Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with his NATO counterparts on (a) cancelling or (b) postponing joint military exercises in response to covid-19; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Heappey
The Ministry of Defence has regular discussions with NATO allies about NATO joint military exercises. At present, the NATO major training and exercise programmes are continuing as planned. We will continue to closely monitor and assess the situation.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Royal Navy, (b) RAF, (c) Army and (d) Royal Marines personnel have killed themselves in each month of each year since 2015, by gender.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The attached table provides the requested breakdown of coroner-confirmed suicides by month, service and gender from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2018, the last published data available. Figures are for Regular personnel and only those Reservists who died whilst on operational deployment. The definition of suicide is that used by the Office for National Statistics. It should be noted that figures may be subject to change following coroner's inquests on deaths awaiting verdicts.
Defence Statistics (Health) produce an annual National Statistic on Suicide in the UK Armed Forces which is released at the end of March every year and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-suicide-and-open-verdict-deaths-index
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Stellate Ganglion Block injections have been approved in the UK for the treatment of military personnel suffering from PTSD; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing the best evidenced-based healthcare for Service personnel, and follows the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines for all interventions in military healthcare. Stellate Ganglion Block injections are not NICE-approved in the treatment of PTSD, and are therefore not used by the Defence Medical Services.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of steel procured by his Department in 2019 was produced in the UK.
Answered by James Heappey
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not hold a central record of the origin of all steel used in defence equipment projects. This is because steel for our major programmes is mainly sourced by our prime contractors and the supply chains are complex.
The MOD does, however, collate some information about the origin of steel for projects with the largest steel requirements. This information is published annually on gov.uk at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/steel-public-procurement
The data was last published in January 2019, with the next iteration due to be published shortly.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of steel sourced from the UK was used in defence infrastructure organisation programmes in each of the last five years.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not hold a central record of the origin of all steel used in infrastructure projects. Steel for our major Defence Infrastructure Organisation programmes is mainly sourced by our prime contractors and the supply chains are complex.
The MOD does collate some information about the origin of steel for major Defence projects with the largest steel requirements. This information can be found within the 'compliance with the steel procurement guidance' document at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/steel-public-procurement
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if her Department will be signing the UK Steel Charter.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is currently considering whether to become a signatory to the UK Steel Charter.
The MOD is committed to addressing any barriers preventing UK steel suppliers from competing effectively in the open market. This includes, for example, publishing our future pipeline for steel requirements on GOV.UK, which enables UK steel manufacturers to better plan and bid for Government contracts.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average salary is for Defence Equipment and Support employees at (a) Senior Professional, (b) Professional I, (c) Professional II, (d) Senior Administrator and (e) Administrator/Specialist level.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The average salary for Defence Equipment and Support employees at the levels requested is given below. This reflects the position as at 30 November 2018.
Level | Average salary |
Senior Professional | £65,429 |
Professional I | £52,148 |
Professional II | £40,089 |
Senior Administrator | £30,647 |
Administrator/Specialist | £22,205 |
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the resources used to calculate the market benchmarks for the new pay structure for Defence Equipment and Support employees that began in April 2017 were taken from the sum allocated for pay increases in 2017.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
No.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the methodology used to calculate the market benchmarks to set pay increases for Defence Equipment and Support employees.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 29 November 2018, to Question 195524.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November 2018 to Question 189645 on Defence Equipment and Support: Staff, what the average salary increase was for each grade Defence Equipment and Support employee in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The average pay rise for Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) staff in 2017 was 2.3% and in 2018 it was 2.2.%. Individual salary increases are based on both market benchmarks and performance, with most increases in the 1% to 4% range. The average salary increase for each grade was:
DE&S Level | 2017 | 2018 |
Senior Professional | 4.10% | 3.67% |
Professional I | 2.94% | 2.65% |
Professional II | 2.49% | 2.47% |
Senior Administrator | 1.69% | 1.90% |
Administrator/Specialist | 1.88% | 1.86% |
The higher levels attracted higher average pay increases as their salaries were generally further behind the market benchmarks for their roles.
This does not include Senior Civil Service and Military personnel employed in DE&S, which are not part of the above grading structure.