Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to equalise the pension age of Defence Fire and Rescue Service workers with their counterparts in (a) Local Authority and (b) Civil Aviation Authority Fire Services.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) have no plans to equalise the pension age of its personnel with their counterparts in Local Authority and Civil Aviation Authority Fire Services.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will provide Defence Fire and Rescue Service workers an early pension get out clause at 57.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As Civil Servants, the Defence Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) workforce pension scheme is administered by My Civil Service Pension and in accordance with MOD policy. Each occupation group can only apply the rules, in which Trade Unions have been consulted, associated with their particular pension scheme. Members of the DFRS continue to be subject to a Normal Retirement Age (NRA) of 65 but they may request approval to continue working beyond the NRA.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) occupational health support and (b) other the health and wellbeing measures for Defence Fire and Rescue Services are similar to those provided to (i) Local Authority and (ii) Civil Aviation Authority Fire Services.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Defence Fire and Rescue Service personnel are provided with occupational health support through the Defence Business Services Occupational Health contract. Additional support can be accessed through the Ministry of Defence People Portal and the Civil Service Benevolent Fund. Occupational health support offers vary in Local Authority Fire and Rescue Service areas and the Civil Aviation Authority Fire Service.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the ability of Defence Fire and Rescue Service workers aged over 60 to carry out their role.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
All Defence Fire and Rescue Service personnel aged over 60 are required to be in date with their operation fitness assessment which is undertaken annually. These fitness standards are in line with The UK National Fire Fighter Fitness Standards.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much their Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The figures provided for Entertainment and Hospitality for financial year (FY) 2021 to FY 2023 are as follows. FY2023-24’s figures will be available once the accounts have been finalised.
FY2020-21 | 1.565 million |
FY2021-22 | 2.284 million |
F20Y22-23 | 3.640 million |
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on taxi cabs for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Sarah Atherton
Departmental spend on taxi cabs for Ministers has been recorded as £92.30 for 2021 and £50.40 for 2022. There was no recorded spend for 2020.
Information regarding spend on taxi cabs for civil servants is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The current civil travel expense system does not have a specific category for taxi claims and cannot be distinguished from any other mode of public transport.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in (i) 2020, (i) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Sarah Atherton
This information is not centrally held and can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Recorded costs are allocated against the unit within the civil service which booked and paid for travel, which is not necessarily the individual who travelled.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on (a) agency workers and (b) agency retainer fees in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Leo Docherty
Agency workers (more commonly referred to as “Contingent Labour” or “Temporary Workers”) are subject to a Cabinet Office controls framework to ensure robust governance of spending in this area.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/contingent-labour-spend-control
The Department maintains a central record of overall expenditure on Contingent Labour and discloses this expenditure as part of our Annual Report and Accounts (ARAc) and for ease of reference the values reported in the financial years covering the requested years are as follows;
Financial Year | Value |
2021-22 | £483.318 million |
2020-21 | £418.950 million |
2019-20 | £272.385 million |
We have interpreted your reference to agency retainer fees as the fees charged at the commencement of the provision of a search recruitment service, this is only applicable when recruiting for a permanent or fixed term post.
Agency retainer fees are not applicable to the contingent labour market.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much their Department has spent on air travel for (a) Ministers and (b) officials in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Leo Docherty
This information is published every quarter and can be found at
Data for Ministry of Defence senior officials can be found at:
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much their Department has spent on advertising in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Leo Docherty
A full departmental response could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The amount spent by the Department on advertising that is readily available for financial years 2019-20 was £37,181,434, 2020-21 was £34,202,240 and 2022-21 was £30,898,987. The figures in this answer are provided by the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force and the Directorate of Defence Communications. The majority of expenditure is accounted for by advertising of the Armed Forces to aid recruitment.