Every parliamentary written question tabled by James Cartlidge this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 3,141–3,160 of 3,402 · this parliament
If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his timetable for reaching 2.5% GDP of expenditure on helicopter pilot training in the armed forces.
The Government remains committed to setting a path to spending 2.5% of GDP at a future fiscal event. Budget allocations will be set in the usual way and informed by the findings of the Strategic Defence Review.
How many Research and Development programmes were listed under the Defence Sourcing Portal in the last twelve months.
There were 114 Invitation To Tender (ITTs) published on the Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) in the last twelve months (01/11/2023 to 31/10/2024). These ITTs were listed under the category of Research and Development services.
If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his timetable for reaching 2.5% GDP of expenditure on engineer retention in the armed forces.
The Government is committed to setting a path to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence at a future fiscal event. Budget allocations will be set in the usual way and informed by the findings of the Strategic Defence Review.
What recent discussions he has had with the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is fully engaged with NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) programme across all areas in which the UK is supporting DIANA initiatives, including strategic direction, challenge formation and rapid adoption.As the host of the European Regional Office of DIANA, the UK MOD and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office retains a close working relationship with the DIANA Executive to ensure we meet our responsibilities on duty of care to NATO International Staff living and working in the UK.
Whether he plans to continue providing funding for NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic into 2025/26.
The UK remains committed to funding NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), as part of its wider commitment to NATO.As the host of the European Regional Office of DIANA, the UK has been a champion of this initiative, additionally committing an affiliated UK Accelerator and bolstering access to national test centres across the UK to innovators and start-ups.DIANA's success is essential to ensure NATO remains agile and responsive to technological threats and opportunities.
When he plans that the GUARDIAN Air Command and Control system based in the UK will reach full operating capability.
The GUARDIAN Air Command and Control system based in the UK is expected to reach Full Operating Capability in 2026.
With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Fixing the foundations: public spending audit 2024-25, updated on 2 August 2024, whether the results of the Spending Review will be announced at a future fiscal event.
The results of ‘Phase 1’ of the Spending Review, announced in July, were laid with the Autumn Budget on 30 October. 'Phase 1’ covers the financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26. The Budget fixed the envelope for ‘Phase 2’ of the Spending Review, which will conclude in late spring 2025.
What is the cost of the Military Strategic Headquarters.
While the design and organisational structure of the future Military Strategic Head Quarters (MSHQ) is still in the development stage, it is expected that the creation of the MSHQ will be cost neutral and contained within the overall Defence budget.
If he will provide a breakdown of the additional money he will release for munitions procurement as part of the £2.9bn defence spending announced in the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024.
Future prioritisation will be determined in the usual way and in line with the findings of the Strategic Defence Review.
Whether the additional funding for Continuity of Education Allowance to compensate for introducing VAT on private school fees will come from the Ministry of Defence budget.
In line with how the Continuity of Education Allowance normally operates, the Ministry of Defence will continue to pay up to 90% of private school fees following the VAT changes on 1 January.
If he will make an estimate of the potential cost of funding pay rises for armed forces personnel in each of the next three financial years.
The cost of funding pay rises for Armed Forces personnel in future years will be subject to the recommendations of the Armed Forces Pay Review Board.
Whether he plans to (a) continue and (b) amend the Defence STEM Undergraduate scheme.
Defence is fully committed to encouraging and recruiting high quality STEM graduates. The Defence STEM Undergraduate Scheme (DSUS) is a key part of that, with enduring funding secured within the Departments Annual Budget Cycle (ABC) 24. Amendments to the DSUS will be considered as demands on Defence require it.
Whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies recommendation of the Haythornthwaite Review that the Armed Forces trial new total reward approaches for (a) engineers and (b) other key skills cohorts.
The Government is prioritising its response to the Armed Forces recruitment and retention challenge, and has taken action already to modernise recruitment processes and award our Armed Forces the largest pay increase in over two decades. The Haythornthwaite Review work-streams are being taken forward in our longer-term plans, and will be informed by the findings of the Strategic Defence Review. These include trials aimed at a wide engineering cohort, along with other measures to meet the needs of today’s Service people and their families.
When he plans that the GUARDIAN Air Command and Control system based in the Falklands will reach full operating capability.
The GUARDIAN Air Command and Control system based in the Falkland Islands reached Full Operating Capability in April 2024.
How many submissions have been received for the Strategic Defence Review.
Over 1,700 individuals and organisations responded providing over 8,000 answers across 23 Propositions. Respondents included Serving and retired members of the Armed Forces, the defence industry, the public, academics, Parliamentary colleagues, and our closest allies and partners, including NATO.
What role artificial intelligence has played in (a) sifting and (b) evaluating Strategic Defence Review submissions.
AI is helping the Strategic Defence Review team comprehend and analyse over 8,000 responses across the propositions, totalling over 2.2 million words. This is enhancing the review team's ability to focus on complex tasks, such as applying robust challenge to submissions through Panel Sessions during October and November. AI is not a replacement for human judgment, but an enabler of greater efficiency and one part of facilitating a more comprehensive Review Process. Decisions on drafting are solely made by the reviewers: Lord George Robertson, General Sir Richard Barrons and Dr Fiona Hill.
Pursuant to the Answer of 8 October to Question 5072 on National Grid: Costs, what estimate he has made of the potential impact on consumer energy bills of the lifetime costs of delivering the coordinated offshore design set out in the Offshore Coordination Support Scheme for East Anglia.
As part of the feasibility work for the coordination proposal explored through the Offshore Coordination Support Scheme, independent analysis by Arup and the Electricity System Operator (now the National Energy System Operator) identified an increase in development costs by up to £890 million, and additional constraint costs of greater than £1.5 billion over the project lifetime. While these costs would be expected to be recovered from consumer electricity bills, the interactions with other bill components mean there are uncertainties preventing a precise estimate of the impact.
How much financing his Department will contribute to the Chagos leasing settlement.
Details of the Treaty agreed between the UK and Mauritius will come before Parliament for scrutiny in the usual manner following its signature. It would be inappropriate to release further details at this stage.
Pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2024 to Question 3738 on Defence: Research, whether the spending review process will cover spending on defence research and development in (a) this financial year and (b) the next four financial years.
Spend on research and development will be covered within Departmental plans as part of the Spending Review process. The Chancellor has set out the time period to be covered by this process.
What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the agreement to cede sovereignty of the Chagos islands to Mauritius on the risk of espionage from hostile states.
The negotiations between the UK and Mauritius on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands were announced in the House of Commons on 3 November 2022 by the then Foreign Secretary. Their aim was to ensure the continued effective operation of the joint UK/US military base on Diego Garcia. We now have this historic agreement, that ends the uncertainty over the future of the base on Diego Garcia, which plays such a crucial role in regional and international security. We have full Mauritian backing for robust security arrangements, including preventing foreign armed forces from establishing themselves on the outer islands, or otherwise undermining the effective operation of the Base, meaning the base is more protected than ever from foreign malign influence in a more insecure world.