Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average cost is of preparing and serving a meal in Army barracks.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The daily cost of core meals for UK Service personnel is set by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body at £5.74 inclusive of Value Added Tax.
The table below highlights the core meal price spent on produce and ingredients:
| Breakfast | Lunch | Main Meal | Total |
Food cost | £1.20 | £1.62 | £1.97 | £4.79 |
VAT @ 20% | £0.24 | £0.32 | £0.39 | £0.95 |
Total cost | £1.44 | £1.94 | £2.36 | £5.74 |
The cost of the preparation and serving of food is included within the Ministry of Defence’s existing catering contracts. These costs are not separately identifiable.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to audit deactivated (a) vehicles and (b) military hardware.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
All equipment sold by the Ministry of Defence for commercial sale is, where appropriate, demilitarised. Consequently, there is no requirement to carry out an audit.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Army's National Recruiting Centre will support visa applications from people who live overseas and who want to join the Army.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 17 July 2017 to Questions 4409 and 4410. Commonwealth citizens who are selected to attend an Army Assessment Centre for the limited number of specialist roles for which the five year UK residency requirement has been waived, are provided with a letter of invitation from the Army National Recruiting Centre. This letter can be included within their supporting documentation for any visa applications. Candidates are personally responsible for meeting the Home Office's visa requirements to enter and then legally remain in the UK during the selection process.
A separate process, which does not involve the Army National Recruiting Centre, applies for the recruitment of Nepalese citizens into the Brigade of Gurkhas.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s policy is on lifting the cap on the number of overseas soldiers recruited to the British Army.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
To be eligible to join the British Armed Forces individuals must be a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen. In addition, the British Army recruits Nepalese citizens into the Brigade of Gurkhas. Commonwealth citizens are required to have lived legally in the UK for a period of five years before enlistment. In May 2016, in agreement with the Home Office, we announced that for up to 200 Commonwealth citizens per annum this residency criteria would be waived to allow for recruitment into specialist roles in the Regular Armed Forces. This policy remains extant. The Army has received very high numbers of applications for these specialist roles and fills its share.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to recruit foreign soldiers.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
To be eligible to join the British Armed Forces individuals must be a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen. In addition, the British Army recruits Nepalese citizens into the Brigade of Gurkhas. Commonwealth citizens are required to have lived legally in the UK for a period of five years before enlistment. In May 2016, in agreement with the Home Office, we announced that for up to 200 Commonwealth citizens per annum this residency criteria would be waived to allow for recruitment into specialist roles in the Regular Armed Forces. This policy remains extant. The Army has received very high numbers of applications for these specialist roles and fills its share.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to recruit and retain more soldiers.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Army continues to offer exciting opportunities and the Armed Forces is the biggest provider of apprenticeships in the UK. Over 8,000 people have been recruited into the Regular Army over the past 12 months and Army Reserve numbers reached over 30,000 as of 1 May 2017, an increase of over 5% from the following year. The Army is currently running the nationwide 'Belonging' recruitment campaign.
We also continue to take steps to ensure that the Armed Forces are a modern employer, including through introduction of flexible working arrangements. This is complemented by the Chief of General Staff's 'maximising talent' agenda which aims to modernise Army career structures, training and education to ensure that it attracts, develops and retains talented people from across society.