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Public Information
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will state the reasons for file T160/763/F14755 having been retained to date by the Treasury.
(2) if he will arrange for the file T160/763/F14755, currently held by the Treasury, to be placed in the Public Records Office ; (3) if it is open to the hon. Member for Cunninghame, North to inspect file T160/763/F14755.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : According to our research this file appears to have been destroyed in 1977. As a result of a clerical error the PRO was not informed.
Value Added Tax
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will reconsider the decision to exclude children's cycle helmets from the exemption from value added tax applied to children's clothing.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : Cyclists' safety helmets falling within the provisions of group 17 of schedule 5 to the VAT Act 1983, as articles designed for young children and not suitable for older persons, are and always have been zero-rated for value added tax.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what savings his Department expects to make as a result of the operation of the Child Support Agency after maintenance tax relief in each year from 1993 to 2000.
Mr. Maude : The introduction of the Child Support Agency is expected to have a negligible effect on the cost of tax relief for maintenance payments.
DEFENCE
RAF Finningley
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list for the latest date he has available in respect of Royal Air Force Finningley how many service married quarters there are in stock and (a) the number vacant, (b) the number vacant for less than six months, (c) the number vacant for up to a year, (d) the number vacant for up to two years and (e) the number vacant over two years.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : As at 31 March 1991 there were 522 service married quarters at RAF Finningley of which 155 were vacant. Of these, 33 had been vacant for up to
Column 326
one year, 78 between one and two years, and 44 for over two years. The majority of these properties were either undergoing or awaiting major maintentance and modernisation work while the remainder have been identified for disposal. Figures for quarters vacant for less than six months are not separately collated.Service Men Overseas
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list for 1981 and the latest date he has available the countries in which (a) service men and (b) service women were serving for each of the armed services.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The information requested is in the tables below. The breakdown between service men and service women is not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
1981
1991 Notes: 1. Including United Kingdom service personnel on loan to other countries or territories. 2. Excluding defence attaches and defence advisers.
VIPER Microprocessor
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) pursuant to his answer of 23 May, Official Report, column 611, if he will now make a further statement on his assessment of the consequences of his Department's announcements as to the reliability of the VIPER microprocessor and role in its market launch ; (2) if he will make a statement on his Department's handling of its dealings with Charter Technologies Ltd. in respect of (a) the VIPER microprocessor and (b) other contracts.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : I have nothing to add at this stage to the answer that I gave the hon. Member on 23 May at column 611.
Buccaneer Jet (Near Miss)
Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made into investigating the near-miss of a Buccaneer jet and Caledonian-MacBrayne ferry "Lord of the Isles" on 30 April ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The investigation into this incident is progressing and should be completed shortly.
Negligence
Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out the provisions governing the practice of his Department in making available documents to service men bringing suit against the Government for negligence under the Crown Proceedings (Armed Forces) Act 1987.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Department's practice is to meet all reasonable requests from the legal representatives of service men for the provision of relevant documents or information to assist them in formulating a common law damages claim, subject to any overriding constraints on the disclosure of a document.
Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the requirement to prove negligence by Her Majesty's Government before compensation would be received applies to (a) a civil servant in his Department and (b) a membr of the Territorial Army, injured in circumstances similar to those involving Grenadier Guardsmen at Batus range Canada on 7 July 1989.
Household Division
Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give an estimate of the overall financial cost of the Household Divison in fulfilling its public duties role over each of the past five years.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Greenway) on 19 February 1991 at col. 136.
Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate has been made of the contribution
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of the public duties activity of the Household Division towards the annual tourist income of the United Kingdom in each of the past five years.Mr. Archie Hamilton : These activities are widely recognised to be a tourist attraction but their value in terms of tourist income is not readily quantifiable.
Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what charge is made per man hour for the ceremonial work, including music, drill and musical rides, that is not directly in the service of the Crown, by members of the Household Division ; and how much was generated from this source in each of the past five years.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : All ceremonial duties undertaken by members of the Household Division are performed directly in the service of the Crown. Other musical and display performances are undertaken in support of approved recruiting and other official activities are charged for at rates to recover costs, which vary according to circumstances. Information about the income generated is not recorded centrally and would require disproportionate effort to produce.
Gulf War
Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of the men, equipment and ammunition of the two armoured brigades recently deployed in the Gulf war had to be added to the establishment of those brigades as at 2 August 1990.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The peacetime establishment of 7th Armoured Brigade and 4th Brigade were increased by between two-thirds and three- quarters to bring them to war establishment, adjusted to take account of the circumstances of the Gulf deployment and in particular of the need for greater than normal logistic support. Equipment holdings were also brought up to war establishment and, for certain types, altered to take account of operational requirements in the Gulf ; it is not possible to give an overall percentage.
Gurkhas
Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether the manpower figure he gave for the British Army in his announcement of 4 June, Official Report, column 143, included the Brigade of Gurkhas ; and what allowance he made for the continuation of the Brigade of Gurkhas after 1997 ;
(2) what effect his decision to maintain the Brigade of Gurkhas until 1997 has on the number of other battalions of the British Army to be maintained.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The manpower figure given on 4 June included all Regular manpower, trained and untrained. I am not able to comment on the future of individual regiments, which is currently the subject of consultation within the Army.
Radiation Dosage
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish in the Official Report, the text of the letter of 13 June to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish concerning radiation dosage.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The text of the letter is as follows :
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"Further to my reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions and my letter to you of 3 May regarding radiation dose exposures, I am now able to supply the final version of the dose information for the dockyards and naval bases. This is attached. I can confirm that it does not differ from the provisional data supplied with my previous letter".
Table A Annual individual radiation dose
equivalents-Rosyth
dockyard civilian workers-1990 (Data supplied
by BTL Rosyth)
|Figures
----------------------------------------------
0-15 mSv |*1,455
15-20 mSv |5
20-30 mSv |0
30-40 mSv |0
40-50 mSv |0
More than 50 mSv |0
Number of monitored employees |1,460
Collective dose (ManSv) |2.24
Average dose (mSv) |1.53
Table B Annual individual radiation dose
equivalents Devonport
dockyard civilian workers-1990 (Data supplied
by BTL Rosyth)
|Figures
----------------------------------------------
0-15 mSv |*1,716
15-20 mSv |0
20-30 mSv |0
30-40 mSv |0
40-50 mSv |0
More than 50 mSv |0
Number of monitored employees |1,716
Collective dose (ManSv) |1.56
Average dose (mSv) |0.91
* Includes written system persons.
Table C Annual individual radiation dose
equivalents all personnel-
RNAD Coulport 1990
|Figures
----------------------------------------------
0-15 mSv |*226
15-20 mSv |0
20-30 mSv |0
30-40 mSv |0
40-50 mSv |0
More than 50 mSv |0
Number of monitored employees |226
Collective dose (ManSv) |0.063
Average dose (mSv) |0.28
* All doses in the 0-5 mSv band.
Number includes 31 naval personnel (some may
only have served at RNAD Coulport for part of
the year).
Table D Annual individual radiation dose
equivalents for all
personnel at Clyde S/M base-1990
|Figures
----------------------------------------------
0-15 mSv |337
15-20 mSv |21
20-30 mSv |28
30-40 mSv |1
40-50 mSv |0
More than 50 mSv |0
Number of monitored employees |387
Collective dose (ManSv) |2.093
Average dose (mSv) |5.41
Table E Annual individual radiation dose
equivalents for all
personnel at HMS Defiance-1990\#\
|Figures
----------------------------------------------
0-15 mSv |303
15-20 mSv |7
20-30 mSv |0
30-40 mSv |0
40-50 mSv |0
More than 50 mSv |0
Number of monitored employees |310
Collective dose (ManSv) |0.897
Average dose (mSv) |2.89
Aircraft Shelters, Stornoway
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he plans to proceed with the construction of hardened aircraft shelters at RAF Stornoway.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The construction of the shelters is under discussion with the NATO authorities.
Compensation (Interim Payments)
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when Mr. Dennis Brown of New Park farm, East Anstey, will receive an interim payment in compensation for his free-range chickens, following Royal Air Force low- flying activities.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : Mr. Dennis Brown of New Park farm, East Anstey, will receive an interim payment within the next two weeks.
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the practice of his Department in respect of making interim payments of compensation to persons whose cases have been taken up by hon. Members.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : Interim payments are generally made to claimants where it has been shown that some financial hardship exists. It is departmental policy that all official action is suspended once cases have been taken up by hon. Members, while Ministers review the cases.
Tigerfish Torpedo
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total cost to date of the Tigerfish torpedo programme ; and if he will provide a breakdown of the costs attributable to (a) Tigerfish Mod. 01, (b) Tigerfish Mod. 1 and (c) Tigerfish Mod. 2.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle [holding answer 17 June 1991] : The total cost of development and production of Tigerfish to date is around £1 billion in 1991-92 prices. This breaks down as about £540 million for the MOD O, about £270 million for the MOD 1 and about £200 million for the MOD 2.
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