Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
(1) recent events in the Persian Gulf, and (2) the importance of
protecting United Kingdom waters following European Union Exit;
and in the light of any such assessments, what steps they are
taking to put the funding of (a) the National Maritime
Information Centre, and (b) the Joint Maritime Operations
Coordination Centre, onto a sustainable, permanent footing.
(CB)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on
the Order Paper and draw attention to my maritime interests
recorded in the register.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport () (Con)
My Lords, Her Majesty’s Government are taking immediate steps to
protect UK interests in our own and international waters by
advancing a one-off payment of £9 million to the NMIC and JMOCC,
which were recently brought together under a single director as a
joint maritime security centre. These additional moneys will be
used to develop maritime domain awareness and operational
co-ordination capacity. A bid for longer-term assured funding
will be submitted under next year’s spending review.
I thank the Minister for her response. Little did I imagine when
I put my name down in the ballot that there would be such a
positive response 30 or 40 days later. I congratulate the noble
Baroness on the excellent news. The maritime industry takes
security extremely importantly and these two organisations do
vital work in this important area. I am delighted that there is
more money available. Would I be right in assuming that that is
for one year? If that is the case, can she assure me that her
department will press to put this funding on a longer-term secure
footing?
I assure the noble Lord that the funding is currently for one
year, but the department recognises the critical work that these
two organisations do, and it will be pressing very hard for a
longer-term commitment in future.
(Lab)
I thank the Minister for that positive response about the
funding. We have been trying to do that for a long time. The
Minister will know that the previous Labour Government set up the
NMIC, so I am delighted it is going down the right track.
However, we have a dearth of assets among all the departments,
including the Navy, which is responsible for our offshore
tapestry—our territorial seas and protection of the coast—so it
is essential that those few assets are properly co-ordinated. Can
the Minister assure me that the man now in charge of this centre
has the authority to take command and control of assets belonging
to different departments to respond to a specific emergency?
It is always a pleasure to receive a question from the noble
Lord. Indeed, the man now in charge is in your Lordships’ House
today. It was, of course, the current Government who set up
JMOCC, which works very closely with the NMIC. The noble Lord is
quite right that maritime assets are spread over a number of
organisations: Border Force, the Royal Navy and the coastguard.
Co-ordination of these assets is incredibly important. JMOCC was
set up in October 2017, so it is not even two years old. It has a
lot of capability to deal with live incidents and make sure that
maritime assets are in the right place. One of the things this £9
million will do is provide extra capacity so that a planning team
can be built to make sure we have optimum deployment of all
vessels where we need them.
(CB)
Would the Minister perhaps address the part of the Question
related to the Persian Gulf, which she managed to pass over in
total silence in her original reply? Would she not agree that
probably the best way to strengthen maritime security in the
Persian Gulf is to work with our other European allies to get a
dialogue going about how to preserve the nuclear agreement with
Iran and how to avoid tensions, which risk spiralling out of
control?
There is quite a lot in the noble Lord’s question and I will
endeavour to cover as much of it as possible. I did not mean to
gloss over it. The situation in the Strait of Hormuz is
incredibly important. The NMIC has been giving valuable support,
which I have witnessed myself, by monitoring vessels in the
Persian Gulf, not only tracking Red Ensign vessels in transit,
which of course is very important, but looking at vessels of
interest to see what they might be doing. We are working very
closely with our international partners. We are part of the
international maritime security construct. We have committed to a
frigate or destroyer for that construct, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary
tanker and, of course, staff in the command structure and below
that. We are working with our international partners. It is
absolutely important that Iran does not develop a nuclear
capability. Our actions with our partners are part of that.
(LD)
My Lords, the second part of the Question relates to fisheries.
Could the Minister tell us what assessment has been made of our
capabilities to ensure that UK territorial waters will be
sufficiently secure in the light of a possible Brexit? The £9
million will not go very far towards that, so is additional
funding being put into insuring our fisheries?
I am not entirely sure on what evidence the noble Baroness
suggests that £9 million is not sufficient. It is the case that
as Brexit happens and we leave the European Union we will look at
our EEZ. We will be responsible for all vessels in our EEZ and it
is likely that we will have to take a closer watch of what is
going on within our coastal waters. It is right that we have
fewer assets to deploy. However, and this is very important,
there are now far better technologies available to maintain our
watch over our coastal waters. There is a working group, led by
the new director of the joint maritime security centre, looking
at the threats and risks following Brexit. It will make sure that
we have vessels deployed appropriately.
(Con)
Following the question from the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, are not
events in the Persian Gulf, with £30,000 Iranian speedboats
buzzing around our ships, rather an excellent example of applying
the constant call of the noble Lord, Lord West, for more frigates
and for more flexibility in our naval dispositions, as well as of
the dangers, as in the past, of the great leaders of naval
strategy deciding to put all of our cash into vast aircraft
carriers, which might have their uses but are not much good in
this kind of situation?
Our maritime assets, particularly our frigates, are under review.
We are looking at how we may want to strengthen that in future if
we can. However, in the Strait of Hormuz we already have HMS
“Montrose” in operation, and HMS “Duncan” will replace it. HMS
“Kent” will maintain a presence and HMS “Defender” is also
available. Not all these will be working within the international
maritime security construct, but we are able to respond.
