Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the armed forces have been employed specialising in the repair and maintenance of survival equipment in the RAF in the last twenty years; and how many former such staff have (a) received a medical discharge and (b) submitted a claim for compensation on the grounds of occupational related ill-health.

Mark Lancaster

The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information is available from 1 April 2006 to 1 February 2016, and is given below.

Of the 1,027 personnel identified as being employed in the repair and maintenance of survival equipment in the RAF, around 40 were medically discharged from Service. Around 60 registered an injury/illness claim for a disablement pension under the War Pension Scheme (WPS). Around 100 registered an injury/illness claim under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). Fewer than five made a legal claim for compensation.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10, numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest 20 to prevent systematic bias. This is because there is a duty under the Data Protection Act 1998 to protect individuals from being identified by the release of information.

The War Pension Scheme provides no-fault compensation for all ex-Service personnel where illness, injury or death is caused by Service from the start of the First World War up until 5 April 2005. This was replaced by the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme on 6 April 2005. Please note that these statistics relate to illness and injury; it is not possible to determine which claims are related to occupational ill-health without accessing the individuals’ medical files. An award under the AFCS or WPS may be made for a variety of reasons and not necessarily directly related to the role of a Survival Equipment Fitter.