Topical Questions

Answer from Ben Wallace

I would like to update the House on the exciting progress of the United Kingdom's future combat air system programme, Tempest. At Farnborough international airshow this week, our industry and international partners are showcasing the new FCAS capabilities, demonstrating the momentum we have achieved. Today, I can announce that a flying demonstrator aircraft is being developed by the UK MOD and Italian industry. This piloted combat air demonstrator will fly for the first time within the next five years and is an important step in ensuring that our technology skills and industrial capability are ready for the future.

Answer from Ben Wallace

I reassure my hon. Friend that he will have plenty of opportunity to lobby on behalf of his constituents and others in the south-west. The new medium helicopter competition will align with the defence and security industrial strategy; the contract notice and dynamic pre-qualification questionnaire were released on 18 May this year and responses are now being evaluated to determine a shortlist of credible suppliers.

Answer from Ben Wallace

I am grateful for the right hon. Gentleman's interest. It is an incredibly important allegation that has been made, which none of us takes lightly. Mr Speaker, you waived at the time the sub judice rule; as the right hon. Gentleman will know, there is a matter before the courts that may determine that timetable and precludes my guessing when I can make certain decisions.

Answer from Ben Wallace

Our plans are to keep Scotland within the United Kingdom, because it is in the best interests of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales to all be part of a greater Union providing security for each other.

Answer from Ben Wallace

Indeed it does not, and the hon. Gentleman is perfectly at liberty to table a motion and have a debate in this House. The key is making sure that democratically elected Ministers in this House have oversight of our special forces, and we are also bound by law in the same way that anyone else is.

Answer from James Heappey

We learn an awful lot from watching the way that modern conflict is being prosecuted in Ukraine, and that is indeed shaping our analysis of the stockpiles we need to hold, particularly given the intensity of the modern artillery battle.

Answer from Leo Docherty

I recently met the families, alongside the Prime Minister. I committed at that meeting to instruct the MOD to look afresh at the case to be made, and that work is ongoing.

Answer from Leo Docherty

I thank my hon. Friend for his question and for the work he does for the armed forces in his constituency. Of course this a very serious matter, so I am happy to confirm that we will look at it and I will write to him.

Answer from James Heappey

Those are not concerns that I have heard reflected. I have visited the artillery training at Rollestone camp, and will visit Knook camp in Wiltshire with my Ukrainian counterpart tomorrow. While my experience of interpreters has been amazingly positive, if there are any shortcomings they will be rectified.

Answer from Leo Docherty

I thank my hon. Friend for his characteristic support for armed forces personnel and veterans in his constituency. The hub is important, and people should be made aware of opportunities from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.

Answer from Ben Wallace

I will invest in whatever furthers Britain's national interest. The hon. Gentleman should understand the importance of the royal yacht, particularly its popularity in Edinburgh where it is currently tied up.

Answer from Leo Docherty

The strategy is an important piece of work launched in January. We acknowledge the recruitment of personnel and retention of families, aiming to give them flexibility and choice, with updates planned.

Answer from Jeremy Quin

I do agree. The RAF has an ambition to be net zero by 2040, and we are investing £2.35 billion into the European common radar system. Scottish companies have opportunities to bring forward initiatives like this one.

Answer from Ben Wallace

Some characteristics were not in the speech. The Chief of the General Staff did not say it was perverse to cut 10,000 troops but did mention a 1937 moment, referring to ensuring that forces are relevant to modern technology.

Answer from Leo Docherty

We look forward to making an announcement in due course.

Answer from Jeremy Quin

In a packed programme, I will do my utmost to visit the JEDHub centre. My right hon. Friend's report recommended this hub.

Answer from Leo Docherty

It is all about fairness, we must not disadvantage any comparable British soldier. Currently there are no plans to extend this measure to family members.

Answer from Ben Wallace

We are able to do that, and where we do not have our own stocks, alongside international partners and donors we scour the world to find them and make sure that we have them. Ukraine and Russia are both discovering that a prolonged battle is very hard to manage with their own stocks. Russia is now using very old equipment, some of which came out in the 1950s, and using it incorrectly—for example, using equipment designed to kill a ship to hit a building.

Answer from Leo Docherty

We take these issues extremely seriously. That is why we have invested more than £936 million in service family accommodation in the last seven years, and there is more coming. Under the future accommodation model, we want to give choice, flexibility, and accommodation of the highest possible standard to those living in service family accommodation.

Answer from Leo Docherty

It was my great pleasure to be at that meeting, and I am happy to write to the hon Lady with an update.

Answer from Jeremy Quin

We are looking closely at how we take forward MROSS. As the hon Lady suggests, it was an important step to make that part of the defence Command Paper in spring '21. We said that we would ensure that we brought that capability into service, but we need to get it right, and considerable work is continuing on what exactly that capability should look like.

Answer from James Heappey

The hon Lady and I walked through the Lobby together the other week—it was one of the rare occasions on which we were in the same Lobby—and were able to discuss this case. I asked the team to look at it. ARAP is a very tightly bound scheme for those who worked with the British armed forces, and the person for whom she is advocating did not. There are other routes by which that person can come to this country, including through the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme, and I will make sure that she is connected with the appropriate Minister on that.

Answer from Ben Wallace

I took steps immediately to close the gap, if there was one, in that last year we purchased a significant number of new parachutes off the shelf. The hon Gentleman will be aware, given his interest in airborne forces, that both the German and French air forces have on numerous occasions jumped out of A400s, and it is odd that we have not yet done that, so that is not the reason why this matter has not progressed. We are making sure that we have the right equipment and the right training for pilots. We are on track to do that, but I will give him an update.

Answer from Ben Wallace

I welcome the hon Gentleman to the House. I would also like to pay tribute to his predecessor as the defence spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, the hon Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone). We served in the Scottish Parliament together, and he will be missed from this brief. On the point made by the hon Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Richard Foord), I think that is based on the new inflation rate. When we got our defence spending in the comprehensive spending review, the GDP deflator was at 1.5%. As a result, we have been compensated by the Treasury in the short term for inflationary pressures, but that will not show in the core budget until after the accounts are in. However, he is right to point out that inflationary pressures on a budget such as ours, with huge amounts of capital, will have an impact. We are taking steps to try to mitigate that, and I am looking forward to engaging with the new Prime Minister to make sure we get that mitigation.