Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many female armed forces service personnel were (a) absent without leave (b) charged with desertion or (c) registered with military and civilian police as a missing person in each year since 2015.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The information available on female Armed Forces Service personnel who have been absent without leave (AWOL) or charged with desertion in each of the last five years is provided in the tables below.
The Ministry of Defence holds no information on missing persons in the United Kingdom as this is a matter for the civilian police forces. There are no records of any female Service personnel being reported to the Service Police as a missing person overseas in the last five years.
Year | Recorded AWOL |
2015 | 5 |
2016 | ~ |
2017 | 0 |
2018 | 5 |
2019 | ~ |
2020 (as at 21 July) | ~ |
Year | Charged with Desertion |
2015 | ~ |
2016 | ~ |
2017 | 0 |
2018 | 0 |
2019 | 0 |
2020 (as at 21 July) | 0 |
Notes:
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5 to preserve anonymity. Where the number is less than 5, the symbol ~ has been used. All figures are single Service estimates and are not official statistics produced by Defence Statistics.
The AWOL figures in the table are for the number of AWOL offences reported, not the
number of personnel who have gone AWOL. An individual may be recorded as AWOL more than once in this time period.
The figures for Recorded AWOL and Desertion charges have been compiled from different sources and have not been cross-checked.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential merits of including all bereaved armed services children in the Virtual Schools framework as set out in the Scotty’s Little Soldiers' Abeona pilot project in partnership with Norfolk County Council.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
I am grateful for the excellent support that Scotty's Little Soldiers provides to bereaved Service children. When I met with Scotty's Little Soldiers, on 4 February 2020, I was heartened to hear about their work, including the Abeona pilot programme.
While the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has no plans to discuss this matter with the Department for Education, MOD officials are engaged with Scotty's Little Soldiers and partners at the local level to understand the benefits of the programme in Norfolk and to learn whether this might be more widely applicable.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that female service personnel are provided with sanitary products when on operations.
Answered by James Heappey
The policy on provision of sanitary products to Service personnel overseas is currently under review.
I will write to the hon. Member to update her once that review is completed.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what financial support is available to female veterans who require child care when they access specialist support or therapy.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The requested information is not held by the Ministry of Defence. This type of support would be provided by the Local Authority in the specific geographical area that the female veteran resided.
However, NHS England actively encourage all their providers to offer veterans flexible appointments that help them to access services (in terms of time or location) and have partnership arrangements with Armed Forces charities that can provide assessed childcare support and funding.
The Government provides a significant package of childcare support to parents and carers, including our 30 hours offer for working parents of three and four year olds which has rolled out successfully, benefiting around 600,000 children in the first two years of delivery.
All three and four year olds, and the most disadvantaged two year olds, are able to access 15 hours a week of early education. From September 2017, the Government doubled the childcare entitlement for working parents of three and four year olds to 30 hours per week.
The Government also offers Tax-Free Childcare for every £8 parents pay their provider via an online account, the government will pay £2 up to a maximum contribution of £2,000 per child each year, for children under 12. There is also support available for parents with childcare costs outside of the free early education entitlements for lower income families. For example, eligible families can get help with 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit, subject to a monthly limit of £646 for one child or £1,108 for two or more children.
Further information on all Government childcare offers can be found at the following link: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2020 to Question 51724 on the Veterans UK Helpline, how many cases have been logged by the Veterans UK Helpline service in each month since January 2019.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The Ministry of Defence's Veterans UK helpline is a telephony and email service providing veterans with help and assistance on a wide range of veterans' issues. The helpline does not log claims or cases but where necessary, queries are referred onto the most appropriate part of Veterans UK for resolution and reply. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her Question 59390 on 18 June 2020 which details the number of emails and calls per month from January 2019.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2020 to Question 51724 on the Veterans UK Helpline, how many emails to the helpline were recorded in each month of 2020.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The number of emails to the Veterans UK Helpline recorded for each month in 2020 were:
Month | Jan 20 | Feb 20 | Mar 20 | Apr 20 | May 20 | 1 Jun to 15 Jun 20 |
|
Emails Received | 2,577 | 2,006 | 2,419 | 3,975 | 3,781 | 2,087 |
|
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2020 to Question 51724 on the Veterans UK Helpline, how many (a) calls and (b) emails were recorded by the Veterans UK Helpline service in each month of 2019.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The number of calls and e-mails received by the Veterans UK Helpline each month between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019 is as follows:
Month | Calls Received | Emails Received |
January 2019 | 13,291 | 1,990 |
February 2019 | 11,284 | 2,382 |
March 2019 | 11,291 | 1,909 |
April 2019 | 13,522 | 1,933 |
May 2019 | 11,644 | 1,568 |
June 2019 | 10,308 | 1,919 |
July 2019 | 11,825 | 2,020 |
August 2019 | 10,401 | 1,840 |
September 2019 | 10,646 | 1,917 |
October 2019 | 12,091 | 2,206 |
November 2019 | 11,098 | 1,976 |
December 2019 | 8,302 | 1,728 |
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 4 June 2020 to Question 51724 on the Veterans UK Helpline, when the telephone service of the Veterans UK Helpline will be in full service.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
COVID -19 workplace guidelines currently restrict the number of staff who are able to attend the workplace safely. The reduced capacity is however dealing with the level of calls being received and the email process continues to be an option for customers wanting contact Veterans UK. The email only service adequately coped with the demand from customers and all requests for help have been responded to.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2020 to Question 51724 on the Veterans UK Helpline, how many calls to that telephone service were recorded in each month of 2020.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
From 1 January 2020 to 8 June 2020, I can confirm the following number of telephone calls were recorded by the Veterans UK Helpline:
Month | Calls Recorded by the Veterans UK Helpline |
January 2020 | 9,733 |
February 2020 | 9,114 |
March 2020 (up to 22 March) | 7,595 |
Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, on 23 March 2020 the Veterans UK helpline was adapted to an email-only service. A partial telephony service resumed on 3 June 2020 and has recorded 459 calls up to 8 June 2020.
The Veterans UK helpline operators have responded to all 9,000 enquiries received by email since the email-only service was introduced on 23 March. This service remains in place alongside the reduced telephony service. All demand for help and assistance is being met.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen the Armed Forces Covenant.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The Government is committed to introducing legislation and it will be brought forward at the earliest opportunity.