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6 Nov 2006 : Column 800W—continued
| Event | Number of Exercises | Number of trained personnel | |
Boarding School Allowance
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the accessibility of the boarding school allowance to (i) other ranks and (ii) officers; whether such research took account of (A) ability to pay the fees and (B) the retirement age of officers and other ranks; and if he will make a statement. [93535]
Derek Twigg: The recently published report on the Defence Committee inquiry “Educating Service Children” (HC1054 published 6 September 2006) has recommended research be conducted on the take-up of continuity of education allowance. The formal Government response to this report will be made shortly. I refer the hon. Member to the Third Memorandum from the MOD made to the Committee for their inquiry (HC1054 Ev77-78). This includes background on why the demographic profile of service personnel by age, rank and length of service will have an impact on take-up and explains that it may be more meaningful to consider the age of a child and their stage of education rather than the age/rank profile of a service person.
Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many children have been covered by the boarding school allowance for the (a) Army, (b) Royal
Navy and (c) Royal Air Force in each of the last five years, broken down by officers and other ranks; and if he will make a statement. [93536]
Derek Twigg: The information requested is shown in the following table:
| Numbers of service children covered by continuity of education allowance as at spring term of each academic year | |||||
| Service | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
The above data cannot be separated out into officers and other ranks due to disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent on boarding school allowance for the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force in each of the last five years, broken down by officers and other ranks; and if he will make a statement. [93537]
Derek Twigg: The sum paid annually in respect of service education allowances by the MOD, broken down by single-service is shown in the following table:
| Total spend on service education allowances for the last five years | |||||
| £ | |||||
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
The above data cannot be separated out into officers and other ranks.
British Troops (Supplies)
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what levels of (a) ammunition, (b) supplies and (c) body armour are available to British troops deployed in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement. [92712]
Mr. Ingram: The Defence Logistics Organisation continues to work extremely hard to ensure that sufficient supplies and ammunition are delivered to our forces in Afghanistan. They ensure that in the vast majority of cases adequate re-supply to theatre takes place in a timely fashion.
In the case of ammunition, there have been occasional instances where units in remote locations have exhausted supplies of a particular ammunition type during a specific attack or operation. At no time, though, have troops on the ground run out of all ammunition types available to them. In such instances, ground forces are re-supplied by helicopters.
In the case of food supplies, most of our troops are fed to a very high standard by the Royal Logistic Corps. In some of the more remote locations this service will not always be available. In such instances, troops are supplied with nutritious, fit-for-purpose ration packs, which can also be augmented by local supplies.
It is departmental policy that all troops deploying to Op HERRICK are provided with enhanced combat body armour (ECBA) as standard. In addition, Kestrel and Osprey variants of body armour, which provide additional protection, are available against specific threats and for specific roles, such as top cover sentry duty. The current combination of ECBA, Osprey and Kestrel provides Commanders with a flexible system of personal protection so that personnel can conduct their tasks effectively, while retaining a level of protection commensurate with the threat assessment. Such flexibility is deemed important because Commanders need to balance the benefits of increased protection body armour against risks such as constraint of movement.
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