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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.45 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence Review 2015, when he expects to announce further details of the Government’s proposed new armed forces offer.

Penny Mordaunt

In order to deliver the battle-winning forces which the UK needs for the future, we are looking at developing a new "offer" for new joiners into the Armed Forces which meets the expectations of future recruits. It will ensure our future expenditure on personnel is sustainable and applied in the most efficient way. We have now begun the conceptual stages of evidence gathering and initial policy development which will determine whether the concept of a new offer is viable and when it could be delivered. We will engage stakeholders including the Armed Forces Pay Review Body as usual on our proposals when they mature. The new offer for new joiners will not impact on existing Service personnel.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence Review 2015, when he expects to announce further details of the Government’s proposed armed forces families strategy.

Mark Lancaster

The UK Armed Forces Families’ Strategy 2016-2020 was published on 14 January 2016 and is available at the following website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-armed-forces-families-strategy

The Strategy will be supported by an action plan which we plan to publish in spring 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.47 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence Review 2015, Cm 9161, which of the two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers will be adapted to support amphibious capability.

Mr Philip Dunne

The two new Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carriers, currently under construction in Rosyth have a planned service life of 50 years each. They will be capable of a spectrum of roles including battlefield helicopter support to littoral operations. The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 made provision to enhance this capability in the QEC aircraft carriers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the amount spent was from the public purse was on decommissioning and disposal of (a) HMS Ark Royal and (b) HMS Illustrious.

Mr Philip Dunne

Much of the work to decommission Royal Navy ships is undertaken using contracts that provide support services for all ships conducting Fleet activities at HM Naval Base, Portsmouth. Costs are not attributed to individual vessels.

Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) was responsible for the removal of classified equipment and known hazardous materials from the former HMS ARK ROYAL. This work cost £0.7 million. Similar work is being carried out on the former HMS ILLUSTRIOUS which has yet to be sold. Expenditure incurred to date is £0.5 million.

The Disposal Services Authority (DSA), part of DE&S, disposes of defence equipment that is surplus to requirement. DSA costs are not attributed to individual platforms and information on these ships is not held in the format requested.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 25153, on which Type 45 Destroyers all 16 recommendations of the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review have been implemented in full; when he expects the implementation of all 16 recommendations to be completed across the class; and if he will publish the recommendations made by the review.

Mr Philip Dunne

Fourteen of the recommendations involved a modification to the Power and Propulsion system and all fourteen have been completed across all six ships in the class.

The remaining two recommendations, involving changes to existing training procedures and documentation, have also been adopted. As these two recommendations are administrative in nature, they do not require physical modification of the ships.

With regard to the request to publish the recommendations made by the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review, dated March 2011, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Douglas Chapman) to question 25234 on 8 February 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.92 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, Cm 9161, what additional funding the Government intends to provide for investment in the Special Forces; and when that funding will be provided.

Michael Fallon

As the Prime Minister announced on 16 November 2015, there will be a £2 billion programme of new investment in the Special Forces over this Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he expects each of the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates to be withdrawn from service.

Mr Philip Dunne

Current planning assumptions are:

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Chinooks, (b) Sea King and (c) Lynx helicopters HMS Ocean carried on her most recent deployment.

Penny Mordaunt

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 3 February 2016 to Question 24276.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=24276

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people in receipt of a war disablement pension are also in receipt of the (a) age-related tax allowance, (b) allowance for lowered standard of occupation and (c) unemployability supplement.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence does not hold information on how many people in receipt of a War Pension are also in receipt of the age-related tax allowance, as this is administered by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. However, as at 31 March 2015 (the latest date information is available) there were 41,470* disablement pensioners born before 6 April 1938 who may meet the eligibility criteria to receive age-related tax allowance.

As at 31 March 2015 (the latest date information is available) there were 116,050 disablement pensioners in receipt of an ongoing pension under the War Pension Scheme. Of these, 10,195 were in receipt of an allowance for lowered standard of occupation, and 6,250 were in receipt of unemployability supplement. All payments made under the War Pension Scheme are tax free.

These figures can be found on the Gov.uk website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/war-pension-recipients-index

* In line with Defence Statistics’ Rounding Policy for War Pension Scheme data, all figures of five or more have been rounded to the nearest five.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) funding the Government will provide to the Joint Security Fund, (b) funding his Department will receive from that fund, (c) funding Defence Intelligence will receive from that fund and (d) proportion of the funding his Department will so receive will be passed onto the armed forces.

Michael Fallon

The Treasury has allocated £3.5 billion to departments over this Parliament to provide joint security funding across government: the Ministry of Defence will benefit from £2.1 billion of that funding to deliver the investment for our Armed Forces set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review.