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Written Question
Defence: Artificial Intelligence
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many meetings ministers in his Department have had with representatives of SMEs that are developing (a) defence-related artificial intelligence and (b) artificial intelligence with potential defence capacity in each year since 2015.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Written Question
Artificial Intelligence: Expenditure
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much and what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on AI development in each year since 2016.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Defence AI Centre is monitoring over 250 projects and programmes that are exploring the use of AI technologies as part of a capability or system. However, it is difficult to calculate the Department’s overall spend on AI as cost data for these component elements is typically integrated within broader programme costs. Work is underway to better delineate this investment across MOD and improve our understanding over time.

Written Question
Defence: Artificial Intelligence
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to engage with small and medium-sized enterprises that express interest in developing defence-related AI technologies.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) make a significant contribution to the defence AI supply chain and we are pursuing several initiatives to more clearly communicate our AI requirements, address barriers to frictionless collaboration, and incentivise engagement and co-creation with small and medium-sized enterprises.

In addition, MOD published its SME Action Plan in 2022 outlining specific commitments to improve engagement with smaller businesses including improving visibility of opportunities and simplifying our procurement approach. We are also encouraging our major suppliers to publish their own sub-contract opportunities through the Defence Sourcing Portal, making it easier for SMEs to find and bid for defence work.

Written Question
Defence
Monday 19th June 2023

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Defence Strategic Operating Concept has been published.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Integrated Operating Concept (IOpC). It was originally published in Sep 20 and updated in Sep 21. A copy of the IOpC can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-integrated-operating-concept-2025

Written Question
Army
Monday 13th March 2023

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many infantry there were in the army in (a) 2010, (b) 2015 and (c) 2022.

Answered by James Heappey

The below table shows the Army Regular Trade Trained Infantry personnel, as at 1 April 2010, 1 April 2015 and 1 April 2022.

Date

Total

1 April 2022

17,752

1 April 2015

20,134

1 April 2010

24,945

The decrease in infantry strength is relative to the overall strength of the British Army. Infantry personnel made up 25.4% of the Trade Trained Regular Army in April 2010, 25.3% in April 2015 and 24.2% in April 2022.

Table notes:

  1. Table 1 figures are for the Trade Trained Regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves, but includes those personnel that have transferred from GURTAM to UKTAP.

  1. Officers of the paid rank of Colonel and above in the General Staff are excluded from these figures, regardless of late Arm/Service.

  1. Other Ranks in Senior Soldier Continuity Posts are excluded from these figures, regardless of late Arm/Service.

  1. Figures are for all Trade Trained Regular Army Infantry personnel, regardless of whether these personnel are serving at Regimental Duty. This may differ from published statistics which ask for Unit or Battalion information and only include personnel serving at Regimental Duty.

Written Question
Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
Thursday 9th March 2023

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much money has the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme paid out in each year since 2005.

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

This information is already in the public domain available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/armed-forces-compensation-scheme-statistics-financial-year-202122

The attached table has been copied from Table 19: Armed Forces Compensation Scheme Expenditure, by financial year, 6 April 2005 to 31 March 2022.

Written Question
Veterans UK
Tuesday 7th March 2023

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans and their family members have contacted Veterans UK in each year since 2010.

Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

It is not possible to establish the number of individual contacts for the different services provided by Veterans UK.

However, I can confirm the number of calls the Veterans UK helpline received and they are detailed in the table below. Data prior to 2017 is not held.

Calendar year

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023 to date

Calls offered

142,806

143,954

123,805

53,863

34,949

57,376

11,857

Calls answered

130,225

128,373

129,428

48,074

33,977

54,932

10,851

In 2022 The Veterans Welfare Service has had 40,276 client interactions to date, and these include calls, emails and written correspondence.

Written Question
Veterans: Military Decorations
Tuesday 7th March 2023

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veteran's badges have been issued in each year since 2004.

Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

The attached table details the number of veterans badges which have been issued in each year since 2004.

Written Question
Army
Thursday 23rd February 2023

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Army will have a warfighting division of 10,000 troops.

Answered by James Heappey

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 127277 on 25 February 2022 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey). The British Army already has a warfighting Division, the 3rd (UK) Division, which has in excess of 10,000 troops

Written Question
Armed Forces: Officers
Wednesday 28th April 2021

Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many officer cadets from the UK who entered training at Sandhurst were from ethnic minorities, in each year since 2010.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

The table below shows the Regular Army UK BAME intake to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) from 2010 – 30 Sept 2021, by financial year.

Financial Year

Number of Personnel from the UK

FY 2010/11

20

FY 2011/12

20

FY 2012/13

20

FY 2013/14

20

FY 2014/15

10

FY 2015/16

20

FY 2016/17

10

FY 2017/18

20

FY 2018/19

10

FY 19/20

20

FY 20/21 up to 30 Sept

10

Source: Analysis (Army)

Table notes:

  1. The figures are for the UK Regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves, but includes those personnel that have transferred from GURTAM to UKTAP.
  2. Ethnicity has been extracted from the Joint Personnel Administration System.
  3. There are a number of people with unknown ethnicity, a proportion of who may be BAME.
  4. Figures above include those personnel who join the Pre-RMAS (PRMAS) and Leadership Development Course (LDC) schemes prior to starting RMAS. This means that the latest figures may differ slightly from those supplied in previous PQ answers which excluded the PRMAS and LDC elements.
  5. There were ~20 additional personnel whose primary nationality is not British.
  6. Figures have been rounded to 10 as a means of disclosure control to protect individuals; numbers ending in "5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.
  7. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not appear to be the sum of their parts.