A service from mySociety A service from mySociety

TheyWorkForYou

Menu

Young Service People

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 21 February 2000.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Fiona Mactaggart Fiona Mactaggart Labour, Slough 12:00, 21 February 2000

How many serving members of the armed forces are aged under 18 years; and if he will make a statement on their deployment. [109413]

Photo of John Spellar John Spellar The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence

As at January 2000, 6,238 personnel under 18 were serving in the armed forces. The vast Majority of personnel under 18 are situated in the UK. Of those overseas, there are 114 in Germany; 23 in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia; 15 in Cyprus; 12 in the Falkland islands; and seven on ships in the Gulf. I stress that they are all volunteers and have parental consent to join the armed forces.

Photo of Fiona Mactaggart Fiona Mactaggart Labour, Slough

Have any of the 17-year-olds who are allowed to be deployed on active service in the armed forces in Britain been victims in armed conflict? Have any of them been killed or injured in conflict during the past 20 years?

Photo of John Spellar John Spellar The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence

I fear that I should have required notice of my hon. Friend's question to reply to it today. I shall write to her.

Photo of Desmond Swayne Desmond Swayne Conservative, New Forest West

Will the Minister confirm that many of those recruited at 16 are among the army's most successful recruits? What discussions has he held with the German Foreign Minister on the matter?

Photo of John Spellar John Spellar The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence

I must confess that I have had no discussions with the German Foreign Minister on that matter or any other—and who is he at the moment? [Interruption.] I know.

More to the point, the hon. Gentleman's question was relevant. Many of those recruited at 16 go on to have successful careers in the armed forces. We continue to recruit at 16 because we want to recruit among the best of our young people so that we can sustain our justified reputation for having the best armed forces in the world.

majority

The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.

the Army

http://www.army.mod.uk/

Minister

Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.