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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 02 Feb 2017
Armed Forces Covenant

"I thank the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mrs Trevelyan) and the Backbench Business Committee for arranging this debate. In these interesting political times, it is important that issues such as this are not allowed to fall by the wayside. Today’s debate has been interesting and useful, with many considered and …..."
Kirsten Oswald - View Speech

View all Kirsten Oswald (SNP - East Renfrewshire) contributions to the debate on: Armed Forces Covenant

Speech in Public Bill Committees - Wed 01 Feb 2017
Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill (First sitting)

"I am very interested in what the hon. Gentleman says about the different kinds of award and medal that are available and covered in the Bill. Does he agree that it is unfortunate that there is not a national defence medal that could be granted to all service personnel?..."
Kirsten Oswald - View Speech

View all Kirsten Oswald (SNP - East Renfrewshire) contributions to the debate on: Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill (First sitting)

Speech in Public Bill Committees - Wed 01 Feb 2017
Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill (First sitting)

"I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s comments that there is scope for this to be reviewed in the future. He understands my sentiments about the prospect of a national defence medal, so it is positive to see that avenue. To take him back to the point about Walter Mitty characters and …..."
Kirsten Oswald - View Speech

View all Kirsten Oswald (SNP - East Renfrewshire) contributions to the debate on: Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill (First sitting)

Speech in Public Bill Committees - Wed 01 Feb 2017
Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill (First sitting)

"I thank the hon. Member for Dartford for all his work in bringing the Bill here today. I also thank the Clerks, who have been extremely patient with me, in the same way that the Ministry of Defence has clearly been very supportive of the hon. Gentleman. I know that …..."
Kirsten Oswald - View Speech

View all Kirsten Oswald (SNP - East Renfrewshire) contributions to the debate on: Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill (First sitting)

Speech in Public Bill Committees - Wed 01 Feb 2017
Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill (First sitting)

"I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s giving way; he has been incredibly generous with his time. I think his point written in unreadable handwriting might have said something about legislative consent motions or separate requirements for legislation...."
Kirsten Oswald - View Speech

View all Kirsten Oswald (SNP - East Renfrewshire) contributions to the debate on: Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill (First sitting)

Written Question
Navy: Death
Wednesday 1st February 2017

Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's publication, UK armed forces suicide and open verdict deaths: 1984-2015, published on 31 March 2016, what the aggregated five-year averages were of deaths of members of the (a) Royal Navy and (b) other branches of the naval services that were classified as death by suicide or recorded as an open verdict.

Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton

The attached table provides an annual breakdown of coroner-confirmed suicides and open verdict deaths among Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel in calendar years 1984 to 2015. The numbers presented may change when outstanding coroner verdicts are returned on deaths that have occurred since 2007.

The figures presented are the actual number of suicide and open verdict deaths per year rather than five year average numbers. Suicide rates across the Services show a declining trend since the 1990s, similar to that seen in the UK general population. Rates among the UK Regular Armed Forces were lower than the UK general population1,2 throughout 1984-2015. The male suicide rate in the UK general population in 2014 was 16.8 per 100,000 compared to a UK Armed Forces male Tri-Service rate of 4 per 100,000.

1 Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2012) Suicide Rates in the United Kingdom, 2006 to 2010

2 Suicides in the United Kingdom 2013 Registrations, release 4 February 2016, ONS.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Death
Wednesday 1st February 2017

Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's publication, UK armed forces suicide and open verdict deaths: 1984-2015, published on 31 March 2016, what the aggregated five-year average number of deaths recorded as suicide or an open verdict of members of (a) the Royal Navy and (b) other services were in which the deceased had been (i) deployed and (ii) not deployed.

Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton

Defence Statistics maintains a database of individual deployment records from November 2001. The attached table, therefore, provides an annual breakdown of coroner-confirmed suicides and open verdict deaths among UK Armed Forces personnel as a whole and for each Service in the calendar years 2002 to 2015. It provides a breakdown by those who had previously deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan and those who had not deployed to either operation. The numbers presented may change when outstanding coroner verdicts are returned on deaths that have occurred since 2007.

The Figures presented are the actual number of suicide and open verdict deaths per year rather than five year average numbers. Between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2015 a total of 82 Armed Forces personnel who had deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan were recorded by a coroner as being either a suicide or open verdict death. In the same period, a total of 107 Armed Forces personnel who had not deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan were recorded as a suicide or open verdict death. For context, a total of 634 UK Armed Forces personnel deaths as a result of operations in Iraq or Afghanistan and there were a total of 1,395 non-operational UK Armed Forces deaths over the same period.

Suicide rates across the Services show a declining trend since the 1990s, similar to that seen in the UK general population. Rates among the UK Regular Armed Forces were lower than the UK general population1,2 throughout 1984-2015. The male suicide rate in the UK general population in 2014 was 16.8 per 100,000 compared to a UK Armed Forces male Tri-Service rate of 4 per 100,000.

1 Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2012) Suicide Rates in the United Kingdom, 2006 to 2010

2 Suicides in the United Kingdom 2013 Registrations, release 4 February 2016, ONS.


Written Question
Air Force: Death
Wednesday 1st February 2017

Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's publication, UK armed forces suicide and open verdict deaths: 1984-2015, published on 31 March 2016, what the aggregated five-year average number of deaths recorded as suicide or an open verdict of Royal Air Force personnel were in which the deceased had been (a) deployed and (b) not deployed.

Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton

Defence Statistics maintains a database of individual deployment records from November 2001. The attached table, therefore, provides an annual breakdown of coroner-confirmed suicides and open verdict deaths among UK Armed Forces personnel as a whole and for each Service in the calendar years 2002 to 2015. It provides a breakdown by those who had previously deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan and those who had not deployed to either operation. The numbers presented may change when outstanding coroner verdicts are returned on deaths that have occurred since 2007.

The Figures presented are the actual number of suicide and open verdict deaths per year rather than five year average numbers. Between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2015 a total of 82 Armed Forces personnel who had deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan were recorded by a coroner as being either a suicide or open verdict death. In the same period, a total of 107 Armed Forces personnel who had not deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan were recorded as a suicide or open verdict death. For context, a total of 634 UK Armed Forces personnel deaths as a result of operations in Iraq or Afghanistan and there were a total of 1,395 non-operational UK Armed Forces deaths over the same period.

Suicide rates across the Services show a declining trend since the 1990s, similar to that seen in the UK general population. Rates among the UK Regular Armed Forces were lower than the UK general population1,2 throughout 1984-2015. The male suicide rate in the UK general population in 2014 was 16.8 per 100,000 compared to a UK Armed Forces male Tri-Service rate of 4 per 100,000.

1 Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2012) Suicide Rates in the United Kingdom, 2006 to 2010

2 Suicides in the United Kingdom 2013 Registrations, release 4 February 2016, ONS.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Death
Wednesday 1st February 2017

Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's publication, UK armed forces suicide and open verdict deaths: 1984-2015, published on 31 March 2016, what the aggregated five-year average number of deaths recorded as suicide or as an open verdict of Army personnel were in which the deceased have been (a) deployed and (b) not deployed.

Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton

Defence Statistics maintains a database of individual deployment records from November 2001. The attached table, therefore, provides an annual breakdown of coroner-confirmed suicides and open verdict deaths among UK Armed Forces personnel as a whole and for each Service in the calendar years 2002 to 2015. It provides a breakdown by those who had previously deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan and those who had not deployed to either operation. The numbers presented may change when outstanding coroner verdicts are returned on deaths that have occurred since 2007.

The Figures presented are the actual number of suicide and open verdict deaths per year rather than five year average numbers. Between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2015 a total of 82 Armed Forces personnel who had deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan were recorded by a coroner as being either a suicide or open verdict death. In the same period, a total of 107 Armed Forces personnel who had not deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan were recorded as a suicide or open verdict death. For context, a total of 634 UK Armed Forces personnel deaths as a result of operations in Iraq or Afghanistan and there were a total of 1,395 non-operational UK Armed Forces deaths over the same period.

Suicide rates across the Services show a declining trend since the 1990s, similar to that seen in the UK general population. Rates among the UK Regular Armed Forces were lower than the UK general population1,2 throughout 1984-2015. The male suicide rate in the UK general population in 2014 was 16.8 per 100,000 compared to a UK Armed Forces male Tri-Service rate of 4 per 100,000.

1 Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2012) Suicide Rates in the United Kingdom, 2006 to 2010

2 Suicides in the United Kingdom 2013 Registrations, release 4 February 2016, ONS.


Written Question
AWE: Industrial Disputes
Thursday 26th January 2017

Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of the recent industrial action by Atomic Weapons Establishment staff on the delivery of his Department's nuclear weapons programme.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)

Trade union members at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) have been undertaking industrial action since 14 November 2016 in relation to proposed changes to the AWE Pension Scheme by AWE plc. Robust measures are in place to manage any impact of this industrial action.