Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2022 to Question 73134 on Detention Centres: Manston, which departmental budget is used for the costs of deploying staff from his Department to the Manston immigration facility.

There are three shifts of between 13 and 19 Army personnel assigned to Manston, assisting the Border Force with logistical support and initial processing of migrants upon arrival at the site. Aside from some modest incidental allowances (such as travel and subsistence payments), there is no additional cost to the public purse presented by the deployment of Service personnel on this task beyond that which Defence would expect if the individuals were deployed on alternative tasking. All costs are therefore not charged elsewhere and fall to the Army’s budget.