Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 122 of his Department’s annual report and accounts for 2022-23, how much of the £114.53 million in special payments reported for financial year 2022-23 consisted of payments made to (a) service personnel or (b) other individuals affected by defence activities.
The majority of the 4,609 special payments totalling £114.53 million disclosed relate to common law compensation claims (£111.20 million). An analysis of this data is provided below;
· 2,307 payments equating to £78 million to Service personnel
· 1,558 payments equating to £33 million to others
It should be noted that this analysis reflects the volume of payments made and that individuals may receive more than one compensation payment depending on the settlement reached.
The remaining value will include payments made in settlement of contractual disputes where it has been judged that this represents the best value for money course of action for the Department. Two of these payments are separately disclosed in the table as they exceed the >£300,000 threshold for more detailed reporting (specifically MSI Instruments (£959,000) and Land Remediation Payment (£321,000).