§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of Territorial Army bounty payments were made on time this year; what the causes of failed payments were; what the timetable is for resolution of such problems; and if he will make a statement. [175044]
§ Mr. CaplinTo determine the proportion of bounty payments paid promptly would require every TA unit, in conjunction with Army pay staff to examine manually the pay account of each TA soldier to identify instances where payment was delayed, and the reasons why this might have occurred. This could only be done at a disproportionate cost. However, as at 30 April 2004 approximately 16,000 bounty payments had been paid.
The late or incorrect submission of data to the Army Pay computer may cause a small number of individuals to experience a slight delay in receiving their bounty payment, there are no known problems affecting the payment of bounties.
215W
§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the man training days budget for the Territorial Army was for each of the last 10 years; how many man training days that represents in each case; what the manning establishment of the Territorial Army was in each of the last 10 years; and what the actual manning level was in each year. [176099]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 27 May 2004]: The establishment and strength figures for the Territorial Army (TA) for the last 10 years are as follows:
Establishment Strength 1994 75,624 65,000 1995 63,950 59,900 1996 59,000 57,300 1997 72,179 57,600 1998 41,200 57,000 1999 41,200 51,800 2000 41,200 44,800 2001 41,200 41,500 2002 41,900 40,300 2003 41,900 39,011 Information on the budget available for TA Man Training Days (MTDs) prior to the 1998 Strategic Defence Review is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost The information requested for each financial year since 1998 is as follows:
MTDs Budget (£ million) 1998–99 124.3 1999–2000 122.1 2000–01 125.5 2001–02 104.7 2002–03 103.4 2003–04 113.8 This figure does not translate into a specific number of MTDs, since each individual is paid differently according to rank, skill, and length of service. As a general guide, the MTD budget enables each member of the TA to undertake some 30 MTDs per year. Some specialist elements of the TA may be allocated more or less than this figure depending on their unit and role.