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Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Armed Forces
Monday 13th May 2024

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

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which vehicles are covered by the National Roadside Repair and Recovery Scheme.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

The National Roadside Repair and Recovery (NRRR) service covers all MOD owned and registered category A and B platforms. Category A is inclusive of wheeled and tracked armoured vehicles, while category B is inclusive of general logistic vehicles, such as cars, land rovers and logistics platforms.

For the annual cost of the NRRR between 2015 and 2023, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 16 October 2023 to Question 202849 to the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr Madders). The annual cost of the service for 2023/24 was £1,007,611.

The 2018-19 NRRR callout in Morocco was due to the breakdown of a land rover while on a training exercise.

Information on the number of annual callouts by UK region since 2015 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Recruitment
Monday 13th May 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 applications to join the Armed Forces were rejected due to previous criminal convictions in each year since 2015.

Answered by Andrew Murrison

The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Health
Monday 13th May 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 and what proportion of armed forces personnel were (a) Medically Not Deployable and (b) Medically Limited Deployable in each year since 2010, broken down by service branch.

Answered by Andrew Murrison

Medically downgraded personnel are those personnel who have been assessed by a medical board and subsequently awarded a Medical Deployability Standard of either Medically Limited Deployable (MLD) or Medically Non Deployable (MND).

The rise in MLD and MND rates is likely to be multifactorial and is a result of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. MOD are committed to retaining personnel in specialist trades or who possess niche skills that benefit Defence, and this may contribute to the increasing number of MLD and MND personnel. However, there are a range of interventions being delivered to address employability and deployability which are intended to mitigate the impact on Defence whilst continuing to provide the necessary medical support to our people.

The following table provides the number and proportion of UK Armed Forces personnel, broken down by service, with a Medical Deployability Standard of Medically Limited Deployable (MLD) and Medically Non-Deployable (MND), as at 01 April of each year from 2010 to 2023:

Service

Royal Navy

Army

RAF

MLD

MND

MLD

MND

MLD

MND

Date

n

%

n

%

n

%

n

%

n

%

n

%

01-Apr-10

1,843

5.2%

2,938

8.3%

14,786

14.5%

6,736

6.6%

1,472

3.7%

3,941

9.8%

01-Apr-11

1,995

5.6%

2,882

8.1%

15,217

15.0%

6,952

6.9%

1,616

4.0%

3,966

9.9%

01-Apr-12

1,786

5.4%

2,866

8.6%

14,319

14.5%

7,480

7.6%

1,561

4.1%

3,865

10.1%

01-Apr-13

1,825

5.8%

2,697

8.6%

12,237

13.0%

8,021

8.5%

1,402

4.0%

3,634

10.3%

01-Apr-14

1,732

5.7%

2,859

9.4%

10,667

12.2%

7,938

9.1%

1,412

4.3%

3,599

10.8%

01-Apr-15

1,846

6.1%

2,840

9.4%

10,122

12.3%

8,246

10.0%

1,433

4.5%

3,461

10.9%

01-Apr-16

1,932

6.5%

2,892

9.7%

10,001

12.5%

8,308

10.4%

1,618

5.2%

3,622

11.7%

01-Apr-17

2,044

6.9%

2,722

9.2%

9,971

12.7%

7,890

10.1%

1,845

6.0%

3,304

10.7%

01-Apr-18

2,032

6.9%

2,762

9.4%

10,005

13.0%

6,907

9.0%

1,952

6.4%

3,321

10.9%

01-Apr-19

2,145

7.3%

2,864

9.8%

9,964

13.3%

6,702

8.9%

2,139

7.1%

3,480

11.6%

01-Apr-20

2,279

7.8%

2,930

10.1%

9,434

12.8%

6,667

9.0%

2,310

7.8%

3,675

12.4%

01-Apr-21

2,396

8.1%

2,899

9.8%

8,937

11.6%

6,447

8.4%

2,399

8.0%

3,455

11.5%

01-Apr-22

2,306

7.7%

3,279

11.0%

9,388

12.2%

7,600

9.8%

2,458

8.2%

3,884

13.0%

01-Apr-23

2,197

7.5%

3,286

11.2%

9,263

12.4%

7,669

10.2%

2,488

8.5%

4,081

13.9%


Written Question
Aircraft Carriers
Tuesday 23rd April 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 13 February 2024 to Question 12520 on Aircraft Carriers, when the UK Carrier Strike Group with a wholly sovereign air wing and escort fleet last sailed on (a) exercise and (b) deployment.

Answered by Leo Docherty

Sovereign aircraft, escorts and support ships have formed the core of the UK Carrier Strike Group (UKCSG), but each deployment has also involved contributions from partner nations. All UKCSG deployments have involved participation in a range of multinational operations and exercises.


Written Question
Navy: Advertising
Tuesday 23rd April 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 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 - Shadow Secretary of State for 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.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Medical Treatments
Tuesday 23rd April 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 were waiting for medical treatment on 15 April in each of the last five years.

Answered by Andrew Murrison

The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Medical Treatments
Tuesday 23rd April 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 are waiting for medical treatment.

Answered by Andrew Murrison

The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.


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

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

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

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.