Today's defence articles include reporting on Operational Honours, pilot overpayments and HMS Artful joining the Royal Navy fleet.
Pilot overpayments
The Daily Telegraph continues its coverage of overpayments made to Army helicopter pilots. The article states that MPs and former officers have called on the MOD to abandon attempts to claw back the money from some of Britain's most experienced Army pilots after it emerged 15 have resigned as a result. The Telegraph reports that officials are demanding pilots pay back thousands of pounds each after administrative blunders stretching back years led to aircrew being paid an overall total of £829,000 too much. Our statement on the issue can be seen below.
An Army spokesperson said:
We can confirm that an overpayment of salary has been made to a number of Army aircrew personnel. We have apologised and explained the circumstances of the overpayments to all of those affected. In accordance with standard Government practice, arrangements have been made to revert their pay to the correct levels and all affected personnel are now receiving the correct pay. The overpayment of salary has resulted in an amount of debt owed by individual personnel.
Operational Honours
Various outlets including The Sun, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail report on the publication of the Operational Honours list yesterday. Many focus on the awarding of an OBE to Colonel Edward Dawes for his work leading a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. Read more about this year’s list here.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
Members of our armed forces are deployed all around the world helping to keep Britain safe. These well-deserved honours reflect the dedication and bravery they display on a daily basis.
MOD Civil Servants
The Daily Telegraph reports that the number of senior civil servant posts at the MOD has risen a quarter in five years, even as the Armed Forces have faced sharp cuts. The newspaper says a list of MOD civil servant posts released this month shows the number rose from 236 in 2010 to 309 in 2015. The article reflects our position that the figures show posts, rather than actual employees. The piece also notes that we have questioned the paper's method of analysis of these statistics. Part of our statement is carried in the piece and can be seen in full below.
A MOD spokesperson said:
The MOD is on track to deliver £5 billion of efficiency savings since 2010 - all while the Government has committed to spend 2 per cent of GDP on Defence for the rest of this decade, including £178 billion on equipment, in order to keep Britain safe.
HMS Artful
The Daily Telegraph reports in a picture story that Admiral Sir George Zembellas, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff welcomed the 7,400 tonne nuclear powered HMS Artful to the Royal Navy fleet at its commissioning ceremony at Faslane naval base on the Clyde yesterday. Read more about HMS Artful joining the fleet here.
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