Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many 16 to 18 year olds attended Army Foundation College Harrogate in each of the last five years.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The annual attendee figures are provided in the table below; all figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Courses straddle multiple calendar years, meaning some recruits who joined in one year and remain in attendance the following year will be counted in both years.
Year | Figure |
2020 | 2,810 |
2021 | 2,670 |
2022 | 2,100 |
2023 | 1,990 |
2024 | 2,330 |
Figures include trainees who join Army Foundation College Harrogate and leave within the same month, who would not otherwise appear on the monthly strengths.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to create a memorial to the British Liberation Task Force 135 that freed the Channel Islands in 1945.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) deeply values the contribution of Liberation Task Force 135 in ending the occupation of the Channel Islands. While there are currently no plans to create a dedicated memorial, it remains longstanding Government policy that the MOD does not typically establish or fund memorials. These are usually supported through private donations and public subscription, and placed with the agreement of the relevant local authority.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to recommendation 32 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, which Departments are involved in the implementation of the nuclear deterrent.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 September 2025 to Question 70755 to the hon. Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge).
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 71 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what recent progress he has made on reviewing (a) standards, (b) qualifications and (c) in-house training.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is undertaking a comprehensive review of military training to confirm appropriate alignment with civilian qualifications and standards, while ensuring operational readiness and the capacity to scale up training to meet warfighting requirements.
This work is part of the Defence Accreditation Review, which aims to cohere, simplify, modernise and improve existing accreditation frameworks. The review encompasses qualifications on the Regulated Qualifications Framework, apprenticeships, professional certifications, and industry standards.
Progress includes an assessment of current qualifications, the identification of data gaps, and the trialling of artificial intelligence to enhance training development and accreditation. We are formulating recommendations for accreditation policy and exploring the role of the Defence Awarding Organisation in this context.
This work demonstrates our commitment to maintaining operational readiness and the professional development of our personnel, ensuring they are prepared for both the demands of war and their future civilian careers.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 71 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what civilian (a) qualifications and (b) standards are in scope to be adopted.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is undertaking a comprehensive review of military training to confirm appropriate alignment with civilian qualifications and standards, while ensuring operational readiness and the capacity to scale up training to meet warfighting requirements.
This work is part of the Defence Accreditation Review, which aims to cohere, simplify, modernise and improve existing accreditation frameworks. The review encompasses qualifications on the Regulated Qualifications Framework, apprenticeships, professional certifications, and industry standards.
Progress includes an assessment of current qualifications, the identification of data gaps, and the trialling of artificial intelligence to enhance training development and accreditation. We are formulating recommendations for accreditation policy and exploring the role of the Defence Awarding Organisation in this context.
This work demonstrates our commitment to maintaining operational readiness and the professional development of our personnel, ensuring they are prepared for both the demands of war and their future civilian careers.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 71 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what recent progress he has made on reforming (a) training and (b) education policy.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Defence is progressing its review of training and education policy; work is ongoing to meet this intent by January 2026. We aim to generate a more digestible Joint Service Publication (JSP) 822 (Defence Direction and Guidance for Training and Education), increased responsiveness of training to operational changes, and enhanced organisational learning – with training being based on emergent front-line requirements. A pan-Defence forum will be held in November 2025 to showcase the revised draft JSP 822 and gain 1-star level stakeholder endorsement from across the Military Commands.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 71 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what recent progress he has made on establishing a career education pathway.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Respective Military Commands are responsible for reviewing their career education pathways as they have differing requirements on the front line. The Military Strategic Headquarters (MSHQ) will oversee these reviews during 2026 and consider where greater coherence would yield benefits to the development and delivery of an Integrated Force that can fight and win in multi-domain operations. By April 2026, MSHQ will ‘own’ funding and will both direct and influence Military Commands to concentrate on Joint and NATO-first education.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of when the export of Type 31 Arrowhead frigates to Poland will be completed.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Polish MIECZNIK frigate programme is constructing three Arrowhead-variant frigates under licence from Babcock in Poland. This is a Polish programme and it would be inappropriate for His Majesty's Government to comment on the progress of another nation's procurement schedule.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 71 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what recent progress he has made on exploring options to support home ownership by service personnel.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) remains committed to supporting home ownership amongst Service personnel, and through the Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) Scheme, has already supported thousands of personnel, and their families, to get on the property ladder.
The Scheme has been intentionally designed to work with the inherent mobility of Service and already supports personnel transferring the outstanding FHTB balance to a new qualifying property on assignment, along with financial support for the legal costs of moving house. It also permits personnel to let out their property after an initial qualifying period when assigned to a location too far away to commute on a daily basis.
FHTB enables Service personnel to borrow up to 50 per cent of their salary, up to a maximum of £25,000 interest-free, towards the purchase of a property. As the FHTB is a loan scheme, it is essentially self-funding, meaning that payments are funded from repayments.
With regards to the Strategic Defence Review, Defence is still considering options to further support home ownership, in addition to potential enhancements to the FHTB scheme.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 70 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what the top ten people policies are that will be rewritten by May 2026.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The following ten policies are planned to be rewritten by May 2026:
Work has commenced on the first five of these policies with the subsequent five subject to change.