Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military personnel employed by the Army are qualified as Class 1 HGV drivers; of those how many are stationed in the UK; of those stationed in the UK how many are qualified to drive hazardous or dangerous goods, such as petrol.
Answered by James Heappey
Under Military Aid to Civilian Authority, Defence has made available approximately 250 military fuel tanker drivers and a similar number of support staff, to assist the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy with ensuring the continuity of fuel supplies around Great Britain. As part of ensuring that Defence has a suitably qualified workforce, we train personnel in a variety of different categories of driving licences. This is primarily to enable the safe operation of military vehicles and equipment in worldwide operations and qualified personnel are regularly deployed overseas. It would therefore be misleading to specify numbers of qualified personnel against specific driving license requirements currently held within Defence or specifically in the UK.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the publication of the Integrated Review on 16 March 2021, what steps he taking to procure strategic roll-on roll-off ferry services for the armed forces after the contract with Foreland Shipping expires in December 2024.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Consideration will be given in due course to the best value for money commercial strategy to deliver Sealift Capability post 2024. It would be inappropriate to comment further in advance of that work being undertaken.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2021 to Question 153202 on Roll-on Roll-off Ships, what effect the Integrated Review will have on demand for strategic sealift capacity to 2030.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
There is a well established strategic need for the UK to be able to deploy military stores and equipment as required, globally on an assured and readily available basis. The Integrated Review has confirmed this renewed global ambition. Procurement of tonnage from 2024 onwards will be subject to the conditions of any future contract, the terms of which are yet to be determined.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on the procurement of new tonnage as part of the Strategic Sealift contract (a) up to and (b) beyond the end of the existing contract with Foreland Shipping Limited in 2024.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
As part of the current PFI agreement, there is no contractual requirement for FSL to provide the Ministry of Defence (MOD) with any sealift capacity over and above the four Point Class vessels. Any additional MOD requirements would need to be met in the short term through commercial charters. Procurement of tonnage from 2024 onwards will be subject to the conditions of any future contract, the terms of which are yet to be determined.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) extending and (b) renewing the contract between his Department and Foreland Shipping Limited for point class strategic roll-on roll-off vessels; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The current PFI contract expires in 2024. On current plans a new contract will be required to sustain this capability from 2024 onwards. All equipment decisions are subject to the ongoing Integrated Review.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list the age of each ship in the Strategic Sealift contract between his Department and Foreland Shipping Limited; and what plans he has to order new tonnage to replace those vessels.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The four Point Class vessels range between 19 and 20 years old having been built between 2001 and 2002. As part of the current PFI agreement, there is no contractual requirement for FSL to provide the Ministry of Defence (MOD) with any sealift capacity over and above the four Point Class vessels. Any additional MOD requirements would need to be met in the short term through commercial charters.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of his Department’s strategic need for roll-on roll-off sealift capacity to 2030.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
There is a well established strategic need for the UK to be able to deploy military stores and equipment as required, globally on an assured and readily available basis. However all equipment and supply decisions and how these are met are subject to the ongoing Integrated Review.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) women and (b) men employed as (i) merchant navy (A) officers and (B) ratings or (ii) merchant seafarers by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The number of Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Personnel as of 1 April for each of the last 10 years by Officer/Ratings and Male/Female is as follows:
RFA Officers | ||||||||||
Year | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Male | 880 | 820 | 770 | 750 | 730 | 620 | 600 | 570 | 630 | 680 |
Female | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 50 | 50 |
Total | 920 | 850 | 810 | 790 | 770 | 660 | 640 | 610 | 680 | 740 |
RFA Ratings | ||||||||||
Year | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Male | 1,360 | 1,330 | 1,390 | 1,430 | 1,470 | 1,240 | 1,180 | 1,130 | 1,140 | 1,140 |
Female | 70 | 70 | 80 | 80 | 90 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 70 | 80 |
Total | 1,430 | 1,390 | 1,470 | 1,510 | 1,560 | 1,320 | 1,250 | 1,210 | 1,220 | 1,220 |
All figures are rounded in accordance with the Defence Statistics rounding policy. Due to rounding the total is not always the sum of the rounded parts.
These totals may also differ slightly from the total RFA personnel given in the answer of 14 June 2016 to question 39903 for years prior to 2013, as the gender and rank breakdowns are taken from a different source.
The Ministry of Defence does not hold information on those employed in the merchant navy.
In compiling the answer to this question an error has been identified in the answer to question 39903 given on 14 June 2016.
The number of RFA employees on 1 April for each of the years 2008 to 2016 should have been as follows:
Total RFA Personnel | |||||||||
Year | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Total | 2,270 | 2,300 | 2,330 | 2,360 | 2,000 | 1,900 | 1,820 | 1,890 | 1,950 |
The original figures given were extracted from the RFA’s live Human Resources system. These can differ from the Official Statistics published in the Ministry of Defence Quarterly Civilian Personnel Statistics Report:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-civilian-personnel-quarterly-report-2016
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to implement recommendation 15 of the Department for Transport's Maritime Growth Study, published in September 2015, on improving links between the Royal Navy and the wider UK maritime sector.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Royal Navy (RN) has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to allow Warfare Officers to obtain commercial Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) certificates of competency. Discussions with the MCA have commenced to develop a similar MOU for Engineer Officers and Ratings. More widely the RN continues to seek to align its training with STCW requirements. The RN Resettlement Service also offers impartial advice on second careers with many strong links with maritime sector organisations and companies.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's (a) operational and (b) crew costs were in each year from 2008-09 to 2015-16.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.