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Written Question
Air Force
Friday 24th January 2025

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) air and (b) ground stewards were in post in the RAF in each year since 2010; and what the requirement was in each of those years.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The number of Logistics (Air Ground Stewards) in the Royal Air Force in each year since 2010 is as follows:

Ground Stewards

Total

01 April 2010

482

01 April 2011

464

01 April 2012

435

01 April 2013

408

01 April 2014

395

01 April 2015

390

01 April 2016

392

01 April 2017

372

01 April 2018

349

01 April 2019

333

01 April 2020

330

01 April 2021

339

01 April 2022

331

01 April 2023

312

01 April 2024

291

Data is unable to be broken down by Air Steward and Ground Steward specialisation.

I am withholding the information requested for the workforce requirement as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.


Written Question
Royal Army Veterinary Corps
Friday 24th January 2025

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterinary officers were in post in the Army in each year since 2010; and what the requirement was in each of those years.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The number of veterinary officers in post for the Army since 2010 are as follows.

Year*

Total

2024

41

2023

43

2022

45

2021

45

2020

41

2019

40

2018

43

2017

41

2016

35

2015

35

2014

41

2013

41

2012

37

2011

36

2010

35

*The figure for each year was extrapolated from the number in post on 01 April for each respective year

We do not routinely release the workforce requirement figures of Army regiments or specialist professions as doing so is likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Nurses
Friday 24th January 2025

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many nurses were in post in the (a) Royal Navy, (b) Army and (c) RAF in each year since 2010; and what the requirement was in each service in each of those years.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I hope that my Rt Hon friend will understand that I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Whilst a statistical release of overall Armed Forces strength is published annually, strength and capability statistics for certain specialisations are not released.

Releasing the current strength and requirement of medical service personnel could be exploited by our adversaries to target, disrupt and degrade an important element of Armed Forces capability.


Division Vote (Commons)
21 Jan 2025 - Armed Forces Commissioner Bill - View Vote Context
Derek Twigg (Lab) voted No - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 331 Labour No votes vs 0 Labour Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 76 Noes - 349
Division Vote (Commons)
21 Jan 2025 - Environmental Protection - View Vote Context
Derek Twigg (Lab) voted Aye - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 330 Labour Aye votes vs 0 Labour No votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 352 Noes - 75
Division Vote (Commons)
21 Jan 2025 - Armed Forces Commissioner Bill - View Vote Context
Derek Twigg (Lab) voted No - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 327 Labour No votes vs 0 Labour Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 191 Noes - 338
Division Vote (Commons)
21 Jan 2025 - Armed Forces Commissioner Bill - View Vote Context
Derek Twigg (Lab) voted No - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 331 Labour No votes vs 0 Labour Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 192 Noes - 338
Written Question
Cardiovascular System: Health Services
Tuesday 21st January 2025

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the average waiting times for a first appointment following a routine referral to vascular services at (a) Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and (b) Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The mean average waiting time from referral to the first outpatient appointment for patients under vascular services at the Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is 78 days. For the Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, a breakdown of the data on vascular services is not currently held by the Department.

The Elective Reform Plan outlines our commitments on reforming outpatient care to reduce waiting times for first and subsequent appointments. These include improving the NHS App and the Manage Your Referral Website to give patients more control over their outpatient care, increasing Advice and Guidance to ensure that patient care takes place in the right setting, and reducing missed appointments and less clinically valuable follow ups. These reforms will help to free up clinicians’ time and reduce waiting times for those patients who most need care, including first appointments and clinically necessary follow ups. Outpatient transformation will help fulfil the Government’s commitment that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015.


Written Question
Accident and Emergency Departments: Cheshire and Merseyside
Tuesday 21st January 2025

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the average waiting times in Accident and Emergency for each Acute Hospital Trust in the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB area.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Information on accident and emergency performance is published monthly by NHS England. The headline metric used is the four-hour accident and emergency waiting time standard. This data is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/

Provisional data is published on median average waiting times in emergency departments by National Health Service provider. This data is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/provisional-accident-and-emergency-quality-indicators-for-england


Written Question
Hospital Beds: Cheshire and Merseyside
Tuesday 21st January 2025

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the bed occupancy rate is in each Acute Hospital Trust in the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB area.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Bed occupancy rates for each National Health Service trust are published monthly by NHS England. The latest data is for December 2024, and is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/bed-availability-and-occupancy/bed-data-overnight/