Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military personnel were waiting for dental treatment as of 1 May 2024.

Answered by Andrew Murrison

As of 1 December 2023, which is the latest available data, 17,221 UK Armed Forces personnel were categorised as NATO Category 2 and 12,283 were categorised as NATO Category 3, meaning that they require either preventative or interventive treatment to achieve optimal dental fitness. A further 21,699 UK Armed Forces personnel were categorised as NATO Category 4, meaning that they require a periodic dental examination, have an undetermined dental status, or have missing or incomplete dental records.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of charges of (a) rape and (b) other sexual offences against people working at the Army Foundation College that were brought to trial at court-martial resulted in conviction in each of the last five years.

Answered by Andrew Murrison

The tables below show the number and proportion of charges at Court Martial of rape and other sexual offences involving people working at Army Foundation College Harrogate which resulted in a conviction.

Rape

Other Sexual Offences

Caveats:

1. JPA is a live system which is updated for retrospective complaints/allegations and therefore, data can be subject to change.

2. These figures are single service estimates only and are not official statistics produced by Defence Statistics.

3. The data represents the number of charges; it may be that more than one charge has been brought against the same person.

4. Table two shows the number of other sexual offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 or its historical equivalent.

5. People working at AFC Harrogate does not include recruits.

6. The % columns detail the proportion of convictions in relation to charges at Court Martial.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff at the Army Foundation College were found to have started (a) intimate and (b) otherwise inappropriate relationships with recruits in each year since 2014.

Answered by Andrew Murrison

Sexual relationships between instructors and trainees have no place in Defence, or wider society, and the MOD’s zero tolerance approach ensures our commitment to providing a better working environment for our Serving personnel is met.

Fewer than ten staff at Army Foundation College Harrogate were found to have had inappropriate relationships with recruits since 2014. Due to the very small number, this will not be broken down further.

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest ten. Rounding is used to preserve anonymity.
2. JPA is a live system which is updated for retrospective complaints/allegations and therefore data can be subject to change.
3. These figures are single Service estimates only and are not official statistics produced by Defence Statistics.
4. There is no defined criteria for ‘intimate relationships’ or for ‘otherwise inappropriate relationships’. The figure above is based on a search for cases where there was found to have been an abuse of a position of trust at AFC Harrogate which had a sexual nature to it.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure DragonFire’s effective operational readiness.

Answered by Grant Shapps

DSTL have conducted operational analysis of the proposed system and have confirmed with the Royal Navy that the DragonFire system will provide operationally relevant capability. An established test programme using the existing the DragonFire system will provide further evidence and validation. The programme has already commenced multiple work streams to mature Defence Lines of Development to deliver Minimum Deployable Capability.

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