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26 Jan 2009 : Column 24W—continued
In addition to the battalions shown above there are three incremental guards companies which are primarily for public duties but which can also be used to augment the other guards battalions as required:
| Unit | Required strength | Actual strength | Fit for purpose strength |
The figures in both tables include personnel filling all roles within each battalion, not just infantrymen. “Fit for purpose” has been interpreted as fit for primary role.
The figures for the Royal Marines Commandos Units specified are as follows:
| Unit | Required strength | Actual strength | Fit for purpose strength |
Armed Forces: Manpower
Mr. Baron:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 17, what the evidential basis is for his statement that there has been an overall improvement
in recent times; and if he will place in the Library all relevant figures on harmony guidelines. [248398]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 19 January 2009]: Maintaining Harmony helps to relieve the stress and burden on our armed forces and their families. Consequently, the Service Chiefs expend considerable effort in increasing intervals between operational tours intervals and maintaining the Harmony Guidelines. As I stated in the House on 12 January 2009, breaches of the Harmony Guidelines have decreased, albeit not as quickly as I would have hoped for, but I am confident that the trend is heading in the right direction and that the Service Chiefs have measures in place to monitor and address the breaches while maintaining operational capability. The first table following gives an indication of mean unit tour intervals, which shows that the Royal Artillery, Royal Signals and the Royal Logistic Corps units are suffering greater commitment than most. However, the unit tour interval does not reflect the degree of trickle posting of personnel through these units or how much separation an individual incurs.
| Average tour interval | ||||||||||
| 2007 | 2008 | |||||||||
| September | October | November | December | January | February | March | April | May | June | |
The second table identifies the level of separation (Harmony), which incorporates all activities, such as training, support to operations and courses that take service personnel away from their family and friends.
The current levels of Individual Harmony show that:
Less than 1 per cent. of Royal Navy/Royal Marines personnel were in breach of the single service guidelines.
Owing to the introduction of the Joint Personnel Administration system, it is not possible at present to identify the exact level of breach of the Harmony Guidelines in the Army. Validated data will not be available until January 2010 but, for administrative purposes, the percentage is currently being held at 10.3 per cent. the last figure in which we can have confidence before the introduction of the new system. However, every effort is being made by all levels of the chain of command to ensure that soldiers are not overly committed.
The level of RAF breaches shows a significant drop from 9.4 per cent. to 6.1 per cent. The degree of change has been brought about by an amendment to the reporting criteria. The RAF Harmony Guideline has changed from 140 days separation in a 12-month period to 280 days in a 24-month period. Without increasing the level of separation commanders now have greater flexibility to deploy personnel on career courses, education and adventure training without breaking the Harmony Guideline.
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