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Written Question
Air Force: Advertising
Friday 15th March 2024

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 RAF 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 Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

This question has been interpreted as spend on advertising for Recruitment. With regards to the figures for 2017, I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House

Year

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Spend £

742,162

9,453,479

8,334,191

2,820,455

8,541,160

11,240,860

2,209,334.

Year

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Facebook/Inst

£52,735

£887,324

£874,933

£310,407

£158,550

£610,013

£179,662

SnapChat

£63,001

£178,558

£6,663

£542,277

£654,943

£175,206

Twitter

£48,384

£11,152

£83,269

£4,992


Written Question
Army: Advertising
Friday 15th March 2024

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 Army 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 Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The table shows the cost of the Army’s recruitment advertising costs by financial year.

Media Name

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2202-23

Facebook

£231,425

£576,454

£494,971

£532,996.82

£606,351

Snapchat

£79,903

£130,020

£204,345

£388,521.19

£479,342.14

Twitter

£55,431

£203,164

£129,277

£196,164.98

£90,000

Display

£1,292,885

£3,506,037

£3,804,808

£3,500,017

£2,309,891

Out of Home

£287,000

£451,614

£190,000

£200,000

£150,000

Radio

£388,980

£1,813,738

£859,134

£1,045,000

£964,998

Paid Search

£209,532

£699,264

£1,153,600

£1,355,525

£1,165,874.32

TV

£1,992,500

£3,076,945

£4,429,580

£2,524,105

£3,594,987

Please note the following notes/caveats:

  1. These figures are single Service estimates based on management information which is not gathered for statistical purposes or subject to the same level of scrutiny as official statistics produced by Defence Statistics.
  2. The data for financial year 2018/2019 represents costs from November 2018 to March 2019.
  3. The breakdown prior to November 2018 is not held. This data would need to be produced by an external contractor who no longer provides this service for the Army.
  4. Spend on Facebook advertising from March – May 2023 will be incorporated in the 23/24 financial year, as this is the period for which the services were procured.
  5. Spending on Instagram is incorporated in Facebook figures, as both fall under the umbrella of Meta.
  6. Recruiting Group do not advertise on TikTok.
  7. For the purposes of this answer, ‘above the line’ is taken to include Display, Out of Home, Radio, Paid Search and TV.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Parachuting
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2024 to Question 13532 on Armed Forces: Parachuting, if he will break down the data provided by (a) broken bones, (b) respiratory illness, (c) punctured lungs, (d) other injury and (e) death.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

From 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2023, a total of 527 Service personnel sustained injuries from parachuting. Of these:

  1. 143 had broken bones (fractures)
  2. 1 had a respiratory illness
  3. 382 had other injuries

There was one fatality as a result of parachuting in 2021.

This information was drawn from a number of databases and relied on manual data extraction based on specific search terms.

The type of injury was identified from a number of different variables in the data including the free text narrative of the description of the incident. The MOD Health and Safety systems are not medical databases and do not contain clinical diagnoses. The databases are also live and therefore information is subject to change or revisions. As a result, there is a risk of inconsistency with the data, and the returns may not be exhaustive.

Any records that did not contain one of the search terms used has been categorised as ‘other’. These are reported conditions including but not limited to sprains, pain, bruising and lacerations.


Written Question
Firing Ranges: Death and Injuries
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people suffered (a) death and (b) injury on his Departments firing ranges in each year since 2018.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Since 2018, there have been two fatalities involving UK Armed Forces personnel on firing ranges. These occurred in 2018 and 2021.

During the same period 1,429 people sustained injuries on firing ranges. The table below provides a breakdown of injuries by year between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2023:

Table 1: Number of people injured at firing ranges broken down by year.

'Table 1 lists all injuries linked to firing range activities. These injuries range from superficial e.g. abrasions, lacerations, physical strains, falls to more severe e.g. gunshot wounds, hearing loss.'

Calendar Year

Total

All

1,429

2018

158

2019

160

2020

168

2021

243

2022[1]

332

2023

368

[1] The annual increases in 2022 and 2023 may be due to improved reporting levels due to a new reporting system being introduced.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Injuries
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military personnel reported non-freezing cold injuries in each year since 2018.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The number of UK Armed Forces personnel with a record for a Non-Freezing Cold Injury (NFCI) in each year since 2018 is presented in the table below:

Year

Number

2018

406

2019

334

2020

263

2021

354

2022

302

2023

421

The data is compiled from the following medical, safety and casualty reporting systems to provide the most complete picture possible:

  1. Defence Medical Information Capability Programme
  2. MOD Health and Safety reporting systems
  3. Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre Notification of Casualty system
  4. Defence Patient Tracking System

These systems have been searched for coded information or text entries relating to NFCI: information entered as free text is not included.


Written Question
Defence: Helicopters
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average vehicle availability rate was for (a) Chinook, (b) Wildcat Mk1, (c) Wildcat Mk2 and (d) Merlin HM2 in each year since 2018.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 December 2023 to Question 6474 to the hon. Member for Easington (Mr Grahame Morris).


Written Question
Defence: Military Aircraft and Vehicles
Tuesday 5th March 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average vehicle availability rate was for (a) wheeled support vehicles, (b) Landrovers, (c) Typhoon and (d) Lightning in each year since 2018.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The British Army holds and maintains an appropriate amount of all its platforms to meet operational requirements. For security reasons, I am withholding further information on the number of wheeled support vehicles and Land Rovers available for operational deployment.

Average annual Forward Fleet figures for the Typhoon and F-35B Lightning fleets are given in the table below.

Year

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Typhoon

96

100

100

101

100

99

Lightning (1)

7(2)

11

14

17

21

24

  1. Excludes three aircraft in the Test and Evaluation role in the US.
  2. From June to December only

The Forward Fleet comprises serviceable and short-term unserviceable aircraft. Typically, the short-term unserviceable fleet aircraft are undergoing minor works, forward maintenance or other unforeseen rectification or technical inspection that can arise on a day-to-day basis. The number of aircraft varies day-to-day, according to normal flight management activities.


Written Question
Ammunition
Tuesday 5th March 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of his Department's ammunition stocks.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) holds sufficient munitions to conduct current operational tasks. Munitions stockpile levels are kept under review balancing current holdings against threats, availability, industrial capacity and evolving technology. We are investing in munitions. The Defence Command Paper 2023 announced that the MOD would spend an additional £2.5 billion on munitions. This is in addition to the Government's provision of £560 million over two years in the Autumn Statement 2022 to build our munitions stockpiles and a further £1.9 billion over two years announced in the 2023 Budget for investment in wider readiness and resilience.


Written Question
Vodafone Group: Contracts
Friday 26th January 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8292 on Vodafone Group: Contracts, when his Department last made an assessment of the adequacy of its contracts with Vodafone; and for what reasons his Department reviewed those contracts.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

As previously stated, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) actively monitors all of its key suppliers and their current contracts including those with Vodafone in accordance with MOD policy and process.

The MOD last reviewed its contractual position with Vodafone in the Summer of 2023, following the announcement of the merger between Vodafone UK and Three UK.


Written Question
Vodafone Group: Contracts
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of his Department's contracts with Vodafone.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) actively monitors all key suppliers and their current contracts, including those with Vodafone in accordance with MOD policy and process.

Each contract is managed at a top level budget level (e.g. Defence Digital) where the adequacy of each contract is assessed on an ongoing basis.