Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme

The AFPS is a lobbying front for the Arms industry. It was created in 1989 by then Conservative MP Neil Thorne. According to Thorne in a briefing note originally posted on the website of the United Kingdom Defence Forum:

The objective of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme is to provide MPs with a real knowledge of the role and functions of the armed forces. Legislators gain a broad view of military life at the highest levels

The MPs are treated as VIPs and funded by the arms industry. As Thorne puts it:

When Members of Parliament make official visits to Service establishments they are normally treated as VIPs of at least two star or Rear Admiral level. An essential element of the scheme is the invitation to participate at the level of a Lt Commander, Major or Squadron Leader, which is usually the highest rank dealing with the British private soldier, sailor or airman on a day to day basis. One of the main benefits of the scheme then arises from visits which last several days, where members can become an integral part of the Service family and understand more clearly what makes Service life work.

It is of course necessary for participants to see Service personnel working both at home and overseas and wherever possible Members travel with troops, but as constituency responsibilities continue it is not always feasible for them to do this in both directions. A number of sponsor companies therefore provide regular contributions to the scheme which can be used to finance overseas travel and an increasing proportion of the administration so that none of this cost falls on the taxpayer. This is an arms length transaction so that no contributor has any direct control over this expenditure or in the choice of participating candidates.

PQs

Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which companies financed the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme in each of the last five financial years; and how much was contributed by each. [128643]

Derek Twigg: We are profoundly grateful to the sponsors of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, AugustaWestland and their predecessors). Since 2002 each has contributed an average of £40,500 per year to the scheme. We are also grateful to Sir Neil Thorne for the very considerable moral and financial support he has lent the scheme since its inception in 1989.

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what companies contribute to the running costs of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme; and how much each contributed in the last period for which figures are available. [220704]

Derek Twigg: We are grateful to the sponsors of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, Augusta Westland and their predecessors) who have contributed £45,000 each for this year, and to Sir Neil Thorne for the very considerable moral and financial support he has lent the scheme since inception in 1989.

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme cost to run in the last financial year; and how much external sources of funding contributed towards this cost. [220756]

Derek Twigg: The MOD receives no outside funding assistance for its activity in support of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme. The costs to the Department of running the scheme are not recorded separately.

The scheme was created more than 20 years ago by Sir Neil Thorne, a former Conservative MP. Its aim is to improve the quality of parliamentary debate on defence issues by giving MPs and peers some first-hand experience of the armed forces. Last week Thorne said that Carswell was free to criticise who he liked. But the MP’s membership was withdrawn after he suggested that defence companies were attempting to buy influence in parliament by giving money to the scheme.

“I haven’t gone to all this trouble to build something up over 20 years to have it destroyed because somebody insists on dragging the AFPS name through the mud,” Thorne said. Carswell, 37, joined the armed forces scheme two years ago. He was given an honorary rank and was expected to wear a uniform while on visits to war zones. During the Kandahar trip in March 2007, he had a conversation with an RAF member about an “ancient” grounded Lynx helicopter. He was told that many Lynx craft were not compatible with the Afghan heat.

Back in the UK, the MP learnt that the MoD could have replaced the Lynx with US Black Hawk helicopters, but had already committed to a new Lynx generation apparently costing twice as much. The Lynx are to be made in Britain by AgustaWestland, one of the three defence companies sponsoring the armed forces scheme. They each give £45,000 a year. “The defence budget is being spent in the interests of some contractors, not our armed forces,” Carswell claimed.

Resources

M37. The Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme by Sir Neil Thorne OBE TD DL (Founder & Chairman) Millibrief, December 1999. No longer available via the UKDefence Forum website but accessible on the Web archive via http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.ukdf.org.uk/millibrief/M37.DOC