Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the commitments set out in the Autumn Budget, by how much the Continuity of Education Allowance will increase.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For Academic Year 2023-24, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) paid £88.6 million for Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to support the education of 4,005 children for 2,666 Service personnel. Following the Budget statement by the Chancellor on 30 October, the MOD confirmed that it would carry out an in-year re-rating of CEA. The increased cost of the allowance to MOD is unknown until the exercise completes in early December.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase recruitment and retention in the Armed Forces.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The new Government’s work in improving retention and recruitment is part of a package of measures aimed to renew the contract between the nation and those who serve. We are modernising and refining our policies and processes to attract, and then retain the best possible talent, highlighting that Defence is a modern, forward-facing employer which offers a valuable and rewarding career. Our aim is to attract and recruit more, as well as maximise the number of applicants that successfully enter and remain in Armed Forces employment.
We have already awarded the largest Armed Forces pay increase in 22 years, ensuring that the starting Armed Forces’ salary is in line with the National Living Wage, and have set a new ambition for the Armed Forces to make a conditional offer of employment to candidates within 10 days and to give people a provisional training start date within 30 days. We have reviewed and implemented changes to the Armed Forces’ Entry Medical Employment Standards, setting new regulations for a range of conditions including asthma and eczema. Furthermore, Defence is creating a new military direct-entry cyber pathway. This will help boost our cyber resilience and support the UK’s ability to conduct operations in cyberspace.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of UK capabilities in electronic warfare; and what steps they are taking to improve such capability.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK has a number of excellent electromagnetic warfare capabilities; given the highly competitive nature of electromagnetic warfare, the Ministry of Defence will consider how best to keep pace with this challenge as part of the Strategic Defence Review.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) armed forces, and (2) diplomatic families, currently receive support via the Continuity of Education Allowance; and what were the numbers supported each year since 2019.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence currently has 2,666* Armed Forces personnel receiving MOD’s Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) The number supported since 2019 is as follows:
Academic Year | Number of Armed Forces Personnel |
2019-20 | 2,908 |
2020-21 | 2,843 |
2021-22 | 2,826 |
2022-23 | 2,759 |
*as at Academic Year 2023-24
(2) The FCDO currently have 328 diplomatic families claiming Continuity of Education Allowance. The number supported since 2019 is as follows:
Academic Year | Number of FCDO Civil Servants |
2019-20 | 281 |
2020-21 | 315 |
2021-22 | 349 |
2022-23 | 341 |
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop the UK’s global leadership on hypersonic missiles and other hypersonic technologies; and what progress they have made in the development of a domestically manufactured hypersonic missile.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK is demonstrating its leadership in the global hypersonic arena by active participation in the AUKUS Pillar 2 Advanced Capability Partnership. Since inception in 2022, the UK has been championing accelerated capability development with AUKUS allies, whilst also developing the long-term future of the UK's hypersonic industrial base.
Additionally, MOD continues to work with existing allies and international partners to investigate a range of advanced future capabilities.
Building on previous research and development, the MOD has established a Programme Team - Team Hypersonics (UK) - to cohere Ministry of Defence, industry and academia around the development of a sovereign hypersonic capability.
Team Hypersonics (UK) has established the Hypersonic Technologies and Capability Development Framework (HTCDF). This bespoke £ one billion Commercial Agile Route to Market is the mechanism to facilitate a spiralled approach to technology development through to a sovereign capability. 90 suppliers including defence primes, small & medium enterprises (SME) and academic institutions are now signed up.
With these enablers in place, the testing of critical sovereign-designed and manufactured missile sub-system technologies continues, including a novel hypersonic propulsion system. Several invitations to tender have already been released to spirally develop a range of technologies. These and future ITTs will allow the development of technical demonstrators and onwards into a capability.