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1547134

registered interest
date	30/11/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Arctic: Demilitarized and Neutral Zones
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the demilitarisation of the Arctic region.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL3878
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2022 answer text <p>As set out in the MOD's High North Strategy, The UK's Defence Contribution in the High North, published in March 2022, the UK is committed to maintaining low tension and high cooperation in the Arctic. The UK will continue to work with Allies and partners to ensure that increasing access to the region and its resources is managed safely, sustainably and responsibly, and that the rules-based international system, particularly UNCLOS, is reinforced in the region.</p><p> </p><p>The UK supports international cooperation in the High North through engaging in multilateral forums such as the Arctic Council and the Arctic Security Forces Roundtable.</p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 14/12/2022 17:31:14 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1540388

registered interest
date	07/11/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Autonomous Weapons
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Policy Paper Ambitious, safe, responsible: Our approach to the delivery of AI-enabled capability in Defence, published on 15 June, in particular the statement that "there must be context-appropriate human involvement in weapons which identify, select and attack targets", whether users need to understand the effects of using the weapons in each specific context for such use to be acceptable.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL3229
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2022 answer text <p>The MOD has set out a clear commitment to develop and use AI-enabled military capabilities - including, potentially, weapons systems - safely, responsibly, and ethically. This includes ensuring that commanders and the operators of AI-enabled systems are trained to understand the appropriate parameters of use in relation to their specific domain and operating context.</p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 21/11/2022 17:02:51 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1540389

registered interest
date	07/11/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Autonomous Weapons: Ethics
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC on autonomous weapons systems published on 12 May 2021, in particular the statement that "in light of ethical considerations to safeguard humanity and to uphold International Humanitarian Law, rules for the protection of civilians and combatants hors de combat, the use of autonomous weapons systems to target human beings should be ruled out"; and what assessment they have made of systems that identify people as targets based on (1) biometrics, and (2) perceived (a) gender, (b) race, and (c) age.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL3230
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2022 answer text <p>As we embed our Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy frameworks we will continue working with external stakeholders (including the International Committee of the Red Cross and our independent AI Ethics Advisory Panel) to ensure our approach reflects best practice and complies with our obligations. Systems that are designed to identify people as targets based on only biometrics, and perceived gender, race, and age are very unlikely to comply with the requirements of International Humanitarian Law.</p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 15/11/2022 14:00:13 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1540390

registered interest
date	07/11/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy: Autonomous Weapons
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to carry out a public consultation to inform (1) the implementation of the Defence Artificial Intelligence Strategy, and (2) any update to the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL3231
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2022 answer text <p>We do not intend to undertake public consultation on the whole implementation of the AI Strategy, though we will continue testing aspects of the approach with a range of stakeholders. A Downing Street process is currently underway to update the Integrated Review led by Professor John Bew, the Prime Minister's special adviser for foreign affairs and defence. The update is expected to be published by the end of this year.</p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 21/11/2022 17:05:56 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1460199

registered interest
date	25/04/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Explosives
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support an international Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL7911
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>The UK will take a view on our support of the international Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas once its final form is known.</p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 28/04/2022 10:53:22 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1460200

registered interest
date	25/04/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Nuclear Submarines: Devonport Dockyard
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have regarding the storage of retired nuclear submarines after the last slot at 3 Basin Devonport is filled by the arrival of HMS Trenchant.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL7912
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>There is existing capacity and capability at Devonport to safely store all decommissioned submarines up to and including the Trafalgar Class. Beyond this, the requirements for storage of future decommissioned submarines is being considered.</p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 28/04/2022 10:53:10 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1436314

registered interest
date	28/02/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Wagner Group
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to hamper the global activities of (1) the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, and (2) other similar organisations.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL6477
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2022 answer text <p>It is clear that the Wagner Group and other similar organisations do not provide enduring security. Her Majesty's Government (HMG) will continue to attribute and expose where Wagner or other organisations undermine security and commit human rights abuses.</p><p>In December 2021, the UK issued a statement with 15 international partners to firmly condemn the deployment of the Wagner Group in Mali, which we believe can only further deteriorate the security environment.</p><p>In 2020, HMG placed an asset freeze and travel ban on an individual closely associated with Wagner Group, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, following his support to the Group's activities in Libya, where they were involved in multiple and repeated breaches of the arms embargo in Libya established in UNSCR 1970.</p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 07/03/2022 16:20:29 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1433453

registered interest
date	21/02/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Mali: Home Country Nationals
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that individuals in Mali at personal risk through their involvement with British forces and officials can be extracted and resettled if necessary.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL6217
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2022 answer text <p>The UK has a small number of contracted interpreters supporting UK personnel in Mali and we take their personal security very seriously. Our contracting standards require that people must be as safe and secure as reasonably possible when working in our support. We are not aware of an immediate threat to UK contractors at this time.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 07/03/2022 15:36:31 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1418469

registered interest
date	31/01/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Egypt: War Graves
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in identifying the graves of more than 10,000 Egyptians who died in the service of the British Empire during World War One, including those in the Egyptian Labour Corps.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL5782
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2022 answer text <p>In April 2021, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) published its Special Committee’s report into historical inequalities in commemoration. The CWGC continues to make good progress against the report’s ten recommendations. Documents recently discovered by the CWGC’s dedicated research team put the number of personnel from the Egyptian Labour and the Camel Transport Corps who lost their lives in the Middle East during the First World War at just over 15,550. Very few of these were known to have marked graves and the names of the majority were, and are, unknown to the CWGC.</p><p> </p><p>Although one aspect of the CWGC’s response to the report is to search for missing burials (and where they can be located and marked, they will be), the CWGC is initially focused on the discovery of names so that individuals’ service and sacrifice can be properly recorded and acknowledged. The CWGC have established that records and named lists of Egyptian personnel were passed by the British Armed Forces to the then Egyptian authorities so that pensions and compensation could be paid. The CWGC hope that these records might yet be found in Egyptian archival collections and the CWGC is making progress in tracking these records down.</p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 10/02/2022 11:45:12 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1403686

registered interest
date	17/01/2022
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Defence: Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to signing up to the “Peace Dividend Campaign”.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL5417
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2022 answer text <p>The first responsibility of Government is to protect its citizens.</p><p> </p><p>Defence is one of a full spectrum of levers that we routinely use - alongside diplomatic, intelligence, economic, legal and strategic communication tools. For example, Defence continues to play a direct role in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, most recently through ongoing Royal Navy support to the international disaster relief efforts following the tsunami in Tonga; and last year providing a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel to assist the US humanitarian aid mission in Haiti. Our Armed Forces are also always ready to respond to requests to support civil authorities, and from vaccine supply logistics to front line medical support they have played a critical role in supporting the response to the COVID pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>We must stay ahead of the increasingly complex threats to our people and allies by investing in, rather than cutting, defence budgets. That is why we are increasing defence spending by over £24 billion over the next four years.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Goldie question first answered 28/01/2022 11:20:25 answering member 4306 label Biography information for Baroness Goldie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle