Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Royal Air Force personnel identify as transgender.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is not held by the Ministry of Defence. The Joint Personnel Administration System (JPA) records a Service Person’s sex and sexual orientation; there is no option to record gender identity. For those who transition their gender (gender reassignment), the record for sex in JPA will be changed accordingly. That a person has transitioned their gender is not recorded.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Army personnel identify as non-binary.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is not held by the Ministry of Defence. The Joint Personnel Administration System (JPA) records a Service Person’s sex and sexual orientation; there is no option to record gender identity. For those who transition their gender (gender reassignment), the record for sex in JPA will be changed accordingly. That a person has transitioned their gender is not recorded.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Army personnel identify as transgender.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is not held by the Ministry of Defence. The Joint Personnel Administration System (JPA) records a Service Person’s sex and sexual orientation; there is no option to record gender identity. For those who transition their gender (gender reassignment), the record for sex in JPA will be changed accordingly. That a person has transitioned their gender is not recorded.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Royal Air Force personnel identify as non-binary.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is not held by the Ministry of Defence. The Joint Personnel Administration System (JPA) records a Service Person’s sex and sexual orientation; there is no option to record gender identity. For those who transition their gender (gender reassignment), the record for sex in JPA will be changed accordingly. That a person has transitioned their gender is not recorded.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Royal Navy personnel identify as non-binary.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is not held by the Ministry of Defence. The Joint Personnel Administration System (JPA) records a Service Person’s sex and sexual orientation; there is no option to record gender identity. For those who transition their gender (gender reassignment), the record for sex in JPA will be changed accordingly. That a person has transitioned their gender is not recorded.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Royal Navy personnel identify as transgender.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is not held by the Ministry of Defence. The Joint Personnel Administration System (JPA) records a Service Person’s sex and sexual orientation; there is no option to record gender identity. For those who transition their gender (gender reassignment), the record for sex in JPA will be changed accordingly. That a person has transitioned their gender is not recorded.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to facilitate the rollout of the covid-19 vaccine for serving soldiers.
Answered by James Heappey
Defence is working closely with other Government Departments to ensure Service personnel are not disadvantaged in their access to the COVID-19 vaccine, whether serving in the UK or overseas. All deploying personnel will be offered vaccinations either in the UK or during their deployment in line with the national vaccines roll-out.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans the Government has to commemorate armed forces personnel who served during the Suez Canal crisis.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) traditionally supports significant commemorative anniversaries, as it did on Sunday 6 November 2016 when the MOD and The Royal British Legion hosted an event at the National Memorial Arboretum, home of the Suez Canal Zone Memorial, to commemorate 60 years since the ceasefire was announced in Egypt. The MOD also continues to offer military support throughout the intervening years and will be offering its support to the National Memorial Arboretum in the event the Suez Veterans Association wish to mark the occasion of the 62nd anniversary at the site of the Suez Canal Zone Memorial.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions his Department has had with the RAF Benevolent Fund; and what subjects were discussed at those meetings.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The RAF has extensive meetings with the RAF Benevolent Fund at all different levels across Defence from local/regional level through to Defence Ministers.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of issuing a medal to UK nuclear test veterans; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Government continues to recognise and be grateful to all Servicemen who participated in the British Nuclear testing programme. As part of Sir John Holmes' independent medal review in 2012, the issue of possible medallic recognition for veterans of the British Nuclear Tests was considered.
The final decision was that the type of duty undertaken did not meet the risk and rigour criteria historically associated with UK Operational Medals. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has, therefore, made no recent assessment of medallic recognition for Nuclear Test Veterans (NTV). However, as discussed during Defence Oral Questions on 11 June 2018, Defence Ministers will meet with the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes) and representatives from the NTV community to discuss their concerns.
For details of the support provided to NTVs I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr Lancaster) on 9 December 2016 to Question 55999 to the hon. Member for Arfon (Mr Williams):
The MOD does not hold information which could confirm the number of UK NTVs.