Army Secretariat Army Headquarters IDL 24 Blenheim Building Marlborough Lines Andover Hampshire, SP11 8HJ United Kingdom
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Army Secretariat Army Headquarters IDL 24 Blenheim Building Marlborough Lines Andover Hampshire, SP11 8HJ United Kingdom Ref: FOI2020/03578/05/04 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.army.mod.uk Mr Kevin Bell-Walker 01 May 2020 Email: request-654552- [email protected] Dear Mr Bell-Walker, Thank you for your email of 12 March in which you requested the following information: “Could you please provide me with a copy of the latest/most current Corps Instruction for the promotion and career management of Other Ranks (Spr - WO1) in the Royal Engineers.” I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. A search for the information has now been completed within the Ministry of Defence, and I can confirm that the information in scope of your request is held and is attached. I apologise that it has taken slightly longer to reply than it would normally have done, but hope you will understand this is because of the unusual circumstances in which we are currently working. Please find attached copies of People Policy Notes and Career Management Manual Part 2 which contains the information you have requested. Some of this information is exempt from release under section 40 (Personal Data) of the FOIA. Section 40(2) has been applied to some of the information to protect personal information as governed by the Data Protection Act 2018. Section 40 is an absolute exemption and there is therefore no requirement to consider the public interest in deciding to withhold the information. If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the first instance. Following this, if you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response, you can request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail CIO- [email protected]). Please note that any request for an internal review should be made within 40 working days of the date of this response. If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely, Manning Portfolio 2 Army Secretariat OFFICIAL 18 December 2019 File reference: 20191218-04-02-02-15-PPN 19-07-Cbt Engr Career Stream Application and Boarding Process-FINAL-V1-SO1 People-O See Distribution People Policy Note 19-07 - ME (Cbt) Career Stream Application Process Introduction 1. Annex A to Chapter 8 of the RE/ QGE Regular Soldier Career Management Manual and MS Directive (CMM) (Amendment 1) introduced how the Corps will offer UKTAP and GURTAM soldiers the opportunity to join the ME (Cbt) Career Stream. The purpose of this PPN is to direct how applications to join the ME (Cbt) Career Stream are to be processed. 2. Objectives. The objectives of the ME (Cbt) Career Stream transfer are to: a. Aid the retention of soldiers in pinch point trades in general as well as those from the Cbt Engr trades1 who would rather resign than attend Cl1 trade training. b. Manage talent and allow selected soldiers to plug known gaps in the ME (Cbt) structure and specialise in the delivery of Combat Engineering, whilst maintaining dual-capability. Eligibility 3. Eligible Personnel. The eligibility criteria will be reviewed by RHQ RE regularly. Personnel who meet the following criteria are eligible to apply to join the ME (Cbt) Career Stream: a. ME (C3S), ME (Driver), ME (Engr Log Spec) and ME (POM) soldiers rank- ranged Spr-Sgt. b. ME (Geo) soldiers rank-ranged Spr-LCpl. c. Soldiers from any other RE/ QGE trade (less EOD&S) rank-ranged Spr to LCpl and who have not completed a Cl1 trade course. d. ME (Cbt) Cl2 and recommended for transfer by their OC. 4. Ineligible Personnel. a. Ineligible Personnel. The following SP are ineligible for transfer to the Cbt Engr Career Stream: (1) SP who have transferred into the EOD&S trade. (2) SP from the Cbt Engr trades and already have a Cl1 qualification in trade. 1 Cbt Engr trades = ACR, Armd, B&C, B&SF, C&J, Const Mat Tech, Des Dtmn, Dtmn E&M, Elec, Fab, Ftr, H&P, Svy Engr. OFFICIAL Page 1 of 3 OFFICIAL b. Management of Ineligible SP. SP from the Cbt Engr trades (less EOD&S) who do not meet the eligibility criteria but want to be employed in Cbt Engr posts in future need to make their intentions clear in Posting Preference Proformas2. 5. Quota Controls. RE Personnel Strategy will annually calculate how many soldiers may transfer out of every trade at each rank and publicise these quotas on their SharePoint site. No more than 60 SP may enter the ME (Cbt) Career Stream a year (April to April). Application Process 6. Action Required by Applicant. Eligible applicants may request to transfer to the ME (Cbt) Career Stream by completing a ‘Change of Employment Request Form’ at Annex A to Chapter 2 to the Regular Soldier CMM. The application is then to be submitted via the chain of command to the soldier’s OC. 7. Action Required by Applicant’s OC. OCs need to complete the final section of the Change of Employment Request Form, stating why the soldier should transfer to the ME (Cbt) Career Stream. Completed forms should then be sent to the unit RCMO. 8. Action Required by Applicant’s Unit. Units are to submit supported applications to APC like any other application to transfer3. Units are not permitted to block applications made by eligible SP who have been recommended for transfer. 9. Action Required by APC. Applications will be processed by APC without the requirement for selective boarding. Applications are to be referred to the RE Transfer Board in accordance with Chapter 7 of the Regular Soldier CMM. a. Acceptance of Transfer. APC will write to successful applicants stating the career implications (if any) of the transfer and the career and training plan for the selected soldier. Successful applicants will be required to sign to accept the conditions of the transfer and return it (via RCMO) to APC. b. Assignments. Successful applicants will be assigned to a Cbt Engr post within 6 months of selection and will remain in their current unit if at all possible: the only grounds a successful applicant should expect to be assigned to another unit is on selection for promotion. c. Course Loading. APC will load any successful applicants who require a Cbt Engr Course or Conversion Course in conjunction with the soldier’s RCMO4. d. Change of Trade and Trade-for-Pay. Successful applicants will change trade to ME (Cbt) on completion of any Cbt Engr training required. If a successful applicant already has the Cbt Engr qualification appropriate for their rank, the change of trade and pay (if appropriate) can happen immediately5. It is a unit responsibility to change the Trade for Pay on JPA. 2 With the majority of Cbt Engr trade posts from OR4 being Combat focused rather than trade, APC will attempt their best to meet the SP’s request provided the needs of the Service are met too. 3 Applications for the first batch of transferees are to be sent electronically to XXXXX XXXX ([email protected]) NLT COP Fri 28 Feb 20. 4 See PPN 19-08 for Combat Engineer Conversion Training policy. 5 Combat Engineer is a Supplement 3 Trade for Pay. OFFICIAL Page 2 of 3 OFFICIAL e. Maintaining the Quota. APC are to transfer no more than 60 soldiers to the ME (Cbt) Career Stream a year, averaging at 15 per quarter. The transfer year runs from 1 Apr to 31 Mar. If more than 60 applications to transfer are received in a year, APC will ask units to prioritise their candidates. f. First Batch. APC are to transfer the first batch of successful applicants to the ME (Cbt) Career Stream by 31 Mar 20. Exceptions and Special Cases 10. Para/ Cdo/ PF Recce. ME (C3S), ME (Dvr), ME (Engr Log Spec) and ME (POM) soldiers assigned to Pathfinders (PF), Recce Tp 23 Para Engr Regt and Recce Tp 24 Cdo RE, holding at least one of the following competencies are to be transferred to the ME (Cbt) Career Stream automatically, without referring to the RE Transfer Board6: (1) Inf|LT RECCE PTLMN|Army| (2) RM|RECCE OPERATOR(Signaller)|Navy| (3) Parachute|PATHFINDER SELECTION|Army| Soldiers transferred under these rules are to be subtracted from the annual quota of 60 soldiers allowed to transfer a year. 11. C-CBRN. The majority of SP with CBRN Specialist Qualifications transferring from RAF or RTR are to be transferred to the ME (Cbt) Career Stream provided their transfer to the RE is endorsed by the RE Transfer Board. These SP are exclusive to the overall annual quota of 60. See PPN 19-09 for further details on CBRN transfers. Management after Transfer 12. Onward Management and Promotion. Soldiers transferred into the ME (Cbt) Career Stream are to be managed in accordance with Annex A to Chapter 8 of the Regular Soldier CMM.