Armed Forces Pay

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To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what discussions he has had with (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) the Armed Forces Pay Review Body concerning income tax exemptions for service personnel in the Gulf; [109550](2) what estimate his Department has made of the cost of providing UK service personnel in the Gulf with a four-month income tax exemption; and if he will make a statement. [109547]

There have been no discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the Armed Forces Pay Review Body concerning income tax exemptions for service personnel in the Gulf. The longstanding rule—recognised by successive Governments—is that Crown

	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Naval Service	22,130	21,660	20,880	21,210	20,690	20,550	19,900	19,690	19.080	18,940
Army	65,120	65,150	63,700	65,410	65,060	64,870	65,740	68,530	66,420	66,840
Royal Air Force	43,730	43,840	43,700	42,390	41,780	41,240	42,700	43,730	42,810	43,540

Information on the number of cadets recruited into each of the services over the last 10 years is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many applications his Department has received from (a) the army cadets, (b) the air cadets and (c) the sea cadets for processing for Criminal Record Bureau checks in the past six months; how many of those applications have been processed; and what

servants, including members of the armed forces, are chargeable to income tax on their Government salaries wherever they are serving.

No estimate has been made by the Ministry of Defence of the cost of providing United Kingdom service personnel in the Gulf with a four-month income tax exemption.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average level of pay is of British service personnel serving in the Gulf. [109551]

The pay structure of the United Kingdom armed forces, has incremental scales for every rank and two separate pay spines for non-commissioned personnel, dependent on their trade. Many will also be in receipt of allowances and those personnel with specific skills, for additional pay. An average figure would therefore be misleading.However, rates of pay, additional pay and certain allowances are published annually in the Armed Forces Pay Review Body Report for all ranks up to Brigadier and equivalent, and the Senior Salaries Review Body Report for ranks above Brigadier. Copies of the 2003 Reports can be found in the House of Commons Library.

Volume 404: debated on Monday 28 April 2003