Speeches

Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for his Department in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them.

Anna Soubry

The Ministry of Defence uses a process called “manpower substitution” to engage temporary staff at agreed fixed rates on a national basis through a number of contracts. Manpower substitutes are employed for up to 11 months to fill vacant, funded posts. The majority are brought in to fill medical and dental requirements at military medical centres to cover for military positions that are vacant due to deployment into operational theatre. This enables the medical services to continue to provide the best possible care to members of the Armed Forces.

The five companies most frequently used by the Ministry of Defence in Financial Year 2013-14 to provide temporary workers, and the associated fees paid to each, are presented in the following table:

Company

Type of worker

Number of Temporary Workers

Fees Paid

HoneyBee

Medical & Dental

790

£3.46m

CastleRock Ltd

Medical & Dental

490

£2.61m

Capita Resourcing

Interim Professionals

320

£2.07m

Hayes

Medical & Dental

190

£0.59m

Reed

Clerical & Admin

160

£0.11m

The figures provided for Capita Resourcing cover the period from April 2013 to March 2014. All other data cover the period April 2013 to February 2014. Data is extracted from the MOD’s centralised Manpower Substitution Service database and does not include any localised arrangements that individual Top Level Budget holders may have with other companies.