Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many initial army training staff were (a) investigated for and (b) convicted of sexual offences against recruits under the age of 18 in the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of (a) current and (b) former houses owned by his Department were unoccupied in May 2023; and what was the cost to the public purse of maintaining empty houses owned by his Department in the (i) 2020-21, (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23 financial years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The vast majority of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) is leased from Annington Homes Ltd (AHL). Any properties no longer required for Service personnel are handed back to AHL.
The number of unoccupied (void) SFA properties in May 2023, was 9,167 or 19.18% of the c.47,800 total SFA housing stock in the UK.
The total void maintenance costs for the four Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) accommodation contracts covering the North, Central, South East and South West regions for Financial Year 2022-23 was £5,902,941. This maintenance cost was for a total of 9,571 void properties at that time.
The Department is only able to provide the cost of maintaining void SFA for the FDIS accommodation contracts which came into force in April 2022. Under the previous National Housing Prime contract, there was no contractual requirement to record maintenance cost data by occupied and void SFA. This was rectified for the FDIS contracts.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications for a nuclear test veterans medal have been received; and how many of those medals have been issued.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
As of 5 June 2023, 1,425 applications had been received and registered by the Ministry of Defence Medals Office for a Nuclear Test Medal. No medals have been issued as the medal design has yet to be finalised and production is expected to begin later this summer.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on the security of domestic energy supplied from offshore wind farms in the UK’s (a) territorial waters and (b) Exclusive Economic Zone in the next five years.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Ministry of Defence constantly monitors activity within UK waters and its Economic Exclusion Zone to counter and deter detected threats, including to our subsea and offshore energy infrastructure. British warships frequently patrol throughout the UK Economic Exclusion Zone and are routed through the North Sea where possible, to further increase surveillance of offshore oil and gas installations.
I have not met with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on these topics but Defence officials at all levels are working closely with their counterparts across Government to support the development of the UK energy security policy and its implementation. This collaboration ranges from innovation to unlock the development of the offshore wind capacity to Defence’s developing its own internal response to energy resilience.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the (a) National Strategy for Maritime Security and (b) Integrated Review Refresh 2023 on the staffing levels of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary Personnel Forecasts for the next 10 years are fully compliant with the demands of the National Strategy for Maritime Security and the Integrated Review Refresh.
The required growth in personnel numbers to crew future platforms is endorsed and funded.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the impact of pay progression of civilian seafarer (a) Ratings and (b) Officers employed by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary since 2010-11 on (i) recruitment, (ii) retention and (iii) morale.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
Defence uses the bi-annual Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Continuous Attitude Survey to provide insight into the day-to-day experiences of RFA personnel. The results from the survey are used to inform current and future RFA policy and decision making.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will hold discussions with Cabinet Office colleagues on the impact of inflation on the earnings of civilian seafarer (a) Ratings and (b) Officers employed by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
Employees of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, as civilians, fall under the remit of the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance for the purposes of determining pay awards. The Ministry of Defence must abide by the Remit Guidance set by the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.
The Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance for the 2023-24 financial year has been set and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of armed forces personnel took on (a) second jobs and (b) other additional work in the last two months.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The requested information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Secondary employment and rules governing this are managed on a single Service basis and vary between Services. Generally, Service personnel are not prohibited from having second jobs when off-duty or on leave. Permission to take up a second job rests with the Service person’s Commanding Officer and is granted on a case-by-case basis. Any such permission is approved and reviewed locally, with the information held within each chain of command. Due to the size of the Armed Forces and the number of chains of command it is not practical to manage this process or collate this information centrally. The exercise required to produce an overall figure would incur disproportionate cost.
Beyond any formal additional or secondary employment there is no requirement for personnel to report “other additional work” and no record of this is held by the Ministry of Defence. If a Service Person chooses to undertake informal work in their own time, for example making and selling something, this would not count as formal employment and, therefore, would not need approval or be brought to the attention of Defence.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2023 to Question 158939 on Armed Forces: Employment, whether his Department regularly (a) collects and (b) reviews information on (i) second jobs and (ii) other additional work taken up by armed forces personnel.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The requested information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Secondary employment and rules governing this are managed on a single Service basis and vary between Services. Generally, Service personnel are not prohibited from having second jobs when off-duty or on leave. Permission to take up a second job rests with the Service person’s Commanding Officer and is granted on a case-by-case basis. Any such permission is approved and reviewed locally, with the information held within each chain of command. Due to the size of the Armed Forces and the number of chains of command it is not practical to manage this process or collate this information centrally. The exercise required to produce an overall figure would incur disproportionate cost.
Beyond any formal additional or secondary employment there is no requirement for personnel to report “other additional work” and no record of this is held by the Ministry of Defence. If a Service Person chooses to undertake informal work in their own time, for example making and selling something, this would not count as formal employment and, therefore, would not need approval or be brought to the attention of Defence.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of armed forces personnel took on (a) second jobs and (b) other additional work in the last two years.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The requested information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.