Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will reconsider its decision to withdraw Volunteer Gliding Squadrons provision for Air Cadets in Wales.

Mr Julian Brazier

No. Cadets from all Welsh cadet units will still have the opportunity to fly gliders.

Volunteer Gliding Squadrons (VGS) due to disband are 634 Squadron currently based at St Athan and 636 Squadron currently based at Swansea. The intention is that these will be offset by an expansion of 1 Air Experience Flight at St Athan and that VGS in the West of England will become regional hubs.

The reduced VGS footprint will allow resources to be focused on the remaining Squadrons. This will enable more suitable infrastructure to be built and maintained that supports the Air Cadet Organisation more fully. The key development across the estate over time will be to provide new overnight accommodation and training facilities that safely allows cadets and adult instructors, over full residential weekends, to carry out gliding alongside flying related ground training including gliding simulators, funded by the RAF Charitable Trust. This should improve access to such activities for those that are located further from VGS sites.

Volunteers at affected Volunteer Gliding Squadrons will be offered opportunities to fill other posts within the Air Cadet Organisation dependent upon their own transferable skills and their personal preferences.