Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral statement of 21 November 2023 by the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Official Report, column 214, how much the rebranding of Veterans UK will cost.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Veterans UK branding being retired is generally only used on digital media and letter templates. The removal of the branding will be done through the course of routine updates and within existing budgets and therefore no significant additional costs will be involved.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full time equivalent rehabilitation support workers who are not Health and Care Professions Council registered are deployed in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland, (d) Wales and (e) overseas as of 16 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Rehabilitation Support Workers are known as Exercise Rehabilitation Instructors (ERIs). There is no requirement for ERIs to be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council.
As at 16 November 2023 there were a total of 289 ERIs. Of this figure 175 are employed within the British Army, 19 within the Royal Navy, 33 within the Royal Air Force and 62 civilians. Data is not centrally held on the geographic location of these personnel.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full time equivalent full-time military reserve physiotherapists are deployed in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland, (d) Wales and (e) overseas as of 16 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As at 1 July 2023, the Defence Medical Services Bi-Annual Workforce Return indicated there were 68 military reserve physiotherapists, of which 60 were within the British Army and eight within the Royal Air Force. None of these physiotherapists are employed in full time Defence roles. Data is not centrally held on the geographic location of these personnel.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time equivalent civilian physiotherapists employed by his Department are deployed in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland, (d) Wales and (e) overseas as of 16 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As at 31 October 2023, there were 261 full-time equivalent civilian physiotherapists. Data is not centrally held on the geographic location of these personnel.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many vacancies there are in his Department for (a) physiotherapists and (b) rehabilitation support workers in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Northern Ireland, (iv) Wales and (v) overseas.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Defence currently has the correct number of regular and reserve military physiotherapists in place.
There are currently 51 vacant civilian physiotherapy posts and 5 vacant civilian Exercise Rehabilitation Instructor posts.
Data is not centrally held on the geographic location of these vacancies.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the out of service date of the British Army's Snatch Land Rover vehicles is.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Out of Service Date for the Snatch Land Rover is currently March 2024; however, an extension to this date is being sought.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 6 September 2023 to Question 196987 on Military Aircraft: Helicopters, what plans he has for the future of the five Airbus H135 aircraft previously procured for Project MATCHA.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Secretary of State for Defence authorised the Defence Equipment Sales Authority to progress a government-to-government sale for the helicopters; the details of which are currently commercially sensitive. Once a sale has been completed a mutually agreed communication will be made between the Ministry of Defence and our customer.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of acquiring ultra low-cost air vehicles for the Royal Air Force on levels of (a) capability and (b) force mass.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are considering the opportunities presented by such systems across all of our domains, which includes understanding the balance of cost and capability levels to inform our future mix of capabilities. We will be publishing an Uncrewed Systems Strategy in the coming months.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish the Autonomous Collaborative Platforms strategy.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are considering the opportunities presented by such systems across all of our domains, which includes understanding the balance of cost and capability levels to inform our future mix of capabilities. We will be publishing an Uncrewed Systems Strategy in the coming months.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he is taking steps to support UK shipyards to be competitive against foreign state-owned shipyards when bidding for work through the 30-year pipeline.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to him on 27 March to Question 172473 to the former Member for Somerset and Frome (David Warburton).
Since that answer, the Department for Business and Trade launched the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme on 26 July 2023 to provide vital support to improve the competitiveness of UK shipyards. Under the scheme, the Government will provide a significant guarantee to lenders making a loan to a ship-buyer or operator so that new vessels or refits and retrofits of existing vessels can be procured from UK shipyards.