Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking in response to the coroner's report of 30 December 2019 that linked the deaths of two Army recruits on military exercises to sickle cell anaemia.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The Army takes the safety of applicants and Serving personnel extremely seriously. Following the deaths of two Commonwealth applicants, a version of the NHS Family Origins Questionnaire is now used at assessment centres to screen all candidates. This enables a medical assessment identifying those at risk of Sickle Cell Trait (SCT) with a follow on blood test as necessary. Those who are found to be SCT negative can participate as normal in the Role Fitness Test (Entry) including a 2km run at the assessment centre. Candidates who have passed all other parts of the assessment but who have been identified as SCT positive are offered a tailored pre conditioning course to mitigate against Exertional Collapse Associated to Sickle Cell Trait (ECAST). This process has been developed based on an Evidence-Based Medicine approach drawing on available research and NHS best practice, tempered by best available experience of UK Subject Matter Experts and US Armed Forces. The inquests into the two tragic deaths are yet to take place, but a full response to the Coroner's Prevention of Future Deaths Report is being prepared, which will include direction on identifying and supporting serving military personnel who are as yet undiagnosed as SCT positive.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made in establishing a joint bridging unit in Germany.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
In October 2018, a Joint Vision Statement was signed, reaffirming the continuing importance of close defence co-operation with Germany. This committed the UK to a combined river crossing capability with shared facilities in Minden. Elements of an Engineer Squadron are already operating at Minden, alongside our German partners. We continue to grow the UK elements of this capability and anticipate that the wider battalion will be fully operational within the first half of the next decade.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many regular military physiotherapists are currently deployed in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland, (d) Wales and (e) overseas.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
As at 5 March 2019 there were the following numbers of Regular and Reserve physiotherapists by location.
| Regular | Reserve |
England | 92 | 44 |
Scotland | 3 | 9 |
Northern Ireland | 1 | 5 |
Wales | 2 | 5 |
Overseas | 8 | 0 |
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many reserve military physiotherapists are currently deployed in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland, (d) Wales and (e) overseas.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
As at 5 March 2019 there were the following numbers of Regular and Reserve physiotherapists by location.
| Regular | Reserve |
England | 92 | 44 |
Scotland | 3 | 9 |
Northern Ireland | 1 | 5 |
Wales | 2 | 5 |
Overseas | 8 | 0 |
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civilian physiotherapists employed by his Department are deployed in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland, (d) Wales and (e) overseas.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The latest available data from the Joint Medical Group and the Ministry of Defence Human Resources Management System provides the following numbers of civilian physiotherapists by location.
| Civilian |
England | 207 |
Scotland | 21 |
Northern Ireland | 8 |
Wales | 10 |
Overseas | 8 |
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many rehabilitation support workers who are not qualified physiotherapists are deployed in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland, (d) Wales and (e) overseas.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
There are a number of roles within the Defence Medical Services, other than physiotherapists, that support the rehabilitation of Service personnel. For the purposes of answering this question, rehabilitation support workers have been taken to mean Exercise Remedial Instructors. Currently there are the following in each location:
England | 172 |
Scotland | 10 |
Northern Ireland | 4 |
Wales | 5 |
Overseas | 15 |
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his oral contribution of 25 March 2019, Official Report, column 6, what steps the EU Commission has taken with regard to applying article 346 to the procurement of support ships by other member states.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The European Commission's evaluation report on the Defence Procurement Directive in 2016 can be found at:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52016DC0762&from=en
The accompanying Commission Staff Working Document can be found at:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52016SC0407&from=EN
The report found that some Member States may be interpreting exemptions such as Article 346 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union too broadly, resulting in an uneven application of the Directive. The report concluded that the Commission needed to take action to start infringement procedures where serious breaches of European Union law are identified. Consequently, the Commission sent infringement notices to a number of Member States in 2018 for not correctly applying the Directive. I am unable to comment further on these ongoing cases.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish his Department's military space strategy.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Following the Prime Minister's December announcement that the UK would not use the Galileo satellite system for Defence purposes, and the release of the Modernising Defence Programme report, the Ministry of Defence has been assessing our space capabilities, coherence and requirements. Once this short work is complete we will publish the Defence Strategic Guidance on Space.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what scenario planning his Department is undertaking on Military Aid to Civil Authorities.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Civil authorities and emergency services provide the first response to crises, emergencies and/or major incidents within the UK. They can however request Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) when they require additional or niche capabilities as described in 'Joint Doctrine Publication 02, UK Operations: the Defence Contribution to Resilience and Security'.
Defence participates actively in the Cabinet Office coordinated National Risk Assessment (NRA) process. The NRA, which is refreshed every two years, is a compendium of the most significant risks, or scenarios, that could manifest in the UK over the next five years. As part of the development and assessment of these scenarios the extent to which Defence may be required to provide MACA is considered. An unclassified version of the scenarios detailed in the NRA, can be found in the National Risk Register at the following link:
https://naru.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/UK-National-Risk-Register-2017.pdf
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) state of readiness and(b) availability of (i) major warships, (ii) attack submarines, (iii) helicopters and (iv) military aircraft.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Ministry of Defence keeps its equipment under constant review to meet current and potential future requirements. The normal operating cycle of military equipment and Units requires them to hold different readiness levels depending on their programmes, maintenance and Departmental planning requirements.