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Army Manning
Mr. Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what further initiatives he is taking to improve manning in the Army. [16743]
Mr. Soames: I am determined to reverse the current levels of undermanning in the armed forces. We shall accelerate our recruiting efforts, which already show a marked improvement in results over previous years. The Army alone will need up to 17,000 recruits per annum over the next few years.
Numbers are not the only issue, however. Equally important is the need to attract recruits of the right quality to cope with the complexities of modern warfare, and to provide the highest standards of leadership, for which our forces are rightly renowned and which were previously provided under the junior leaders scheme.
To obtain suitable high quality recruits in sufficient numbers, we propose to supplement our current recruiting methods with a new approach designed to attract school leavers of 16 years and over interested in gaining qualifications and enhanced career opportunities as well as guaranteed employment.
I have decided, therefore, to open a new Army foundation college in September 1998. It will offer a 42-week Army foundation course for soldiers destined for front line roles, combining military and leadership
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training with vocational education. It will develop key skills in numeracy, communications, information technology, personal skills and problem solving, needed for access to national vocational qualifications.
When fully established the college will accommodate up to 1,300 students. Its graduates will therefore contribute significantly to resolving the Army's manning difficulties. We are confident that many of them will rise to fill key positions, providing the Army with high quality leadership into the future.
Following the example of other successful defence projects, such as the recent competition for the new joint services command and staff college, we intend to seek private finance for the college. There is a possible site available at the former army apprentices college at Harrogate, which we shall draw to the attention of bidders, but it would not be appropriate to take a firm decision on location at this stage.
The new Army foundation college will ensure that the Army is well placed to attract the best young men and women into its ranks. It will offer ambitious young people valuable qualifications and one of the most challenging and worthwhile careers in the country today.
Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what promotional and public information campaigns his Department is (a) currently running and (b) planning to run during the next six months; and for each campaign (i) how much it will cost, (1) in total and (2) to his Department, (ii) what agencies or bodies are undertaking the work and (iii) what is its planned duration. [7414]
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Mr. Soames:
In addition to service recruiting campaigns, which continue throughout the year, my Department sponsors, organises and controls centrally activities aimed at promoting understanding of Defence policy and the armed forces. These have taken the form, principally, of a touring Defence policy exhibition which for a number of years has followed a programme of displays at public events across the country; and in the work of the single service presentation teams which operate throughout the year. During the next six months, it is planned to mount the Defence policy exhibition at the Birmingham international boat and caravan show over nine days in February.
Excluding manpower, the overall cost of the Defence policy exhibition in 1996-97 is expected to be £453,000, of which the display costs at Birmingham amount to £38,000.
The costs of the single service presentation teams, primarily service manpower, in 1996-97 are expected to be £1.785 million.
The costs of service recruitment campaigns in 1996-97 are expected to amount to £33.51 million.
Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on promotional or public information campaigns in each of the last five years; and how much he estimates will be spent on these campaigns during the (i) current and (ii) next financial years. [7532]
Mr. Soames:
Expenditure on the Defence policy exhibition--excluding manpower--service presentation teams and service recruitment advertising in each of the last five years for which information is available was as follows:
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| 1991-92 £ | 1992-93 £ | 1993-94 £ | 1994-95 £ | 1995-96 £ | (7)1996-97 £ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policy | 116,453 | 167,390 | 190,406 | 259,384 | 324,740 | 453,000 |
| Navy | (8)-- | 538,639 | 637,249 | 571,312 | 590,974 | 592,000 |
| Army | (8)-- | (8)-- | 494,000 | 831,000 | 1,009,000 | 586,000 |
| RAF | (8)-- | 339,000 | 555,000 | 615,000 | 652,000 | 607,000 |
(7) Forecast.
(8) Information not held centrally.
We do not publish detailed future plans as approval to commit expenditure is subject to formal endorsement through Ministers and the parliamentary supply system.
| £ million | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | (9)1996-97 | |
| Navy(11) | (10)-- | 3.583 | 3.617 | 3.505 | 6.912 | 6.816 |
| Army(12) | 10.995 | 8.094 | 9.537 | 10.893 | 22.272 | 21.590 |
| RAF | 3.244 | 2.058 | 2.256 | 3.812 | 3.535 | 5.108 |
(9) Forecast.
(10) Information not held centrally.
(11) Includes all costs attributable to marketing the RN/RM as a career.
(12) Includes all costs attributable to marketing the Army as a career and expenditure on recruiting and publicity for the Territorial Army.
We do not publish detailed future plans as approval to commit expenditure is subject to formal endorsement through Ministers and the parliamentary supply system.
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SCOTLAND
Hospital Beds
Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many beds there were in each NHS trust in Scotland in each year from 1994 to 1996; and if he will make a statement. [15896]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The table shows the average daily number of beds staffed and available for the reception of in-patients and day cases.
(13) Composition of trusts is based on services provided during year ending 31 March 1996. Includes directly managed units.
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