§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what provision his Department has made to fill the capability gap which will result from the withdrawal of the sea harriers. [92899]
§ Mr. IngramI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Baillieston (Mr. Wray) on 5 December 2002,Official Report, column 930W. This provided an update to the
Royal Navy1 Army2 RAF3 Uniformed Civilian4 Uniformed Civilian Uniformed Civilian Church of England 39 10 88 98 48 19 Roman Catholic 11 12 24 26 10 29 Church of Scotland 9 3 20 23 5 5— Methodist 6 5 11 12 7 5— United Reform Church 1 1 — — — 5— Baptist 4 1 — — 2 5— Presbyterian 1 — — — 1 5— United Board — — 6 8 — 5— Total 71 32 149 167 73 76 1As at 20 January 2003. 2As at 1 December 2002. 3As at 1 January 2003. 4Figures include both officiating and honorary officiating chaplains. 528 various denominations (breakdown of figures not readily available). The term civilian chaplain is misleading. Support to serving chaplains in the Royal Navy and RAF, and on many Army units, is provided by 'officiating chaplains'. These are not full-time ministers but local clergy who in addition to their parochial duties will provide part-time support to military units without a chaplain, cover when the serving chaplain is deployed, and help and advise members of other denominations when a suitable commissioned chaplain or representative of the appropriate denomination is not available.
452Wanswers I gave on 26 September 2002, Official Report, column 328W, and on 21 May 2002, Official Report, column 164W, to the hon. Member for Portsmouth. South (Mr. Hancock).