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Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Health and Safety
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to comply with principle (d) of schedule 1 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The Department complies with principle (d) of schedule 1 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 through Joint Service Publications (JSPs) 375 and 912. JSP 375 sets out policy for managing the health and safety of personnel in defence including assessing and managing workplace and equipment safety. JSP 912 explains the requirement for human factors integration in defence systems and how to go about it.

Additionally, the Department provides a comprehensive framework of guidance and a dedicated Workplace Adjustment Service to ensure individuals who may have any additional requirements are not disadvantaged and have appropriate workplace adjustments in place.


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Access to Work Programme
Thursday 22nd June 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether an Access to Work scheme has been implemented in their Department.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Yes. Responsibility for delivery was taken over from the Department for Work and Pensions on 1 April 2022.


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Holiday Leave
Thursday 18th May 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications of the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling in the 2017 case of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council v Willetts & Ors for the calculation of holiday pay entitlement for staff in her Department; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence includes all overtime in the calculation of holiday pay entitlements, and therefore assesses there are no implications from this Employment Tribunal (UKEAT/0334/16/JOJ) for its staff.


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Disability
Tuesday 28th February 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps they have taken in their Department to operate the Disability Confident employer scheme for those seeking a lateral transfer; and how many and what proportion of candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under that scheme where (a) interviewed and (b) laterally transferred in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The Disability Confident scheme was formally launched by the Department for Work and Pensions in November 2016. It is designed to give employers the skills, techniques and confidence they need to recruit, retain and develop disabled staff.

The scheme has three levels. To reach Level Three, Disability Confident Leader, an employer must run through a self-assessment of their disabled employment policies and practices, put this self-assessment up for external validation, produce a plan for encouraging and supporting other employers to become Disability Confident, and undertake to use the Voluntary Reporting framework to publicly report on how they support their disabled staff. All of the main Government Departments are now signed up as Disability Confident Leaders including the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The data regarding the proportion of candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied to MOD under the scheme who were promoted or laterally transferred could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The table below details the number of staff invited to interview who declared themselves as having a disability and also applied under the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS). Only internal applicants have been included as they are the only staff who can be promoted or laterally transferred.

Area interviewed

2021

Percentage of total (%)

2022

Percentage of total (%)

MOD (including SDA and DE&S)

433

26

439

27

Notes / Caveats -

  • All data is taken from the feed from the recruitment systems used between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2022. The data will only include MOD applications that took place on recruitment systems between these dates.


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Disability
Tuesday 28th February 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps they have taken to operate a disability confident scheme for those seeking promotion in their Department; and how many and what proportion of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the scheme were (a) interviewed and (b) promoted in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The Disability Confident scheme was formally launched by the Department for Work and Pensions in November 2016. It is designed to give employers the skills, techniques and confidence they need to recruit, retain and develop disabled staff.

The scheme has three levels. To reach Level Three, Disability Confident Leader, an employer must run through a self-assessment of their disabled employment policies and practices, put this self-assessment up for external validation, produce a plan for encouraging and supporting other employers to become Disability Confident, and undertake to use the Voluntary Reporting framework to publicly report on how they support their disabled staff. All of the main Government Departments are now signed up as Disability Confident Leaders including the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The data regarding the proportion of candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied to MOD under the scheme who were promoted or laterally transferred could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The table below details the number of staff invited to interview who declared themselves as having a disability and also applied under the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS). Only internal applicants have been included as they are the only staff who can be promoted or laterally transferred.

Area interviewed

2021

Percentage of total (%)

2022

Percentage of total (%)

MOD (including SDA and DE&S)

433

26

439

27

Notes / Caveats -

  • All data is taken from the feed from the recruitment systems used between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2022. The data will only include MOD applications that took place on recruitment systems between these dates.


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Conditions of Employment
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if they will take steps to (a) publish an equality impact assessment and (b) consult with trade unions when proposing new HR policies for their Department; and if they will make a statement.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 26 January 2023 to Question 127799 and the answer I gave on 30 January 2023 to Question 128663.


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
Monday 6th February 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps their Department takes to comply with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992; and if they will make a statement.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 26 January 2023 to Question 127799.


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Equality
Thursday 2nd February 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure his Department complies with section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code; and whether that monitoring data gathered is shared with union representatives.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 30 January 2023 to question 128663:


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Minimum Wage
Monday 30th January 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of employees in their Department are paid at the rate of the National Minimum Wage.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Basing results on the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates published on the GOV.UK website, across the Ministry of Defence (MOD) (including Arms Length Bodies), there are 83 employees who receive a salary that equates to exactly £9.50 per hour. This represents a proportion of 0.14% of the MOD population.


Written Question
Ministry of Defence: Equality
Monday 30th January 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure his Department complies with section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code; and whether that monitoring data gathered is shared with union representatives.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

We are committed to making the step changes required to create a more inclusive environment, enabling everyone, irrespective of background, to deliver our Defence outputs, enhance our operational effectiveness and better defend and represent the nation we serve.

Policy and people decisions are only implemented following the satisfactory completion of an Equality Analysis which analyses any impact on staff, depending on their protected characteristics. The Ministry of Defence publishes a biannual diversity dashboard report on its civilian personnel. This information is published as Official Statistics, the latest of which provides data as at 1 October 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-diversity-dashboard-october-2022/civilian-personnel-biannual-diversity-dashboard-report-october-2022