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10 May 2007 : Column 346W—continued
Armed Forces: Recruitment
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what methods other than financial incentives are being used to improve recruitment and retention in the armed forces. [131698]
Derek Twigg: All three services undertake numerous and varied initiatives, both at national and local level, aimed at sustaining and increasing the level of recruitment to the armed forces. Included among the many current initiatives are:
The use of multi-media advertising campaigns.
Services’ recruiting teams’ attendance at schools, careers fairs and graduate recruitment seminars, road shows, exhibitions, youth clubs and organisations.
Specialist teams to attract doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers and padres by promoting service careers within specialist recruitment shows and through professional bodies.
Work experience placements within service establishments.
Personal development courses and look at life courses for young people who express an interest in the armed forces.
Taster day visits to HM ships and service establishments.
A dedicated careers website for each of the services complete with a dedicated information support call centre.
An Army ‘on-line’ recruiting office, with plans for this to be replicated by the other services.
Specialist ethnic minority recruiting and diversity action teams aimed at promoting Armed forces careers among the UK’s ethnic minority and faith communities.
A partnership with Jobcentre Plus, making use of its network (totalling in excess of 1,100) of local outlets. As a measurement of the success of this partnership, in financial year 2005-06 some 1,200 referrals went on to become enlistments.
Taken across the armed forces, retention is generally satisfactory. Nevertheless in some areas, exit rates are still too high and require us to work hard at retaining people in these areas. Retention measures such as:
Initiatives to improve work/life balance include proposals such as allowing personnel to work flexibly where it is operationally possible to do so and where personnel have reached a certain stage in their careers.
Within the naval services, the re-balancing lives initiative (RBL) seeks to improve the work/life balance of our people.
The future Army structure will lengthen tour intervals, improve career development and effectiveness of our soldiers and, with more robust structures, the quality of life for them and their families. The whole Army will be on a system of individual postings, which together with other linked initiatives will improve stability for Army personnel and their families.
The RAF continues to explore the scope to allow greater employment flexibility and achievement of work/life balance aspirations, which might help improve the recruitment and retention of its personnel, including: flexible working hours, job share, career breaks, sabbaticals and secondments, greater family stability. Recent improvements have been made to the operational welfare package, the aim of which is to maintain the strength and morale of service personnel in order to optimise and maintain effectiveness. It does so by providing support for the physical and emotional well-being of service personnel deployed on operations. Recent improvements to the package include an increase in the free weekly telephone calls from 20 to 30 minutes and a tax bonus. Other benefits of the package include free e-mails facility, free “blueys” (mail), free packages from families to personnel of up to 2 kg over the Christmas period and up to 14 days rest and recuperation break during a six month tour.
Armed Forces: Secondments
Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how long members of the armed forces are seconded to the households of non-ministerial members of the Army Board. [134510]
Derek Twigg: Postings conform to normal Army rules and vary in length depending on circumstances. The normal tour length for chefs is three years, and for other posts is two years.
Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many servicemen and women were waiting for treatment by the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court, Surrey on 16 April. [132846]
Derek Twigg: The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) at Headley Court offers a range of in-patient rehabilitation services and is the base for the Defence Medical Services’ Rheumatology and Rehabilitation (R&R) consultants. Broadly, three categories of patient attend DMRC:
Patients requiring immediate assessment and treatment, often from overseas locations, who can be seen by DMRC without prior hospital treatment. Patients are admitted directly with no waiting time.
Patients with complex rehabilitation requirements following hospital treatment for trauma or other physical injuries. Such patients include the operational casualties typically treated in
NHS hospitals in Birmingham. The care pathways for these patients are planned to ensure that they come to DMRC at the most appropriate time in their clinical treatment, with the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Evaluation and Coordination Cell at Headley Court coordinating the case management of these patients. There is no waiting list for such patients—in other words, there are no such patients who ought to have started their treatment at Headley Court but who have been delayed in doing so because of any capacity limits at DMRC.
Patients for routine assessment and treatment are referred directly to the R&R consultants or via our Regional Rehabilitation Units. The consultants offer appointments depending on clinical need, the availability of the patient and the start date of suitable courses of therapy for the patient’s condition. Most patients in this category will be seen within six weeks of being referred to DMRC.
Defence Medical Service
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department’s expenditure was on (a) the Defence Medical Service and (b) each cadre of the Defence Medical Service in each of the last five years. [132622]
Derek Twigg: The information is currently being collated. I will write to the hon. Member when this has been completed, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Departments: Horses
Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on polo ponies in each of the last five years. [136384]
Derek Twigg: The MOD does not own any polo ponies.
Departments: Internet
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for which Government websites he is responsible; how many visitors each received in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the cost (a) was of establishing and (b) has been of maintaining each site. [135732]
Derek Twigg: The Ministry of Defence and armed forces collectively maintain four corporate websites. Direct expenditure on these and the number of page views that each site received in the financial year 2006-07 were as follows:
| Website | URL | Annual expenditure | Unique page views per annum |
The following websites are maintained by business units within MOD. We have embarked on a programme of rationalising content from these sites into the four corporate sites and expect to see a
significant reduction in the number of sites over the next two years. This list does not include sites created and maintained by individual units or regiments.
| Website | URL | Annual expenditure | Unique page views per annum |
|
http://www .bfpo.mod.uk/ | |||
|
http://www.contracts.mod.uk/ Website provided as part of requirement for the publication and distribution of the MOD Defence Contracts Bulletin and associated services |
Included in overall contract separate figure for website not available | ||
|
www.da.mod.uk/DefenceAcademy 32 sites under this banner, 6 represent major colleges. Remainder special-purpose vehicles for course support etc. | |||
Current Information was unavailable for the following websites—2005-06 figures have been provided:
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