Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will withdraw security assistance to Uganda following the ratification of the Anti-Homosexuality Act in that country.
Answered by Mark Francois - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Government has no plans to review or suspend our assistance, which is in the UK's security interests. Respect for human rights underpins all UK training and support for overseas security programmes.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on (a) armed forces recruitment and (b) armed forces recruitment marketing in 2012-13.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Ministry of Defence does not report the costs of recruitment marketing separately. The costs detailed in the following table show the total cost of regular recruiting by Service and include manpower costs; marketing campaigns (specific advertising); marketing operations (provision of the recruiting process i.e. call centres and website maintenance), and contract costs (i.e. medical and fitness testing).It should be noted that despite the redundancy notice, the Armed Forces are required to constantly recruit every year to maintain the levels of young personnel entering the three services.
Financial Year | Royal Navy | Army | Royal Air Force | TOTAL |
2012-13 | £33.2million | £122.8million | £35.4million | £191.4million |
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the More Than Meets The Eye recruitment campaign has cost; and if he will place in the Library copies of the written brief for the campaign and any evaluation that has been made so far.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The date and approximate cost of each campaign specified is shown in the following table:
Campaign | Date | Focus | Costs £ million |
More Than Meets The Eye | January - March 2014 | Regular/Reserve | £2.7 |
Step Up | May - September 2013 | Regular | £1.8 |
Start Thinking Soldier | April - September 2009 | Regular | £4.6 |
The evaluation work for the More Than Meets The Eye campaign is expected to report in May. The figure quoted reflects the media costs of the campaign, and includes approximately £1.2 million from the existing contracted budget. I have placed a copy of the marketing brief and analysis of results for the Step Up campaign in the Library of the House. The Start Thinking Soldier campaign took place four years before the current partnering arrangement between the Army and Capita started. Although formal evaluation is no longer held for Start Thinking Soldier, I have placed the marketing brief for the television advertising in the Library of the House.
The Army is always recruiting, as it requires a constant flow of personnel to enter as privates and officer cadets, and then to gain the knowledge and experience to be promoted through the ranks. Consequently, it will always need to run recruitment campaigns. Army recruiting will continue to be supported by targeted campaigns, designed to highlight the variety of skills and trades available in both the Regular and Reserve forces.