Armed Forces Covenant

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) which local authorities have not yet signed up to the Armed Forces Community Covenant; [189288]

(2) how many email addresses were on the Community Covenant e-Newsletter distribution lists in each year since 2012. [189293]

Anna Soubry: The distribution list for our Community Covenant e-Newsletter is a live document and as such is updated regularly when new additions or amendments are requested. We do not therefore hold these data by

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year. As at 27 February 2014 there were 598 email addresses on the Community Covenant e-Newsletter distribution list.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many bids were submitted to the Community Covenant Grant scheme in each region in each year since 2011; and how many such bids were successful in each region and in each year. [189289]

Anna Soubry: The following table provides a regional breakdown of bids to the Community Covenant Grant scheme since its launch in June 2011. It has not been possible to readily disaggregate data for financial year (FY) 2011-12 from that held for FY 2012-13.

Armed Forces: Redundancy

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel who successfully transferred to other branches of the armed forces were made redundant since 2010. [189285]

Anna Soubry: Between 1 April 2007 and 31 December 2013, 650 UK regular service personnel transferred to another service within the armed forces. 20 of these have left on redundancy since 2010 (numbers are rounded). Information on redundees who had an inter-service transfer before April 2007 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Scotland

Mr Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what accommodation is available for the military in (a) Stirling Castle and (b) Edinburgh Castle; and how many personnel can be accommodated at each such location. [189882]

Dr Murrison: No military accommodation is available at Stirling Castle. The accommodation availability for military personnel at Edinburgh Castle is shown in the following table:

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The General Officer Commanding for Scotland, who is also the Governor of Edinburgh Castle, has a three bedroom apartment in the castle as part of his Governor of the Castle entitlement.

Army: Training

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many soldiers dropped out of Phase 2 training at the Infantry Training Centre (Catterick) in 2012-13; and how many of these had undertaken Phase 1 training at (a) the Army Foundation College (Harrogate) and (b) the Army Training Regiment (Winchester); [189317]

(2) how many soldiers who dropped out of Phase 2 training at the Infantry Training Centre (Catterick) in 2012-13 had undertaken Phase 1 training at that Infantry Training Centre. [189318]

Anna Soubry: The Combat Infantryman's Course (CIC) is run at the Infantry Training Centre (Catterick) and is a consolidated Phase 1 and Phase 2 training course for infantry (Standard Entry) recruits. Around 1,000 recruits withdrew or were discharged from the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick in 2012-13 before completion of their Phase 2 training, of which around 100 had originally commenced their training at the Army Foundation College, Harrogate. None had previously attended the Army Training Regiment, Winchester.

Individuals may withdraw or be discharged for a number of reasons, including medical and fitness factors, disciplinary reasons, or voluntary withdrawal. Personnel under 18 have a statutory right to discharge from the armed forces if they wish to leave.

European Defence Agency

Sir Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 10 February 2014, Official Report, column 698W, on European Defence Agency, whether staff of the European Defence Agency paid out of the functional element of its budget perform any roles in the delivery or project management of (a) pooling and sharing and (b) other projects delivered by the agency; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of the functional budget spent on any such activity. [189964]

Dr Murrison: Approximately 70% of the European Defence Agency personnel could be called upon to support the delivery of activities for the common benefit of all participating member states; the remaining 30% are in managerial or support roles. It would not be feasible for the UK to estimate the cost of the agency's facilitation time, which will depend upon a variety of factors such as the type of activity and the level of participation from member states.

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Gurkhas: Redundancy

Mr Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the statement of 23 January 2014, Official Report, column 461, on armed forces' restructuring, how many eligible Gurkhas have applied for compulsory redundancy under the fourth tranche of redundancies to date; what estimate he has made of the proportion of compulsory redundancies among Gurkhas which will be filled by voluntary applications; and if he will make a statement. [189357]

Anna Soubry: Applications for armed forces redundancy do not close until 6 March 2014. A selection process will follow and those selected for redundancy will be notified on 12 June 2014.

As the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), said in the House on 23 January 2014, Official Report, column 461, Gurkhas traditionally do not volunteer for redundancy, and we expect the overall percentage of volunteers to be lower in this final round of redundancies than it has been previously.

Reserve Forces

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to his Department was of promotional material for recruitment to each of the reserve forces in each year since 2010. [189330]

Anna Soubry: The information requested will take time to collate. I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Type 45 Destroyers

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what dates a Type 45 destroyer has lost power resulting in the ship having to return to port for repairs; and where the repairs took place. [189654]

Mr Dunne: A Type 45 has never been forced to return to port because of a lack of power or propulsion.

Veterans

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans his Department has to retain the knowledge possessed by retiring military personnel and officials. [189398]

Anna Soubry: Military staff in particular, but also civil service staff, change posts regularly in their career. The need to hand over to their successors, or other staff in their unit, is built into the ways of working for each unit, according to the nature of the job, and is handled at unit level. Retirement is a particular instance of that, differing only because it is not readily possible to ask further information after people have left their service.