Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answers of 4 and 11 November to Questions 11939 and 12740 on Ministry of Defence: Employers' Contributions, what estimate he has made of the indirect costs to his Department following the proposed increase in employer national insurance contributions on suppliers and contractors that support his Department.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
As individual suppliers and contractors will manage the increase differently, it is not possible for the Department to estimate the indirect costs relating to the change in Employer National Insurance Contributions.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2024 to Question 11939 on Ministry of Defence: Employers' Contributions, whether the £216 million figure given is the (a) direct cost of his Department’s Ministry of Defence: Employers' Contributions national insurance contribution, (b) indirect cost to his department of higher contributions by suppliers and contractors and (c) total of direct and indirect costs.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The £216 million Employers' National Insurance cost provided in the previous answer is the estimated direct cost to the Department.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the increase in (a) direct and (b) indirect costs to his Department of the 1.2% rise in employer national insurance contributions announced in the budget.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The changes to employer national insurance contributions from April are expected to increase Departmental costs c.£216million in financial year 2025-26.
The Chancellor has agreed to provide funding to the public sector to support with the cost of employer national insurance contributions, which will be confirmed at a future date.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK Armed Forces personnel were categorised as NATO Category (a) 2 and (b) 3 on the basis they need dental care or treatment to achieve optimal dental fitness.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
As at 1 March 2023 11,451 UK Armed Forces personnel were categorised as NATO Category 2, and 10,687 UK Armed Forces personnel were categorised as NATO Category 3.
For UK Defence Dentistry the NATO Dental Fitness Category is interpreted as follows:
NATO Dental Fitness Category 2
Service Personnel in date for Periodic Dental Inspection who require active interventive or operative dental treatment and whose existing dental condition, in the opinion of the clinician, is unlikely to result in a dental emergency within their defined recall period..
NATO Dental Fitness Category 3
Service personnel in date for Periodic Dental Inspection who require active interventive or operative dental treatment and whose dental condition is, in the opinion of the clinician, likely to cause a dental emergency within 12 months. It also includes those previously categorised as NATO Dental Fitness Category 2 who have gone beyond their recall date.
The Joint Medical Employment Standard (JMES) awarded by medical staff in order to inform commanders and career managers of the deployability and employability of Service personnel, will be reviewed if the Service person’s oral health status adversely affects their employability or overall health if deployed, or their oral care needs would be difficult to deliver in the deployed environment.
The Service person will be graded according to the frequency of the symptoms, requirement for medication and medical support, and degree of functional impairment.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military personnel are waiting for dental treatment as of 14 March 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
As at 1 March 2023 (latest data available) 22,138 UK Armed Forces personnel were categorised as NATO Category 2 or 3; meaning that they require either preventative or interventive treatment to achieve optimal dental fitness.
NATO Category 2 patients are deployable as they only require minor interventive treatment or treatment aimed at preventing disease. NATO Category 3 patients require treatment for conditions which are likely to result in issues within a year if left untreated. These are the priority for treatment.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many whole-time equivalent dentists are employed by (a) his Department, (b) the armed forces, (c) the Royal Air Force, (d) the British Army and (e) the Royal Navy.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The table below provides the numbers of Dental Officers in the UK Armed Forces, by Service, as at 1 October 2022:
Table 1. Trained/Trade Trained Regular and Trained FR20 Reserve Dental Officers in the UK Armed Forces, by Service, as at 1 October 2022 | ||||
| Total | Royal Navy | Army | Royal Air Force |
Total | 180 | 40 | 100 | 40 |
Regular/Full-Time | 140 | 40 | 70 | 30 |
FR20/Part-Time | 40 | - | 30 | 10 |
| ||||
The above figures are for uniformed military personnel only and have been rounded to 10 for presentational purposes; numbers ending in "5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. It is not possible to provide data for Volunteer Reserves in terms of whole-time equivalency.
The table below provides the numbers of Ministry of Defence Civilian Dental Practitioners by Top Level Budget Holder (TLB) and Headcount and Full Time Equivalence (FTE) as at 1 October 2022:
Table 2: MoD Civilian Dental Practitioners by TLB and Headcount and FTE | |||||
01 October 2022 | |||||
TLB | Headcount | FTE | |||
UK Strat Com | 102 | 86 | |||
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