Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) the tasks and (b) the individual establishment of University Reserve Naval Units are; and what in addition to undergraduate and graduate training purposes they are used for.

Mark Lancaster, Minister of State for the Armed Forces: There are 15 University Royal Naval Units (URNUs) based in the following locations: Birmingham; Bristol; Cambridge; Devon; Edinburgh; Glasgow and Strathclyde; Liverpool; London; Manchester and Salford; Northumbria; Oxford; Southampton; Sussex; Wales, and Yorkshire. Each Unit has an establishment of 51 students.

The purpose of the URNUs is to instil an understanding of the Naval Service in students, both to facilitate a Naval career for those who chose one and so that those who go into civilian employment become positive advocates of the Naval Service. This is delivered by a syllabus that includes Naval core values and ethos; command, leadership and management skills; public speaking; and ceremonial, seamanship, engineering and navigation training.

Hansard

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