HC Deb 03 April 1985 vol 76 cc667-70W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of engagements of each service band in 1984 together with the number which were (i) essential for reasons of state, (ii) reasonably necessary for strictly military duties, (iii) for public entertainment and (iv) for private entertainment, including performance at mess and on other service occasions;

(2) whether he will publish in the Official Report a list of the service bands together with the total number of bandsmen and the total number of military and other persons employed directly or indirectly in training, provisioning, transporting, housing and paying them, including the contingent liability to pension payment.

Mr. Lee

The following table lists all service bands and the personnel in each. Figures showing their engagements are not kept centrally in the form requested, but the number which were fee-paying are listed.

The number of individuals employed in training service bands is as follows:

Army 51*
RAF Full time: 6
Part time: 8
Royal Marines Full time: 40
Part time: 16
* Training also takes place at junior musician training units; those that can be accounted for in training bandsmen cannot be separately identified.

The number of individuals employed in provisioning, transporting, housing and paying bands personnel cannot be separately identified from those employed on these tasks for the benefit of service men as a whole in the units which they serve.

Royal Marines
Title of Band Number of Band Personnel Number of Fee-Paying (public) Engagements 1983–84
1. Royal Marine School of Music Band 66 58
2. Band of Commander-in-Chief, Fleet 66 40
3. Band of Commander-in-Chief, Naval Home Command 66 45
4. Band of Hag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland 42 2
5. Band of Flag Officer Plymouth 42 16
6. Band of Commando Forces Royal Marines (disbanded 1 April 1985) 42 24
7. Band of Commando Training Centre Royal Marines 42 31
8. Britannia Royal Naval College 34 12
9. Band of Flag Officer, Third Flotilla (disbands 1 April 1987) 22 *n.a.
* The band spend most of its time embarked and apart from engagements during deployments undertakes very few engagements.

Army
Title of band Number of band personnel Number of fee-paying (public) engagements 1983–84
1. Life Guards 35 14
2. Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons 35 30
3. Grenadier Guards 50 33
4. Coldstream Guards 50 50
5. Scots Guards 50 50
6. Irish Guards 50 77
7. Welsh Guards 50 65
8. Royal Artillery (Woolwich) 50 21
9. Royal Artillery (Alanbrooke) 35 31
10. Royal Engineers (Chatham) 50 12
11. Royal Signals 50 15
12. Royal Tank Regiment (Alamein) 22 16
13. Royal Tank Regiment (Cambrai) 22 19
14. Royal Tank Regiment (Rhine) 22 8
15. Brigade of Gurkhas 50 16
16. Royal Corps of Transport 35 27
17. Royal Army Ordnance Corps 35 10
18. Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers 35 12
19. Womens Royal Army Corps 35 8
20. Queen's Dragoon Guards 22 8
21. Royal Scots Dragoon Guards 22 9
22. 4/7th Dragoon Guards 22 2
23. 5th Royal Inniskillin Dragoon Guards 22 5
24. Queens Own Hussars 22 20
25. Queens Royal Irish Hussars 22 8
26. 9/12th Royal Lancers 22 14
27. Royal Hussars 22 12
28. 13th/18th Royal Hussars 22 12
29. 14th/20th Kings Hussars 22 9
30. 15th/19th Kings Hussars 22 3
31. 16th/5th Royal Lancers 22 22
32. 17th/21st Royal Lancers 22 4
33. The Royal Scots 22 3
34. Royal Highland Fusiliers 22 4
35. Kings Own Scottish Borderers 22 9
36. Black Watch 22 11
37. Queens Own Highlanders 22 8
38. Gordons 22 5
39. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders 22 13
40. Queens Regiment—Albuhera Band 35 10
41. Queens Regiment—Quebec Band 35 9

Title of band Number of band personnel Number of fee-paying (public) engage ments 1983–84
42. Royal Regiment of Fusiliers—St. Georges Band 35 1
43. Royal Regiment of Fusiliers—Duke of Kents Band 35 8
44. 1st Royal Anglian Regiment 22 23
45. 2nd Royal Anglian Regiment 22 20
46. 3rd Royal Anglian Regiment 22 13
47. Kings Own Border 22 11
48. Kings Regiment 22 16
49. Prince of Wales Own 22 7
50. Green Howards 22 7
51. 1st Royal Irish Rangers 22 3
52. 2nd Royal Irish Rangers 22 2
53. Queens Lancashire Regiment 22 9
54. Duke of Wellington's Regiment 22 11
55. The Devonshire & Dorset Regiment 22 2
56. 22nd Cheshire Regiment 22 5
57. Royal Welch Fusiliers 22 8
58. Royal Regiment of Wales 22 5
59. 1st Battalion Glosters 22 6
60. Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters 22 18
61. Royal Hampshire Regiment 22 5
62. Staffordshire Regiment 22 13
63. Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment 22 6
64. Light Infantry Corunna Band 35 2
65. Light Infantry Salamanca Band 35 9
66. Normandy Band Royal Green Jackets 35 8
67. Peninsula Band Royal Green Jackets 35 12
68. Regimental Band 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment 35 10
69. Regimental Band of the Parachute Regiment 35 27

RAF
Title of band Number of band personnel Number of fee-paying (public) engagements 1983–84
1. Central Band 79 30
2. RAF College Band 42 20
3. RAF Regiment Band 42 10
4. Western Band 42 8
5. RAF Germany Band 42 49
6. Salon Orchestra 7 83

Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the total direct and indirect costs of retaining service bands including the costs of accommodation, transportation, training, recruitment, victualling, pay and all allowances of any kind, and contingent pension cost; and how much of this cost is incurred overseas.

Mr. Lee

Costs are not available in the detailed format requested as many of the sub categories identified cannot readily be separated from amongst the overall costs of units of which the bands form but a part. However, the current costs for all service bands, in the following broad categories, can be estimated—primarily on the basis of present capitation rates—as follows:

£ million
Personnel Costs (including Pay, ERNIC and Personal Allowances) 25.5

£ million
Support Costs (including movements, basic training and office support costs) 5.3

Contingent pension costs are estimated at £5.2 million.

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