Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what value for money criteria were used to make the decision to close Welbeck College; whether that criteria will be used to assess the sustainability of the Army Foundation College Harrogate; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
A review of the Defence Technical Officer and Engineering Entry Scheme (DTOEES), which includes Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College and the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme, has determined that the current scheme is no longer delivering sufficient numbers to meet the Defence requirement for technical and engineer officers, nor does it demonstrate value for money, or the flexibility to meet any changes in the Ministry of Defence (MOD)'s future requirements.
The National Audit Office value for money criteria were applied robustly as part of the DTOEES review:
Economy: minimising the cost of resources used or required (inputs)
Efficiency: the relationship between the output of the service and the resources required to produce them
Effectiveness: the relationship between the intended and actual results of public spending (outcomes)
In place of the current scheme Defence will establish a new Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Graduate Inflow Scheme designed to increase the inflow of STEM undergraduates using a range of targeted financial incentives which may include scholarships, maintenance bursaries and/or payment of tuition fees. It will also recruit from universities across the UK instead of the current limited number and allow for a wider range of degree subjects to be studied, including cyber and computer-based studies.
There are no issues with the sustainability of the Army Foundation College Harrogate and there are no plans to consider its closure.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2019 to Question 221840 on Army: Recruitment, when he plans to place in the Library a copy of the media buying brief produced for the Crown Commercial Service for the Your Army Needs You advertising campaign launched in January 2019.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
A copy of the brief has been placed in the Library of the House, with a small number of redactions for commercial and data protection reasons. I attach a copy to this response for your convenience.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the reasons were for the compensation payments made in the last five years to people living below the Tactical Training Area in central Wales.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Claims are recorded by Low Flying Area (LFA) and cannot be separated out to Tactical Training Areas only. Compensation payments for the five financial years 2013-14 to 2017-18 made to people living below in the LFA encompassing the Tactical Training Area in central Wales for low flying claims were for the following reasons: 12 claims were for loss or injury to livestock and nine claims were for property damage.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) number and (b) value of compensation payments made in the last five years to people living below the Tactical Training Area in central Wales was.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Claims are recorded by Low Flying Area (LFA) and cannot be separated out to Tactical Training Areas only. The number of compensation payments made for low flying claims arising from people living below in the LFA encompassing the Tactical Training Area in central Wales for the five financial years 2013-14 to 2017-18 was 21. The compensation payments amounted to £98,781.27.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) number and (b) value of compensation payments made in the last five years to people living below Tactical Training Areas was.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Claims are recorded by Low Flying Area (LFA) and cannot be separated out to Tactical Training Areas only. The number of compensation payments made for low flying claims arising from people living below in the LFAs encompassing Tactical Training Areas for the five financial years 2013-14 to 2017-18 was 25. The compensation payments amounted to £101,148.27.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the GIS data used to construct the boundaries of the (a) 18 Low Flying Areas and (b) boundaries for the three Tactical Training Areas in the UK.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Geographical data on the UK Low Flying System is available online at :
https://www.aidu.mod.uk/aip/pdf/enr/ENR-5-2.pdf
The UK Low Flying System, which contains the Low Flying Areas and Tactical Training Areas, was developed during the 1960s to manage and deconflict military aircraft activity.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2019 to Question 218835 on Army: Recruitment, if he will publish the segmentation study referenced in that campaign brief.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Publication of the specific documents requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost given their length of over 400 pages and the commercial sensitivities which would need to be redacted. The document released to the hon. Member on 13 February 2019, in answer to Question 218835, set out the Army's plan for the current recruitment campaign. As such this reflects conclusions and analysis drawn from the segmentation study and Employee Value Proposition research.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2019 to Question 218835 on Army: Recruitment, if he will publish the Employee Value Proposition research referenced in that campaign brief.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Publication of the specific documents requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost given their length of over 400 pages and the commercial sensitivities which would need to be redacted. The document released to the hon. Member on 13 February 2019, in answer to Question 218835, set out the Army's plan for the current recruitment campaign. As such this reflects conclusions and analysis drawn from the segmentation study and Employee Value Proposition research.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Business Challenge section of the campaign brief for Capita published on 13 February, what recent improvements the Army Recruiting Group has made.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Army is working closely with Capita, with multiple interventions now in place and delivering improvements to Army recruiting. These include the new Your Army marketing campaign, measures to reduce the time between applicants applying and starting training, greater access to military role models for applicants during the process and a new IT system which is providing enhanced management data.
Regular soldier applications are at a five-year high, and while it is premature to assess the success of the current 'Your Army' campaign, early indications are of a strong start in attracting candidates to join the Army, with over 10,000 applicants to join the Regular Army in January. It will take longer to see increases in trained strength due to the length of the recruitment and training pipelines.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library a copy of the media buying brief produced for the Crown Commercial Service for the Your Army Needs You advertising campaign launched in January 2019.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Some sections of the requested media buying brief may require redaction due to commercial sensitivity. I will seek to place a copy in the Library of the House as soon as practicable, once it has been reviewed by Ministry of Defence officials.