Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza the UK Armed Forces have made since October 2023.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Up to 17 April the RAF have delivered 64 tonnes of aid to Gaza over seven airdrops as part of the Jordanian led mission.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many watchkeeper drones the UK has.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 March 2024 to Question 18362 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey).
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2024 to Question 17716 on Defence Equipment & Support: Staff, what the total cost of contingent labour was in each financial year since 2018-19.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The total cost of contingent labour in each financial year (FY) since 2018-19 is:
FY | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
Contingent Labour (£million) | 33,132 | 76,394 | 99,650 | 95,780 | 121,507 |
Contingent Labour encompasses individuals temporarily employed, through a variety of schemes, to deliver activity which might otherwise be carried out by permanent DE&S staff. This may be for a number of reasons, for example due to a lack of required skills in the existing workforce, or because the need itself is temporary.
Figures for 2023-24 are not available at this time.
A record of the number of staff who deliver outputs for Defence Equipment & Support through a private sector support contract is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget is for the Weapons Support Team at Defence Equipment and Support in the (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The figures below represent the projected annual operating expenditure budget and forecast costs for the Weapons Support Team at Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).
The Weapons Support Team budget and forecast costs on equipment costs by financial year is as follows:
Financial Year | Contract Spend £million |
FY2023-24 | 2.96 |
FY2024-25 | 2.58 |
FY2025-26 | 2.63 |
The Weapons Support Team budget and forecast costs on operating costs by financial year is as follows:
Financial year | Total spend £million |
FY2023-24 | 37.73 |
Notes:
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2024 to Question 18053 on Iron and Steel: Procurement, what his planned timetable is for introducing a new condition which will require suppliers delivering larger value contracts to provide detailed supply chain maps.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
DEFCON 565, which mandates suppliers for all new contracts £5 million and above to provide supply chain information, was published on 1 July 2023.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the in-service date is for the first ship to be delivered by the Fleet Solid Support Ship programme.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The first Fleet Solid Support ship (FSS) is expected to enter service by 2031, after first of class trials and equipment fits.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the Royal Navy spent on advertising (a) above the line, (b) on Tiktok, (c) on Facebook and Instagram, (d) on Snapchat and (e) on Twitter in each financial year since 2017.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy (RN) has spent the following overall sums on marketing with above the line media and social media platforms since Financial Year 2017-18:
Financial Year |
| Social Media | Media (Excluding Social) |
2017-18 |
| £423,990 | £7,697,349 |
2018-19 |
| £784,161 | £14,528,656 |
2019-20 |
| £1,626,458 | £15,699,198 |
2020-21 |
| £1,824,316 | £13,428,792 |
2021-22 |
| £1,615,263 | £14,037,031 |
2022-23 |
| £1,682,000 | £14,025,000 |
2023-24 |
| £2,593,000 | £16,191,000 |
The breakdown of spend by individual platform is commercially sensitive and it would therefore be inappropriate to provide this level of detail.
In accordance with advice from the Government Communication Service, the RN does not currently use the TikTok platform.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 19174 on Armed Forces: Housing, what those figures are as of 17 April 2024 (a) by region and (b) for Scotland.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As at 17 April 2024, the number of open work orders for repairs to Service Family Accommodation (SFA), broken down by region can be found in the table below:
Contract | Open Reactive Work Orders at 17 April 2024 |
Central | 1,976 |
South East | 3,715 |
Scotland and Northern Ireland | 1,717 |
South West | 3,169 |
Of those reported for the Scotland & Northern Ireland Region, 533 relate to Scotland.
As at 17 April 2024, the number of open work orders for repairs to Single Living Accommodation (SLA) on the Built Estate, broken down by region, can be found in the table below:
Contract | Open Reactive Work Orders at 17 April 2024 |
Central | 3,566 |
South East | 2,590 |
Scotland and Northern Ireland | 921 |
South West | 1,998 |
Of those reported for the Scotland and Northern Ireland Region, 768 relate to Scotland.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to RAF Lossiemouth for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould in the since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Callouts made to RAF Lossiemouth for maintenance issues since April 2022, are shown in the table below;
Roofing | Loss Heating & Hot Water | Electrical | Pest Control | Damp & Mould | TOTAL |
31 | 82 | 506 | 17 | 87 | 723 |
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) domestic and (b) overseas trade shows have Ministers in his Department attended in each year since 2019.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Information on domestic trade shows is not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost, whilst information on any attendance of overseas trade shows would have been published online within the Transparency Returns.