Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military personnel are waiting for medical treatment.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) units have been rented privately in each year since 2019; what the (a) average, (b) longest and (c) shortest timeframe for renters having been given notice to quit has been since 2019; and how many of his Department's sites on which SFA is located have had 10 or more notices to quit served in the same calendar month since 2019.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The number and percentage of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties that have been rented privately in each year since 2019 is shown in the table below:
Dates | Total Stock | Privately LET | Percentage Privately LET |
Apr-2019 | 49,437 | 941 | 1.90% |
Apr-2020 | 49,143 | 1,313 | 2.67% |
Apr-2021 | 48,518 | 1,514 | 3.12% |
Apr-2022 | 47,391 | 1,405 | 2.96% |
Apr-2023 | 47,286 | 1,401 | 2.96% |
Apr-2024 | 47,094 | 1,296 | 2.75% |
Sites where ten or more Notices to Quit (NTQ) have been served at the same time are:
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In line with standard procedure, occupants who have been served a NTQ are provided with 65 days’ notice as specified within the tenancy agreement. However, individual specific circumstances will be taken into account where there are extenuating circumstances, as is the case at RAF Henlow, where one year’s notice has been given.
The average timeframe for a NTQ could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to sail RFA Fort Victoria again.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
RFA FORT VICTORIA is in a scheduled refit package to prepare her for future service.
All Royal Navy (RN) ships rotate through planned operating cycles and this results in individual ships being at various levels of readiness at any one time in accordance with long-term operating schedules and operational needs; they remain in service during these periods but may not be deployable.
It is our policy not to disclose the fine details of forward availability forecasts of individual ships as this would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces. The RN does publish annual figures for readiness days, the first of which was released in November 2023.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 19178 on Armed Forces: Housing, if he will provide a breakdown of this figure for Scotland.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For the period 1 April 2023 to 29 February 2024, the Department spent £21,004 on housing Service personnel and their families in emergency accommodation in Scotland due to major repairs needed at their military accommodation.
Information for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 is not separately identifiable due to the way in which data was held at the time.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what data his Department holds on the number of compensation payments awarded to families living in service family accommodation in Scotland since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Since 1 April 2022 1,724 compensation claims have been paid to Service personnel living in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) in Scotland.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the land-attack missile capabilities of the Royal Navy; and what steps he has taken to strengthen those capabilities.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Capability assessment is routine activity for Defence, ensuring that the UK Armed Forces keeps pace with the emerging threat and adopts the latest technology.
The Royal Navy (RN) is capable of delivering land attack from all domains: Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles launched from Astute Class Submarines; Paveway IV precision guided bombs from F-35B; and most recently, the Naval Strike Missile, which is in the process of being fitted to surface ships.
Several future options, which include a land attack capability, are also under consideration as part of the Future Cruise and Anti-Ship Weapon programme which will equip future RN ships. We continually keep all such capabilities under review, including as part of our wider munitions strategy.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of veterans sleeping rough on 28 March 2024.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
On 29 February 2024, we published management information which showed that over the month in December 2023, four people sleeping rough in England had left the UK armed forces within the last 85 days. This data is available at Ending Rough Sleeping Data Framework, December 2023 - GOV.UK.
The next quarterly publication of monthly data up to March will be published in June 2024.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason there is no armed forces recruitment target for ethnic minorities.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Whilst Defence has not set hard targets for the recruitment of ethnic minority personnel for the Armed Forces, we have set internally published levels of ambition to increase the recruitment and representation of underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities. The purpose of these levels of ambition is to act as a catalyst for innovation and activity, and to provide challenge and stretch to existing processes and approaches.
Defence has committed to improving the recruitment of ethnic minority personnel into the Armed Forces and is engaged in a wide range of activities to promote better understanding and enhance engagement with ethnic minority communities, reviewing Armed Forces recruitment processes and delivering more targeted marketing and communications towards potential ethnic minority applicants.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on their target for women to account for 30% of personnel recruited by 2030.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 11 December 2023 to Question 4844.
In the 12 months to 30 September 2023, the proportion of female intake was 12.3% and we hope to continue to work towards the target year on year.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2024 to Question 20584 on Air Force: Training, what the target number of Royal Air Force pilots was for successful completion of Phase 2 Military Flying Training in each of the training years between 2018-19 and 2023-24.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, Phase 2 Military Flying Training pilot output achieved 100% of the training targets to enable Front Line operations. I am withholding the specific information requested as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.