Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will set out his Department's forecast of (a) the total FTE and (b) the change in FTE staff deployed in the Indo-Pacific region, broken down by nation for each year in the next five-year period.

Following the commitments made in the Defence Command Paper in support of the UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt, the period since 16 March 2021 has seen an increase in both MOD personnel and MOD assets permanently deployed to the Indo-Pacific region.

This increase in personnel supports the expansion of the UK’s Defence Network, including the establishment of a British Defence Staff for Oceania, in Canberra and Defence Advisor and Attaché posts in Fiji and the Philippines respectively.

Over the same period, the number of assets in the region has also increased. Following the conclusion of the Carrier Strike Group deployment, HMS Spey and Tamar were permanently stationed in the region at the end of 2021.

As of 8 December 22, there are a total of 1,297 Defence Personnel deployed in the Indo Pacific, not including the Global Network.

There is no specific figure forecast to increase the total FTE in the next five-year period. Defence will ensure that increases in personnel are commensurate with our commitments to the region as set out in the Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper.

[1] These figures have been rounded to the nearest 5, in order to reflect the adaptive nature of Defence activity, however, the total figure represents the number of UK Defence Personnel deployed on the 8 December excluding those personnel working in Defence sections or as part of the global network.