Asked by: Jeffrey M Donaldson (Independent - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what savings to the public purse have been made to date from the award of the contract for Army recruiting to Capita; and how many Army personnel have been reassigned to recruiting during that period.
Answered by Julian Brazier
As the previous Defence Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) stated on 14 January 2014 (Official Report, column 723), the partnering contract with Capita to deliver Army recruiting is expected to save about £300 million a year.
In the same statement he also told the House that just under 1,000 military personnel were engaged in support of recruiting activity on the ground. Now that this initial surge in activity has passed, small numbers of personnel remain on call to deliver support to local unit recruiting initiatives as and when required, but are not specifically assigned to recruiting activities. No additional Army personnel have been assigned to the National Recruiting Centre at Upavon.
Army personnel have always been involved in recruiting at Brigade and Unit level and both regular and reserve personnel continue to play a key role in attracting and nurturing recruits into the Army; indeed, it is long recognised that the best recruiters and exponents of what the Army does are those currently serving. Some of these roles are new (mostly manned on Additional Duties Commitments contracts), as we have adjusted the recruiting process over the past year, and others focus on traditional recruiting activity. It would be disproportionally expensive to calculate the number of such posts.
Asked by: Jeffrey M Donaldson (Independent - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on how many redundancies or job losses have arisen in the private sector as a result of the award of the Next General Estates contract.
Answered by Anna Soubry
This information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Jeffrey M Donaldson (Independent - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what former British military equipment has been (a) gifted and (b) sold to the Ukrainian armed forces in the last two years.
Answered by Mark Francois
During the period 01 Jan 2013 - 28 Feb 2015 no former British military equipment was gifted by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In October 2014 Witham's specialist Vehicles Ltd, acting on behalf of the MOD's Disposal Services Authority, agreed a sale of 75 surplus former British military Saxon Armoured Personnel Carriers to Ukraine.
Asked by: Jeffrey M Donaldson (Independent - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the armed forces are trained in biological warfare; and what plans he has to increase the number of such people.
Answered by Mark Francois
In accordance with the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of Biological Weapons, UK Armed Forces personnel are not trained in offensive Biological Warfare. The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention does permit programmes and activities to protect against the use of Biological Weapons
In accordance with the UK policy on Chemical Biological Radiation and Nuclear (CBRN) Protection, all members of the Armed Forces receive CBRN defence training on initial entry and thereafter on a routine basis, the frequency of which is determined by role and readiness state.
Asked by: Jeffrey M Donaldson (Independent - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many British military personnel have been assigned to support the training of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Answered by Mark Francois
On 24 February 2015 the Prime Minister announced additional UK non-lethal support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Around 75 British military personnel comprising of military trainers, advisors and liaison staff will provide this support, in the areas of medical, logistics, infantry, and intelligence capacity-building. The exact numbers will vary depending on the scheduling of the training activities.
This activity is in addition to ongoing defence engagement in areas such as leadership, defence reform, anti-corruption, strategic communications and procurement.
Asked by: Jeffrey M Donaldson (Independent - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many biological warfare casualty treatment facilities his Department has in place; and what the state of readiness of those facilities is.
Answered by Mark Francois
The Defence Medical Services (DMS) do not maintain treatment facilities which are specifically dedicated to casualties of "biological warfare". The management of a biological casualty would be embedded in an "all-hazards" treatment regime designed for managing infectious diseases, whether caused by natural (endemic) disease or hostile action. We have the capability to put in place facilities to respond to a range of eventualities.
The treatment of biological casualties follows internationally-mandated 'surviving sepsis' guidelines, which are taught to DMS personnel and would be applicable to biological attacks involving such infections as meningococcal disease, plague, and anthrax.
Asked by: Jeffrey M Donaldson (Independent - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many recruits enlisted in (a) the Regular Army and (b) the Reserve Forces in each region of the UK in the 12 months preceding the award of the contract for recruiting to Capita.
Answered by Julian Brazier
Recruiting for both the Regular Army and Army Reserve is measured on a nationwide basis. Since April 2013 the Army's recruiting has been processed centrally as part of the Recruit Partnering Project (RPP), with applications made online rather than solely at local careers offices.
Official statistics for the Regular Army and Army Reserve intake of untrained and trained direct entrants for the period 2012-13 (the year preceding the start of RPP) and then up to 31 December 2014 are shown below:
Intake | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 to 31 December 2014
|
Regular | 10,300 | 7,020 | 5,340
|
Reserve | 3,960 | 2,960 | 3,600
|