Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications to join the armed forces have been made in the past 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is currently undergoing a checking and verification process and publication is anticipated in the summer as an Official Statistic. The release of this data ahead of planned publication would be a breach of the Code of Practice for Statistics. When ready, the information will be published at the website of the collection of Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-index
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average time was between the submission of an application to join the regular or reserve forces and an interview in the last twelve months.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The following information has been provided by the single Services.
Naval Service
The table below shows the average time taken (in days) between receipt of application and interview date between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
Regular Other Ranks | 67 |
Reserve Other Ranks | 73 |
Notes:
British Army
The table below shows the total applications and Time of Flight Average from Application to Army Brief and Individual Candidate Discussion, by stream.
Stream | Average for last 12 months in Days |
Regular Officers | 119 |
Regular Other Ranks | 21 |
Reserve Officers | 78 |
Reserve Other Ranks | 39 |
Notes:
Royal Air Force (RAF)
The table below shows the average time (in days) between application and first interview for the RAF Regular and Reserve Forces in recruiting year 2022-23.
Stream | Average for last 12 months in Days |
Regular Aviator | 106 |
Regular Officer | 120 |
Reserve Aviator | 101 |
Reserve Officer | 144 |
Notes:
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans can be identified via the verification processes of the Royal British Legion and other service charities.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has access to the records of all service personnel who have served in the UK armed forces. From 1972 onwards the information is held electronically by the MOD, either in the DPRR (data preservation repository reporting) or in the Joint Personnel Administration System. This equates to approximately 2.1 million records.
Prior to 1972 the MOD holds an index of all service personnel IDs (name and service number) to facilitate the recall of service records from the National Archive (all records from WW2 onwards), approximately 4.9m records.
Currently, Service charities approach the single Services or Defence Business Services for verification of an individual veteran’s service. However, more than £1 million in new money is being invested into a new digital verification service for veterans, which will enable them to verify their veteran status online quickly and easily.
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans can be personally identified from his Department's records.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has access to the records of all service personnel who have served in the UK armed forces. From 1972 onwards the information is held electronically by the MOD, either in the DPRR (data preservation repository reporting) or in the Joint Personnel Administration System. This equates to approximately 2.1 million records.
Prior to 1972 the MOD holds an index of all service personnel IDs (name and service number) to facilitate the recall of service records from the National Archive (all records from WW2 onwards), approximately 4.9m records.
Currently, Service charities approach the single Services or Defence Business Services for verification of an individual veteran’s service. However, more than £1 million in new money is being invested into a new digital verification service for veterans, which will enable them to verify their veteran status online quickly and easily.
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average length of time taken was by Capita to process applications to join the regular or reserve forces in the last twelve months.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The British Army conducts recruiting activities in partnership with Capita under the Recruiting Partnership Programme, whereas the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force deliver recruitment in house. The below table therefore represents the average length of time for Army applicants only.
The table below shows the average time in days from application to starting training.
Mean time (Days) | |
Regular Officer | 524 |
Reserve Officer | 338 |
Regular Other Ranks | 203 |
Reserve Other Ranks | 169 |
Notes / Caveats
- Averages have been calculated using data from the recruiting year (RY) 2021/22 application cohort data.
- Data for RY 2022/23 is not yet available as it takes time for cohorts to mature to the point of intake.
- There are several variables that may impact the time it takes to progress through the recruitment pipeline, including but not limited to, timely individual participation in the recruitment process, medical/fitness issues, aptitude testing success and availability of training places.
- The recruitment process for Officers can take significantly longer given that candidates can go to university between application and arriving at RMAS.
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to the public purse was for Capita to process application forms for the regular and reserve forces in each of the last three years.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The British Army conducts recruiting activities in partnership with Capita under the Recruiting Partnership Programme, whereas the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force deliver recruitment in house. The below table therefore represents the cost to the Army only.
The cost of processing application forms is not captured as a separate activity under the Army Recruiting Contract with Capita, but within the overall cost of recruiting. Recruiting costs are covered by a combination of the Service Management Charge and the Recruitment charge. The latter charge alters depending upon the volume of recruiting demand in a particular year, whereas the former is a fixed charge not dependant on demand volumes. Additionally, there are costs relating to medical assessment activities included.
The table below shows the costs over the last three financial years:
Financial Year | Cost | Comments |
2020-21 | £43.57 million | Figures include the Service Management Charge, Recruitment Charge and medical assessment costs |
2021-22 | £40.29 million | |
2022-23 | £42.65 million |
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the UK can deliver blood products to the Ukrainian defence forces through the channels being used to supply military equipment.
Answered by James Heappey
The Ministry of Defence has not received requests from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) for increased supplies of blood products. The UK will continue to review any potential requests from the AFU and will work with Allies and partners to best ensure it is medically equipped.
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Ukrainian defence forces currently need increased supplies of blood products; and what assessment he has made of potential future Ukrainian defence forces requirements for those products.
Answered by James Heappey
The Ministry of Defence has not received requests from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) for increased supplies of blood products. The UK will continue to review any potential requests from the AFU and will work with Allies and partners to best ensure it is medically equipped.
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the United Kingdom is providing the Ukrainian defence forces with blood products.
Answered by James Heappey
We are not providing the Armed Forces of Ukraine with blood products, nor have we received such requests.
Asked by: Liam Fox (Conservative - North Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in which countries British Service personnel are deployed.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Overseas tours for military personnel can be broadly grouped into three categories: operational deployments, exercises and longer-term postings.
Operational deployment roles are high readiness deployments anywhere in the world where there is an operational requirement and are not family accompanied. UK military personnel are currently performing these roles in parts of Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the South Atlantic Islands.
The standard tour length for operational deployments can vary greatly depending on the circumstances but is likely to be six months, with some Service personnel serving up to 12 months or longer.
Large-scale exercises are conducted in Belize, Canada and Kenya to provide training for UK military operations. There are a small number of permanent UK military staff posted in each location, and these roles are family accompanied. UK military personnel sent to these locations on exercise are not accompanied by their families.
Permanent or longer-term posted roles or assignments can be family accompanied. Permanent overseas postings which can be family accompanied include Bahrain, Qatar, the USA, Gibraltar, the South Atlantic Islands, the Cyprus Sovereign Base Areas and the United Nations Operation TOSCA, Singapore and European countries. Around 4,600 of these posts are family-accompanied.