Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the average amount of pre-release training that is provided to those service personnel who are eligible to receive it; and what is the average amount of expenditure on pre-release training for each service man or woman.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonService men and women are entitled to 28 days pre-release voluntary training; 31 per cent. of this training is conducted at Ministry of Defence resettlement centres, 12 per cent. on Ministry of Defence-sponsored courses at other centres and 57 per cent. during civilian attachments with outside organisations. The cost of this training currently averages £974 per person including in-house briefings.
Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total amount of expenditure on pre-release training in each year for the last 10 years; and whether he has any plans to extend the provision of pre-release training to civil staff.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonExpenditure on pre-release training across the three services was not identified and aggregated prior to formation of the tri-service resettlement organisation on 2 January 1990. However, a study conducted in 1987 identified 1985–86 expenditure as being £11 million, and current year expenditure is anticipated to be £11.2 million. Expenditure on pre-release training has remained reasonably steady over the last 10 years.
Our plans for civilian training are kept under continuous review.