Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Mark Francois

Monday 20th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Francois]

Yes, I can. We take the safety and well-being of our personnel extremely seriously. Anybody, be they military or civilian, deploying to Sierra Leone must meet specified theatre entry standards before being allowed to depart from the UK. That includes a specific Ebola threat brief. I recently visited 22 Field Hospital in Strensall in Yorkshire, and witnessed the staff’s rigorous training, and their professional approach to safety in their preparation. Nevertheless, given the nature of the disease, there will always be some element of risk, so I hope that the whole House will join me in wishing our brave personnel good luck and Godspeed.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Will the Minister explain to the House what provisions are being made in Sierra Leone to make sure that the treatment facilities that he described, which are being put in place by the British armed forces, remain secure?

[Mr Francois]

We are providing up to 700 beds for the treatment of Ebola-infected patients and, critically, a specialist 12-bed facility to treat health care workers, should any unfortunately become infected. That second element is a magnet, because we must recruit more health care workers to go to Sierra Leone to help fight the disease. I am extremely proud of what our military personnel are doing, and the whole country and the House can be proud of them, too.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Mark Francois

Monday 14th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Francois]

Shortly.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

22. Does the Minister agree with the National Audit Office’s conclusion on Army 2020, which was that the Department did not properly assess the value for money of shrinking the size of the Army?

[Mr Francois]

We believe that we have properly assessed the right size of the Army to create a mixture of regulars and reserves to defend our country in the future, and I respectfully remind the hon. Gentleman that we mobilised 25,000 reservists for service in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom won gallantry awards fighting directly alongside their regular counterparts. We are very proud of our reserves and what they have achieved in the defence of this country in the past, as well as what they will continue to do in defence of this country in the future.

Armed Forces

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Mark Francois

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Francois]

Having seen the programme, I am happy to confirm that that is the case. I heard the Colchester military wives choir perform in Portcullis House some months ago, and if it gives as good a performance on Saturday as it did then, all my constituents who attend the event will be very impressed.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

rose—

[Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Francois]

I shall give way first to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne).

[Andrew Gwynne]

I shall be in Victoria park in Denton on Saturday to celebrate Armed Forces day. Another way in which the public can get together to celebrate our armed forces is through the homecoming of our troops. The Minister will be pleased to hear that we have had huge crowds in Tameside and Stockport for the homecoming of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment and the Mercian Regiment in the past few weeks.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Mark Francois

Monday 17th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

15. What support his Department provides for veterans’ travel.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr Mark Francois)]

We try to be responsive and innovative in thinking about how we repay the debt we owe to our veterans. An example is the recently revamped defence discount service, which covers discounted holidays and travel. Other direct support includes reduced rate air travel, via the South Atlantic air bridge, for Falkland Islands veterans.

[Andrew Gwynne]

I am sure the whole House supports the need to do more to give our armed services personnel and veterans the ability to travel. It is commonplace in America for US personnel to get priority boarding at their airports. Would the Minister support a similar scheme here and encourage British airlines to offer Her Majesty’s armed services personnel priority boarding rights in British airports?

[Mr Francois]

As someone who flew Ryanair from Stansted over the bank holiday weekend recently, I am in favour in principle of just about anything that gets people on to aircraft more efficiently. The hon. Gentleman’s idea could be worth looking at, but he and the House might be interested to know that the MOD has been having much broader discussions with business and industry about how they can do a range of things for the armed forces community under the auspices of the armed forces covenant, and we hope to have something to say about that in the relatively near future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Mark Francois

Monday 25th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Francois]

My hon. Friend raises an important issue, and the armed forces covenant report 2012 points out that for spouses and partners

“despite the generally difficult economic situation, we have seen increased levels of full time employment—from 34% in 2011 to 38% in 2012—and the number of partners reporting difficulty finding a job because of employment history has decreased from 25% in 2010 to 16% in 2012.”

In addition, the Government plan to make an announcement shortly on regular Army basing, which should help to provide greater stability in future for service families.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Has the Minister considered having a Jobcentre Plus at each service accommodation site to ensure that service families are not disconnected from the services they require to help them get back into work?

[Mr Francois]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s question, but we already have a network of armed forces champions in DWP districts and a number of jobcentres. We attempt to meet the requirement by doing things that way round, and we believe that it works.