Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)

I thank noble Lords for those very thoughtful questions, which covered quite a range of activities. I ask them to give me a moment to gather my thoughts. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, for her comments about Baroness Randerson. It is my great privilege that the last meeting that I had before Christmas was with Baroness Randerson, as well as my noble friend Lord Hendy, on a great passion of hers: the buses Bill. I hope that we can do her justice in the passage of that Bill through the House because I know just how much it meant to her. I will take up the generous offers from the noble Baronesses, Lady Goldie and Lady Smith, and will write to them on the more technical issues that they raised. This is a very important subject. We can sum up its importance by saying, as was expressed in both sets of comments from the noble Baronesses, that the threat we face is advancing, proliferating and converging; it is probably the most acute it has been in over 30 years. The UK employs a broad approach to deterring and defeating air and missile threats, including through NATO. I assure noble Lords that, of course, the UK continually reviews our air and missile defence requirements to ensure that we are adequately defended against the evolving threats that we face. Further developments in these capabilities are being considered in conjunction with the strategic defence review. I hope that that brings some reassurance. On experience, the MoD has been firing rockets safely from its sites since the 1950s. The MoD and allies would carry the liability, as they were already doing before the Act, for activity in respect of firing allied rockets. With respect to the Duchy of Cornwall and the Crown Estate, I am grateful for the offer for me to write just to clarify the matters that the noble Baroness raised around those issues. Regarding the MoD regulations, again allies have been undertaking activity, including firing rockets below the stratosphere, alongside UK military at MoD sites under defence regulation for decades. All activities conducted by foreign allies in the UK need MoD permission and must conform to MoD regulations, be overseen by the MoD regulator and be on MoD sites. I hope that this addresses the concerns. In terms of the environmental questions that were raised, I will write and hopefully give the reassurance that it goes without saying that those considerations will be taken into account in everything that we do. I hope that I have addressed the points that were raised. I reinforce my thanks to both parties opposite in their support for this, particularly regarding the time pressures that we are under and in ensuring that we have a very successful operation in May from our site in the Hebrides. We must ensure that the legislation that we bring through enables our defences to outpace the malign ambitions of our adversaries.