Every parliamentary written question tabled by Rupert Lowe this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 41–53 of 53 · Ministry of Defence
With reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 25 February 2025 on Defence and Security, Official Report, whether payments to Mauritius for the continued lease of the Diego Garcia military base will be included in the announced increase in defence spending.
The terms of the treaty are still being finalised, once the treaty is finalised it will be put before Parliament for scrutiny in the usual way.
If he will publish the total cost to the public purse for the provision of diversity, equality and inclusion courses for staff in his Department in 2024.
The Ministry of Defence remains committed to making the step changes required to create a more inclusive environment, enabling everyone, irrespective of background, to deliver our Defence outputs, enhance our operational effectiveness, and better defend and represent the nation we serve. The requested information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
What estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of the proposed increase in employer National Insurance contributions for financial year 2025-26.
There is no additional cost to the Ministry of Defence. The Government will be supporting departments with the cost of additional employer national insurance contributions. This is in line with the Government’s usual approach to supporting the public sector, as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy. The allocation for the Ministry of Defence, along with all other departments, will be set out in due course.
How many and what proportion of officials in his Department were hired via positive action schemes in the last financial year.
The Ministry of Defence has not hired any permanent civil servants using a positive action scheme in the last financial year.
If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of deploying naval assets to the English Channel to help tackle small boats crossing.
The Home Office is the lead Government Department responsible for border security and migration. It has recently established the Border Security Command to strengthen global partnerships and enhance the UK’s efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute people smugglers profiting from the dangerous movement of people across the channel. Defence assets are procured for Defence tasks and are therefore not optimised for the issue the hon. Member raises. These assets play a critical part in preserving UK maritime security through shadowing and monitoring warships transiting the UK Exclusive Economic Zone or territorial waters. In 2024 alone, Royal Navy assets have responded to over 25 such transits.
How many international (a) air miles and (b) flights have been completed by (i) Ministers and (ii) officials in their Department since 5 July 2024.
Information about use of international flights for official overseas Ministerial and senior officials travel is published as part of the Cabinet Office transparency returns and made available on the GOV.UK website.Data from 5 July 2024 will be published in due course.
What proportion of equipment purchased by his Department and in use by his Department was manufactured (a) in and (b) outside the UK.
For the Financial Year 2023-24, the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) total global expenditure with industry and commerce, including Foreign Military Sales and direct payments to Foreign Governments, was £34.6 billion of which £5.5 billion (16%) related to work that took place outside of the UK. Statistics on MOD expenditure with industry are published annually on the gov.uk website at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-regional-expenditure-statistics-with-industry-202324
What equipment produced in China his Department has bought at what cost to the public purse in each of the last five years.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) welcomes foreign trade where it allows us to provide our Armed Forces with the equipment they require, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements and does not compromise our national security. Defence utilises Chinese manufactured goods throughout its supply chain, however the Department’s direct spend for goods manufactured in China for the last five years is as follows: YearSpend (rounded to nearest £100,000)2023-24£4.6 million2022-23£3.6 million2021-22£3 million2020-21£2.6 million2019-20£3.7 millionWe are unable to provide details of the specific items purchased as this spend data is captured by the MOD to monitor contractual spend. Statistical analysis and reporting is a secondary function. Transactions continue to be monitored where there are potential national security concerns from any country, and the Department will investigate and apply appropriate mitigations where required.
What estimate his Department has made of the number of homeless veterans.
This is a Government of service that will always stand up for those who serve our country. I am working across Government and with civil society to ensure veterans across the UK have access to the support they need with regard to housing, as well as health, employment and other areas. According to data collected by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), in 2023-24, there were 2,270 households in England where someone that had served in the Armed Forces were assessed as being owed a homelessness prevention or relief duty. This represents 0.7% of all households in England who were assessed as being owed a prevention or relief duty, a similar proportion to previous years. To ensure veterans have access to housing support, the Government has committed a further £3.5 million to the Reducing Veteran Homelessness Programme. This includes Op FORTITUDE, the single referral pathway for veterans at risk of or experiencing homelessness.Veterans represent the very best of our country. The government is committed to honouring their sacrifices and ensuring homes will be there for heroes across the UK.
How many trained military personnel were ready to deploy in a combat role in each branch of the armed forces in each of the last five years.
The below table represents the number of UK Armed Forces personnel with a Medical Deployability Standard (MDS) of Medically Fully Deployable (MFD) and Medically Limited Deployable (MLD), in a combat role, as at 1 July for each year between 2020 and 2024, by Service. DateRoyal Navy (incl. Royal Marines)British Army1Royal Air ForceMFDMLDTotalMFDMLDTotalMFDMLDTotal01 July 202023,7722,31926,09120,5742,17522,74923,8232,30326,12601 July 202124,3792,39726,77621,4882,27423,76223,9752,40526,38001 July 202224,2032,28626,48920,5512,42822,97923,2232,48525,70801 July 202323,7172,22725,94419,4892,21921,70822,5092,47724,98601 July 202422,9942,38525,37918,3982,12320,52121,9152,46524,380Source: Analysis (Health) The new Government is determined to improve readiness and recruitment levels from those we inherited. Work to do so is underway and the MOD will be making announcements on action in due course. Notes/caveats:For the Army, the figures reflect the MDS of Full-Time Trade Trained Strength of the Infantry, the Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps and the Army Air Corps only, which are defined by the Army as personnel serving in a ‘combat role’.The Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force do not have a definition for ‘combat role’ and the figures therefore reflect the MDS of Full-Time Trained Strength.The figures include Reserve Forces personnel filling Regular posts whilst serving on Full Time Reserve Service and Gurkha personnel. Other Reserves, Civilians, Foreign Service, and non-UK military personnel are excluded.The Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP) was used to obtain information on MDS. Prior to July 2022, MDS was sourced from a combination of DMICP medical records and data held on the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system. Since July 2022 MDS has been sourced directly from DMICP due to improvements in data quality.
What recruitment targets there were in each branch of the armed forces in each of the last five years; and how many people were recruited to each branch in the same period.
The information requested by the hon. Member can be found below. Financial YearRoyal NavyArmyRoyal Air ForceTargetActualTargetActualTargetActual2019-204,1803,67010,1109,5902,9002,6202020-214,4004,0609,4209,3302,4902,2102021-224,3503,7307,3607,2302,6702,3202022-233,8302,9508,8306,0802,3701,9302023-244,0402,61010,4506,7202,5601,600 The new Government has made improving recruitment and readiness of our armed forces an early priority. The Secretary of State has already made announcements to improve recruitment and further announcements will be made by the Ministry of Defence in due course. Notes: Royal Navy1. Full-Time Naval Service personnel (Royal Navy and Royal Marines), including Nursing Services, but excluding Full-Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel and reservists.2. Untrained intake for Navy include Marines and comprises new entrants into Phase 1 training. Figures do not include transfers from another Service or include transfers from Other Rank to Officer. Army1. The figures are for the Regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves, but includes those personnel that have transferred from GURTAM to UKTAP.2. Untrained intake for Army comprises new entrants into Phase 1 training. Figures do not include transfers from another Service. Figures also do not include transfers from Other Rank to Untrained Direct Entry Officer.3. The Army Regular Other Rank Basic Training Starts (BTS) targets exclude re-joiners and personnel joining the Military Provost Guard Service and the Royal Gibraltar Regiment.4. In 2019-20 the target was exceeded; however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent reduction in BT capacity, the number of BTS was impacted. Recruits were loaded to training, however, but were unable to start BT in year.5. The Army reduced its recruitment targets in 2020-21 and 2021-22 due to measures under Future Soldier, which are reflected in the above figures. The Other Ranks target for 2020-21 was reported as 8,270 due to an administrative error in an earlier Parliamentary Question (UIN 7264) dated 8 January 2024 and has been corrected in the calculations for the above table.6. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 for presentational purposes. Royal Air Force1. Intake to the Regular RAF includes both trained and untrained intake. The figures match the Service Personnel Statistics, Table 5A.2. Recruitment and intake is likely to be affected by wider circumstances, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living.3. Figures have been rounded to 10 for presentational purposes. Numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systemic bias.
Whether each of the armed forces has diversity targets.
The Armed Forces do not have diversity targets. There are agreed Levels of Ambition for recruitment and representation of females and ethnic minority personnel. In a competitive age, our advantage derives from the talent and skills of our people. We must attract, recruit, and retain the best people drawn from the broadest diversity of thought, skills and background – it is mission critical to our operational effectiveness and to ensuring we continue to meet the threats we face and safeguard the security, stability and prosperity of our nation.
What steps he plans to take to support homeless military veterans in Great Yarmouth constituency.
This is a Government of service that will always stand up for those who serve our country. I am working across Government to ensure veterans across the UK have access to the support they need on housing, as well as health, employment and other areas. The Government will develop a new cross-Government strategy, working with Mayors and Councils across the country, to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness. The Ministry of Defence will support that work to take a long term approach and to tackle the root causes of homelessness. Veterans in need of housing support can contact Op FORTITUDE, a single referral pathway to connect veterans with help and support at this link: https://www.gov.uk/support-for-veterans/op-fortitude. This system provides housing guidance and assistance to veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness across the UK. As of October 2024, over 2,600 referrals have been made and over 700 veterans have been supported into housing.