is not held for any year prior to 2020, while for that and subsequent years it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Ukraine: Military Aid
Question for Ministry of Defence
Drew Hendry
Scottish National Party
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on joining Czechia’s artillery ammunition purchasing initiative to help support Ukraine.
Answer
James Heappey
Conservative
Wells
Commons
Answered on 20 March 2024
The Secretary of State regularly holds discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on the war in Ukraine and how we can continue to best support Ukraine going forward. As a NATO ally, we also engage directly with Czechia on matters of international security.
The UK remains fully engaged with the international capability coalitions and numerous other partners to understand where further opportunities may exist to increase our support to Ukraine. To date the UK has provided over 300,000 artillery shells to Ukraine, and has committed to delivering tens of thousands more this financial year (FY), and a further investment of £245 million on artillery ammunition in FY 2024-25.
Hybrid Warfare
Question for Ministry of Defence
Stephen Doughty
Labour
Cardiff South and Penarth
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to help improve the UK’s (a) awareness of and (b) responses to hybrid threats.
Answer
James Heappey
Conservative
Wells
Commons
Answered on 20 March 2024
State or hybrid threats prevent a real and evolving risk to the UK which can manifest in a wide range of forms. The activities of Ministry of Defence to counter state threats are fully integrated with HMG’s overall approach, which is co-ordinated by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office. The Ministry of Defence is investing significant time, resources and personnel to improve our capacity and capability to respond. We are enhancing integration across Defence and wider Government, as well as with allies, partners, and industry to respond to these threats effectively. We will continue to improve our understanding of current and potential threats, learn and share lessons in combatting them, and identify areas for cooperation, deconfliction and burden-sharing.