Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many additional (a) tanks and (b) armoured vehicles are expected to be operational in 2027-28, in the context of increases in defence spending.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Whilst the Army’s modernisation will continue over the next decade with a programme of investment worth billions of pounds, future capability development priorities will be guided by the Strategic Defence Review (SDR). There are no current plans to procure additional tanks or armoured vehicles to those already announced however, it would be inappropriate to comment on future capability decisions until the SDR has reported and decisions have been made.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time regular personnel were serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps on 14 March 2025; and if he will make an estimate of the number of full-time regular personnel who will be serving in the (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27 and (c) 20270-28 financial years.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Royal Army Medical Corps have been amalgamated with Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps to form the Royal Army Medical Service. As at 1 January 2025 there were 3,954 Trade Trained Regular personnel in the Royal Army Medical Service.
The Army does not routinely release detailed future workforce forecasts.
Notes/Caveats:
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of additional service personnel who will be recruited to the (a) Royal Navy, (b) British Army, (c) Royal Air Force in the 2027-28 financial year, in the context of increases in defence spending.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The increase in defence spending is a vital part of ensuring the nation can realise the ambition which will be set out in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR). All Defence personnel - in and out of uniform - are at the heart of Defence's plans. The SDR has been considering all aspects of Defence, including the approach to recruiting, training, and retaining the people Defence needs, including Regular, Reserve, Civil Service, and Industry.
The new tri-service Armed Forces Recruiting Service will also launch in 2027, providing a flexible Candidate recruiting pathway, with the aim of recruiting from the broadest spectrum of society to attract the best talent into the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the 24 Archer artillery systems ordered in 2019 were operationally ready on 14 March 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
A total of 14 Archer 6x6 artillery systems were procured in 2023 to fill a capability gap following the Granting in Kind of AS90 to Ukraine. Archer reached Initial Operating Capability in November 2024 and there are no current plans to procure any additional systems.
I hope the hon. Member will understand that we would not routinely disclose figures relating to operationally deployable platforms in the interests of security and operational effectiveness.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many 3M Combat Arms Earplugs V2 his Department purchased between 2003 and 2015.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
3M Combat Arms Ear Plugs V2 were purchased by the Ministry of Defence during this period, however records of the quantities purchased are no longer held.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) workforce and (b) other costs are to maintain the (i) 4th Light Brigade Combat Team, (ii) 20th Armoured Brigade Combat Team, (iii) 102 Operational Sustainment Brigade and (iv) 1st Deep Reconnaissance Strike Brigade Combat Team at (A) routine levels of readiness and (B) full strength.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
We do not hold a central record of detailed workforce costings and activity at the granular unit level requested.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average annual workforce and activity cost is of the (a) Regular Army Infantry Battalion, (b) Army Reserve Infantry Battalion, (c) Royal Armoured Corps Regular Army Regiment and (d) Royal Armoured Corps Army Reserves Regiment.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
We do not hold a central record of detailed workforce costings and activity at the granular unit level requested.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many 3M Combat Arms Earplugs V2 his Department has purchased in the last five years.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence holds no records of any 3M Combat Arms Earplugs V2 being purchased in the past five years.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the Defence Medical Services cadre is operationally fit to deploy.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Whilst a statistical release of overall Armed Forces strength is published annually, strength and capability statistics for certain specialisations are not released.
Releasing the current strength and requirement of medical service personnel, or indeed other specialised professions, could be exploited by our adversaries to target, disrupt and degrade an important element of Armed Forces capability.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve the UK's space-based (a) positioning, (b) navigation and (c) timing capabilities, in the context of encrypted and alerting services.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not currently have any UK space-based position, navigation and timing (PNT) capabilities, nor any plans for a future space based PNT system. The MOD works closely with the National PNT Office, in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to develop proposals for the UK Government’s PNT capabilities as part of the cross-Government initiative, concerning future space-based and non-space-based PNT solutions.