Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) at Dartmouth continues to play a central role in the training of Royal Navy officers. There are no plans to close the establishment.

It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's Question. I will write to him when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's Question. I will write to him when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to ensuring the highest standards of training and welfare across all its establishments, including the Britannia Royal Naval College, which was rated GOOD following Ofsted’s most recent inspection.

The Royal Navy has reflected on the recommendations made by Ofsted following their inspection of Britannia Royal Naval College, and continues to invest in all areas recommended by the Ofsted report. This continues to make Britannia Royal Naval College a safe place for living, studying and working.

This has included: enhancing staff training and support; the renovation and refurbishment of trainee accommodation and facilities; and establishing processes to better identify learning needs and introduce the tailored support needed so that all trainees have an equal opportunity to learn.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The below figures are given as of 1 January 2024 - due to the method used to capture personnel data, these are the most current available figures.

These figures include all UK Regular Forces including Gurkhas, Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS), Locally Engaged Personnel (LEP), Volunteer Reserve, Serving Regular Reserve, Sponsored Reserve, and FTRS of unknown origin. University Officer Cadets are excluded. Unless otherwise stated, these include both trained and untrained personnel.

The figures are based on Service personnel’s stationed location and not their location of residence – where personnel’s work isn’t necessarily where they live.

Figures containing reserve personnel are estimates because the stationed location data for Reserves has not been fully verified through JPA.

Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 to prevent inadvertent disclosure, however numbers ending in “5” have been rounded to the nearest 20 to prevent systemic bias. It should also be noted that reserve numbers are estimates as these are not fully verified through JPA.

Ofsted is commissioned by Defence to provide Ministers with independent external oversight of initial training across Defence. They examine training establishment's provision of Care & Welfare including self-assessment processes using the MOD specific Inspection Framework (MODIF).

This commission and its terms are set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed between the MOD and Ofsted. Within this MoU Ofsted inspections across all 3 services cover: Phase 1 and Phase 2 Regular training establishments for Officers and other ranks, University Service Units and Phase 1 and Phase 2 Reserve Training.

Ofsted will seek to determine the progress made in addressing issues of duty of care, welfare and support for recruits and trainees within Initial Training.

Findings and recommendations are provided to the unit, with general MOD recommendations made in the published Annual Report to Ministers.

HMNB Portsmouth is 119.438 hectares in size.

Marchwood Military Port is 92.724 hectares in size.

Britannia Royal Naval College is 67.355 hectares in size.

HMS Raleigh is 100.89 hectares in size.

RM Bickleigh is 24.555 hectares in size.

No assessment has been made of the Housing Unit Potential of these sites, as they have not been identified for disposal.

I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Since January 2019, Britannia Royal Naval College have asked cadets, on a voluntary basis, whether they went to a state or an independent school prior to joining the Royal Navy. Figures provided are based on a question asked at cadet joining interviews. Cadets are under no obligation to answer the question so the figures do not reflect 100% of the intake. The figures for January and May 2019 intake are:

State School 160*

Private School 40*

Served in Ranks First 30*

*Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 in line with disclosure control policy. Figures ending in 5 are rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid bias.

2. Figures are a single service estimate provided by Britannia Royal Naval College. As such they have not been validated, are not official statistics produced by Defence Statistics and will differ from total Officer intake published in the Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics.

The information requested for the period 1 January 2015 to 15 April 2019 is as follows:

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Britannia Royal Naval College

The number of individuals entering each course conducted at the Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in each of the last five calendar years is provided in the table below.

Notes:

1. Initial Naval Training (Officer). Represents the annual totals for the 29-week, Phase 1 training.

2. International Courses. Represents the total number of overseas officers studying on academic courses hosted at BRNC and run in partnership with the University of Plymouth. This programme commenced in 2014.

3. Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Training. Seven-week Phase 1 training for the RFA. A peak in RFA training numbers occurred in 2015 due to an increase in direct entrants.

4. Junior Officers’ Leadership Course. Two-week, through life, course run by the Royal Naval Leadership Academy (RNLA) but conducted at BRNC. Due to changes to the manner in which information was recorded by RNLA, figures for 2013 are not centrally held and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

5. Warrant Officers’ Staff Course. One week, through life, course run by the RNLA but conducted at BRNC. Due to changes to the manner in which information was managed by RNLA, figures for 2013 are not centrally held and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

6. Naval Analysis Course. One-week course to prepare for the Intermediate Command and Staff Course.

7. Royal Naval Reserve Confirmation Course. Two-week course held at BRNC as the culmination of a two-year Reserve training programme.

8. Royal Naval Reserve Accelerated Officer Programme. A fast track, eight-week course (four of which are hosted at BRNC) introduced in 2015.

The following table provides the number of male officer applicants for Financial Years (FY) from 1 Jan 2015 to 2016-17:

Source: Captain Naval Recruiting

Notes:

1. These figures do not include in-Service applicants to the Upper Yardsman and Senior Upper Yardsman schemes, who may have gone on to be successful at Admiralty Interview Board and completed elements of the Initial Naval Training (Officer) course at Britannia Royal Naval College.

The following table provides the number of men who were accepted on (via the Admiralty Interview Board) and completed the Initial Naval Training (Officer) course at Britannia Royal Naval College for each course since the start of 2015:

Sources: Captain Naval Recruiting, Navy Training Headquarters

Notes:

1. The volume of those successful at Admiralty Interview Board reflects the yearly branch and specialisation requirement that is managed throughout the year.

3. Data have been rounded in line with disclosure control policy.

4. The total may not equal the sum of its parts due to rounding.

The number of female officer applicants for Financial Years from 1 January 2015 to 2016-17 is given below:

Notes:

These figures do not include in-Service applicants to the Upper Yardsman and Senior Upper Yardsman schemes, who may have gone on to be successful at Admiralty Interview Board and completed elements of the Initial Naval Training (Officer) course at Britannia Royal Naval College.

The number of women who were accepted on (via the Admiralty Interview Board) and completed the Initial Naval Training (Officer) course at Britannia Royal Naval College for each course since the start of 2015 is given below:

Iraqi naval officers continue to be trained at Britannia Royal Naval College. Records indicate that 36 individuals have received training there over the last 10 years.

The sites mentioned contain a wide variety of academic, domestic, sporting and medical rooms, buildings and equipment.

General information about the type of facilities available can be found on the relevant websites:

http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/The-Fleet/Shore-Establishments/BRNC-Dartmouth

http://www.army.mod.uk/training_education/training/17057.aspx

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcollegecranwell/

http://www.da.mod.uk/

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.