Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Army officers transferred to Intermediate Regular Commissions in each of the last ten years.
Answered by James Heappey
The below table shows the Army’s Regular Trade Trained Commission Conversions from Short Service Commissions to Intermediate Regular Commissions (IRC) over the last ten financial years (FY).
Commission to IRC Contract Type | FY 2013-14 | FY 2014-15 | FY 2015-16 3 | FY 2016-17 | FY 2017-18 | FY 2018-19 | FY 2019-20 | FY 2020-21 | FY 2021-22 | FY 2022-23 |
IRC Total | 350 | 230 | 910 | 520 | 530 | 480 | 450 | 460 | 390 | 390 |
Army IRC (Direct Entry) | 340 | 220 | 870 | 510 | 510 | 450 | 440 | 440 | 360 | 380 |
Army IRC (Late Entry) | 10 | 10 | 30 | 10 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Table notes:
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding was allocated to the Reserve Forces and Cadets Associations and Defence Relationship Management for entertaining reservist employers in the financial years (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence does not allocate any funding specifically for the purpose of entertaining Reservist employers. However, Reserve Forces and Cadets Associations (RFCAs) and Defence Relationship Management (DRM) do run a number of events both nationally and regionally at which hospitality is offered, including buffet lunches and hot/cold drinks as appropriate. This ranges from formal events such as the Partnering with Defence Conference in London, where catered breaks and lunch are provided, through to offering participants on ‘unit experience’ visits with a ration-pack lunch.
Regional funds allocated across the 13 RFCAs include an element for ‘Employer Support’. This budget line covers a number of costs including event hospitality, entertainment, venue hire and advertisement. It would exceed the disproportionate cost limit for a Parliamentary Question to investigate every event across the period in question to separate out the relevant elements; for this reason the figures provided below show the total sums for employer support activity where there was an element of hospitality and an estimate of the element attributable to hospitality. Information for Financial Year (FY) 2023-24 is not provided as this remains subject to discussion and may be subject to change.
The figures for budget allocation where there was an element of Reservist employer hospitality are shown below:
RFCAs
Total Budget for events containing a hospitality element | Attributable to hospitality (estimated) |
FY 2021-22 |
|
£94,367 | £30,487 |
FY 2022-23 |
|
£161,603 | £44,669 |
DRM
Total Budget for events containing a hospitality element | Attributable to hospitality (estimated) |
FY 2021-22 |
|
£208,873 | £75,631 |
FY 2022-23 |
|
£275,077 | £141,998* |
* Cost growth here directly attributable to:
- increasing success of Employer Recognition Scheme Gold awards, necessitating an increase from four events in 2021-22 to nine regional events in 2022-23.
- increasing number of Armed Forces Covenant signatories and associated signing ceremonies.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time pilots were in place who fly (a) fast jet, (b) other fixed wing and (c) rotary craft in each of the three regular services as of 18 October 2022.
Answered by James Heappey
The information requested on the number of Armed Forces personnel who are trained pilots is being withheld to avoid releasing details of our capabilities to adversaries. The Armed Forces have sufficient trained personnel to meet the operational requirement.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many qualified part-time pilots of (a) fast jet, (b) other fixed wing and (c) rotary aircraft there are in the (i) Royal Naval Reserve, (ii) Army and (iii) Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
Answered by James Heappey
The information requested on the number of part-time Armed Forces personnel who are trained pilots is being withheld to avoid releasing details of our capabilities to adversaries. The Armed Forces have sufficient trained personnel to meet their operational requirements.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether hours flown as a member of a University Air squadron reduce the flying hours required at the first stage of the pilot training pipeline.
Answered by James Heappey
Flying hours accumulated whilst on a University Air Squadron do not reduce the hours required in the first stage of the pilot training pipeline.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any current Poseidon pilots hold civilian airline licences.
Answered by James Heappey
The information is not held as a civilian airline licence is not a mandatory requirement for entry to the Royal Air Force, nor are individuals mandated to declare they hold the licence.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any Poseidon pilots have been recruited from civilian populations with a civilian airline licences.
Answered by James Heappey
Information to answer this question is not held centrally. I will write to the right hon. member as soon as the information is available.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average time taken was to train a (a) typhoon, (b) Atlas C.1, (c) Poseidon, (d) Reaper and (e) Chinook pilot in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by James Heappey
Information to answer this question is not held centrally. I will write to the right hon. member as soon as the information is available.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average cost was to train a (a) typhoon, (b) Atlas C.1, (c) Poseidon, (d) Reaper and (e) Chinook pilot in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by James Heappey
Information to answer this question is not held centrally. I will write to the right hon. member as soon as the information is available.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an estimate of the strength of military forces resisting the Taliban in the Panjshir Valley.
Answered by James Heappey
The strength of military forces resisting the Taliban in the Panjshir is difficult to estimate. The strength of the National Resistance Front in late August was likely to range between 2,000 and 8,000 fighters.