Establishment of a British Defence Staff (Gulf) was a 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review commitment. Based at the British Consulate in Dubai, the BDS (Gulf) has already begun its work following the deployment at the end of November of an RAF Wing Commander. She will be joined in spring 2017 by two other officers, an Army Colonel and a Major. The BDS will help co-ordinate British Defence activity in the Gulf, building on the work done by the six Defence Sections in our Gulf Cooperation Countries nation embassies, our 200-plus Loan Service personnel, our short-term training teams, and our liaison and exchange officers across the region. The BDS (Gulf) will be headed by the Defence Senior Adviser Middle East, Lt Gen Tom Beckett, who will remain primarily London-based.

I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer I gave her on 13 December 2016 to Question HL3805.

The 1966 Exchange of Notes is the agreement between the UK and the US detailing the conditions and permitted use of the British Indian Ocean Territory by the US Government. As part of this agreement the US do not currently provide Her Majesty's Government with funding towards the costs of our military personnel based in the territory.

The UK continues to make a key contribution to NATO's Operation RESOLUTE SUPPORT; non-combat, train, advise and assist mission to build a secure and stable Afghanistan. Our forces are focussed on mentoring at the Afghan National Army Officer Academy and advising Ministers and officials in the Afghan Security Ministries. The UK also leads the Kabul Security Force, which coordinates security for NATO personnel in Kabul, holds the position of Deputy Commander Operation RESOLUTE SUPPORT and contributes three Puma helicopters to assist UK and NATO mobility.

Reserve Forces make an essential contribution to delivering the nation's security and are a highly valued part of our Armed Forces. The Army 2020 structure sets out our whole force concept, and our Reserve Forces serve alongside their Regular counterparts on operations around the world, including the UK's current military contribution to NATO's Operation RESOLUTE SUPPORT in Afghanistan.

NATO agreed at the Warsaw Summit in July 2016 to the persistent presence of Allied forces in Poland and the Baltic States. We will deploy a UK light cavalry squadron to Poland as part of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group led by the US. The UK personnel will work alongside US and Polish forces to reassure Allies of NATO's commitment to the region, defend Polish and Baltic States' territory, and deter Russian belligerence.

The defence budget for Diego Garcia in Financial Year 2016-17 is £3.085 million.

As of November 2016 there are 41 UK military personnel deployed to Diego Garcia.

Safety is our number one priority – The deployment of staff between prisons on detached duty is a regular and normal part of prison resourcing. It allows staff to be allocated from prisons with the capacity to provide them, to those where additional staffing is required. In November the Secretary of State announced an extra 2500 additional prison officers to tackle safety in the estate. The table below sets out the average number of prison officers on detached duty by month in 2015 and 2016:

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a well-developed process to fully support Service personnel and their families, who can often be required to move location. The Services aim to give as much warning as possible, ideally six months before the impending move. When notice of a move is given, this triggers a series of administrative functions and the Service personnel will apply for Service Family Accommodation (SFA) at the new location. If possible, this will be allocated 56 days before the move to allow sufficient time for registration with schools, health providers and other capabilities within the community.

The move from the current location to the new one is funded and the MOD provides a package of support, which includes leave, to allow families to settle into and explore their new home, and a financial package that compensates for the disturbance. Advice and support can be sought from many areas including the information exchange centres - HIVEs, the unit welfare staff and the Chain of Command.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that the mobile nature of Service life can create difficulties for spouses and partners of Service personnel wishing to maintain active employment and a career, especially when posted overseas. The MOD continues to work on a number of initiatives to provide job readiness and tailored employability support that focus on removing barriers that hinder spouses and partners finding employment. The Armed Forces Families Strategy, launched in January 2016, places partner employment as a priority and will look to how the MOD can influence the relationship between partner employment and the retention of Service personnel.

The MOD’s Partner Employment Programme has three pillars:

The Spousal Employment Support Trial – this provides tailored employment and employability support, on a two year trial basis from October 2015, and is administered by Right Management Limited as part of the wider Career Transition Partnership (CTP) Contract. The trial is currently taking place overseas in Cyprus for 240 spouses and across several Royal Air Force locations in the UK for 200 spouses. The trial is ahead of schedule for enabling 440 spouses/partners to take up the opportunity of a £879 training grant.

Wolverhampton Business Start Up Programme – “Supporting the Unsung Hero” is a business start-up programme specifically designed for Armed Forces families. It provides transferrable skills and the ability to start a business over a 10 month programme for Service personnel, spouses and dependents of Regulars/Reserves and Veterans. Courses have been delivered both in the UK and overseas. By the end of phase two 199 course participants had set up their own business. The programme received two grants of LIBOR funding totalling £324,000 and subsequent support of £606,000 from HSBC to continue this work until 2020.

Royal British Legion Industries Lifeworks Families – LIBOR funding of £241,000 provides Employability coaching services to develop key skills, CV writing, increase confidence and motivation and identify career and training opportunities. Over three years this initiative has assisted over 750 spouses and dependants across UK, Germany and Cyprus of serving/recently discharged Regulars and Reserves. The programme will continue until 2019 post LIBOR funding, with funding secured from the Royal British Legion, Annington Homes and Greenwich Hospital.

In addition to these three pillars, Defence Relationship Management (DRM) continues to increase the number of organisations and employers making the pledge to support the Armed Forces Covenant (there are currently over 1,300 signatories). DRM account managers encourage employers to review their HR policies to assist spousal employment and a number are doing so through the Service Families Federation channels.

Royal Navy Personnel can register their interest or preference on the Joint Personnel Administration system by type of employment (e.g. Local Foreign Service), geographical location (e.g. USA,) or specific job (e.g. Defence Attaché). They can also access 'Royal Navy Jobs' which lists all available posts relevant to their branch, specialisation and rank, and also wider Common Appointment roles. This indicates an approximate estimation of when the post is due to become vacant. However, the selection of personnel for particular overseas postings is delivered through routine career management.

Army personnel can view and consider available opportunities via a vacancy list which is published on the Defence Intranet. In addition, soldiers have access to their Chain of Command (CoC) including their Regiment Career Management Officer (RCMO) who can provide advice on overseas postings and career implications. Officers have access to their CoC including unit Adjutants as well as their Career Managers. Overseas operational opportunities are often advertised through a trawl process where volunteers are sought for vacancies which are advertised on Part 1 Orders via the Regimental Unit Administrative Office.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) utilises different methods to make personnel aware of available overseas posts, depending on whether the post is for Air or Ground personnel. When an overseas Air post needs to be filled, all suitably qualified individuals are contacted by RAF Manning via their CoC and invited to register an interest, from which the post is filled. This method works best as it is focussed on specialised areas (such as Typhoon pilots), rather than a general trawl for personnel. As there are a greater number of Ground personnel, a list of current overseas Ground vacancies is published on the Defence Intranet, which individuals can access and filter by rank to view relevant vacancies.

The Gulf Strategy Integrated Delivery Team is not responsible for coordinating policy relating to Britain’s permanent military presence in the Gulf States. This is a Ministry of Defence responsibility.