Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2023 to Question 158939 on Armed Forces: Employment, whether his Department regularly (a) collects and (b) reviews information on (i) second jobs and (ii) other additional work taken up by armed forces personnel.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Secondary employment and rules governing this are managed on a single Service basis and vary between Services. Generally, Service personnel are not prohibited from having second jobs when off-duty or on leave. Permission to take up a second job rests with the Service person’s Commanding Officer and is granted on a case-by-case basis. Any such permission is approved and reviewed locally, with the information held within each chain of command. Due to the size of the Armed Forces and the number of chains of command it is not practical to manage this process or collate this information centrally. The exercise required to produce an overall figure would incur disproportionate cost.
Beyond any formal additional or secondary employment there is no requirement for personnel to report “other additional work” and no record of this is held by the Ministry of Defence. If a Service Person chooses to undertake informal work in their own time, for example making and selling something, this would not count as formal employment and, therefore, would not need approval or be brought to the attention of Defence.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of armed forces personnel took on (a) second jobs and (b) other additional work in the last two years.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish his Department's contracts with BAE Systems (a) in place, (b) under negotiation and (c) completed in the two years to 18 January 2023; and what the value of each of those contracts is.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
I will write to the hon. Member shortly, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress his department has made on (a) designing and (b) building a new multi-role surveillance vessel; and what estimate he has made of the potential cost of that project.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
Commercial discussions are currently taking place in relation to the procurement of a Multi Role Ocean Surveillance capability. Divulging any further detail may prejudice these discussions at this time.
Planning work has commenced for the concept and assessment phase of the project to design and build a Multi Role Ocean Surveillance capability.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress his Department has made on acquiring the Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ships; and what recent estimate he has made of the cost of this project.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
Commercial discussions are currently taking place in relation to the procurement of a Multi Role Ocean Surveillance capability. Divulging any further detail may prejudice these discussions at this time.
Planning work has commenced for the concept and assessment phase of the project to design and build a Multi Role Ocean Surveillance capability.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship will be crewed by directly employed civilian seafarers who will be covered by collective agreements with maritime trade unions.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
Work is ongoing to consider the exact composition of the crew of the Multi-Role Surveillance Ship and a decision will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on his Department’s procurement of multi-role surveillance vessels.
Answered by Ben Wallace
I meet regularly with the Secretary of State for Transport to discuss a range of topics. The Ministry of Defence is leading the procurement of the Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance ships. While I have not met with the Secretary of State for Transport to specifically discuss this procurement, officials from both Departments did discuss the programme during the development of the National Maritime Security Strategy.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list the representatives from the (a) maritime industry and (b) UK Chamber of Shipping who attended the last meeting of the Shipping Defence Advisory Council.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
I am unable to provide you with this information as it contains personal data of third parties which cannot be released without the consent of the individuals who attended the last meeting, in accordance with the data protection act.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when recruitment and retention of civilian seafarers in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary was last discussed at the Shipping Defence Advisory Council.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
Recruitment and retention of civilian Seafarers within the Royal Fleet Auxiliary is not discussed at the Shipping Defence Advisory Council as it is considered an internal Ministry of Defence matter.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on the recruitment and retention of civilian crew in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Answered by James Heappey
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a significant employer of UK professional seafarers. To ensure workforce recruitment and retention, the RFA constantly reviews the terms and conditions of service in accordance with department policy.