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Mr. Scott : The administration of disability living allowance is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write shortly to the hon. Member and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Bob Cryer, dated 15 December 1992 :
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking when Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and personal carer's allowance will be paid to Mrs. Patricia Allen.
I can confirm that action has now been completed on Mrs. Allen's case. I have replied to you separately, and in greater detail, about the case.
Clearly Mrs. Allen's claim has not been handled with the efficiency I would expect and I offer my sincere apologies to her for the inconvenience this must have caused. My letter of 19 October 1992 to all MPs explained the problems the Agency has faced since the successful launch of DLA and the positive steps taken to improve the situation.
I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report. A copy will also be placed in the Library.
DEFENCE
Adriatic Sea
Mr. Jim Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the co-operation between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Western European Union naval forces in the Adriatic.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : NATO and WEU naval forces are operating in the Adriatic to monitor and enforce compliance with the arms embargo against the whole of the former Yugoslavia and the trade sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro. There is full-co-operation and co-ordination between the two forces, including communication links between the two commanders at sea and daily contact between the staffs of the two organisations ashore.
Research and Technology Development
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what examination his Department has made of the implications of articles 130f to 130p, proposed to be added to the treaty of Rome under the treaty on European union, on research and technology development in the military sector.
Mr. Aitken : The Ministry of Defence has made a thorough examination of articles 130f to 130p and is fully aware of their implications on military research and technology development.
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what outstanding debts his Department has with British Nuclear Fuels in regard to the storage and treatment of radioactive waste, and decommissioning of nuclear plant, as a result of contracts carried out for his Department by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.
Mr. Aitken : My Department has no such debts.
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Historic Buildings
Sir Nicholas Fairbairn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the historic buildings in England, Wales and Scotland in armed forces use.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : There are 1,020 buildings listed as of historical or architectural interest on the Defence estate, or which are occupied by the Ministry of Defence through arrangements with Department of Environment, property holdings.
Information about which are occupied and by whom is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Prisoners-of-War
Mr. Stevenson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what documents his Department holds regarding experiments conducted upon prisoners-of-war of the Japanese of a biological and chemical nature.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : After a number of thorough searches during the last seven years, no documents which include evidence of Japanese biological or chemical experiments on British prisoners-of-war have been found within the Ministry of Defence archives.
Hong Kong
Mr. Hall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to increase the number of service personnel in Hong Kong.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Force levels in Hong Kong, and contingency plans for the reinforcement of the garrison, are kept under regular review.
Maintenance Work, Harrogate
Mr. Robert Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the cost of maintenance and improvement works to his Department's establishment at St. George's road, Harrogate, in each of the last three years ; what current expenditure is to be undertaken ; and for what purpose.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The cost of maintenance and improvement works to the Ministry of Defence establishment at St. George's road, Harrogate, over the years 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92 was £1.076 million, £2.227 million and £1.140 million respectively. For 1992-93 the cost of maintenance is expected to be £0.741 million.
War Widows
Mr. Viggers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has instituted a study into the practicality of allowing war widows who remarry to have an automatic right to the restoration of war widow's pension if they are widowed a second time ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : War widow's pensions are a matter for the Department of Social Security. In addition, the occupational pension scheme for the armed forces includes corresponding provision for those widows who are eligible to be awarded a pension which, if the husband's death is accepted as being attributable to his
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service, is known as an attributable forces family pension. The widow's entitlement to that pension, or any other type of widow's pension payable under the scheme, ceases in the event of remarriage except to the extent that there is any residual entitlement to a guaranteed minimum pension.The scheme rules do, however, permit a widow's pension to be restored to payment, as a matter of discretion, if the subsequent marriage comes to an end. Normal practice is that restoration would be agreed if a widow is considered to be worse off on second widowhood, without her previous pension, than when she was originally widowed and received that pension.
These arrangements have reecently been reviewed, to consider whether it would be approprite to make restoration of payment automatic upon second widowhood or other termination of the further marriage. It has, however, been concluded that the existing discretionary arrangements, under which service widows can have a reasonable degree of assurance that their pension will be restored if there is a need, but which do not commit the Department to payments from public funds where there is no demonstrable need, should continue to apply.
Bosnia
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether ZB298 mortar locating radar and artillery sound ranging equipment has been made available to the British forces in Bosnia ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The ZB298 was a ground surveillance radar and did not have a mortar locating capability ; it is no longer in service with the British Army. Mortar locating radars and artillery sound ranging equipment have not been deployed to Bosnia. Given the terrain and mobile nature of the tasks undertaken by UNPROFOR troops, such equipment would be of negligible utility.
Special Safety Organisation
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the role and function of his Department's special safety organisation.
Mr. Aitken : The title "Special Safety Organisation" was formerly used to refer to elements of what is now the Ministry of Defence's Nuclear Accident Response Organisation, the role and function of which were detailed in the answer given to the hon. Gentleman on 6 November at column 534.
Heavy Duty Vehicles
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the truck cargo heavy duty vehicles recently delivered to his Department have fulfilled the requirements of their design specification.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The vehicles have met the specification in all essential respects and have been accepted into service.
Waste Materials (Burning)
Mr. Jopling : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 10 December, Official Report, column 798, if he will give details of the strictly controlled
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conditions under which fire fighting training is carried out, under the exemptions granted to his Department from the statutory nuisance provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.Mr. Aitken : The defence fire services (Def FS) are required under the terms of the Health and Safety at Work etc., Act to provide MOD's firefighters with realistic training on real fires in a controlled environment. In line with MOD's policy on the protection of the environment, the Def FS have issued strict policy guidelines to limit the numbers of fires conducted for training purposes as well as stating that only uncontaminated fuels should be used in such exercises. The level of pollutants released by such fires, both at the central training establishment and at unit level is minimal, and is covered under MOD's exemptions to the Environmental Protection Act 1990. New practices, such as fuel efficient training aids, and fuel separators are further improving the situation. Nevertheless, it remains essential that actual aircraft carcass fires are tackled in training, since there is no acceptable substitute for this practice.
Low Flying
Mr. Jonathan Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints he has received concerning low-flying military aircraft in the county of Powys in each of the last three years.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The numbers of inquiries or complaints about low flying training which my Department received in each of the last three years from addresses in the county of Powys are as follows :
Year |Number
----------------------
1990 |223
1991 |108
<1>1992 |195
<1> Up to 30 November
1992.
Devonport Management Ltd
Mr. Streeter : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence why he has instructed Devonport Management Ltd to provide a copy of its detailed development plans to his Department for onward transmission to Mott MacDonald Ltd.
Mr. Aitken : Plans for the proposed development of nuclear support facilities at both royal dockyards have been made available to Mott MacDonald in its capacity as the Ministry of Defence's independent civil engineering consultants on this matter.
Mr. Streeter : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the detailed plans of Devonport Management Ltd for the redevelopment of docks at Devonport to refit Trident submarines have been passed by his Department to the management of Babcock Thorn Ltd or their agents.
Rosyth and Devonport Dockyards
Mr. Streeter : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what work is being carried out by Mott MacDonald for his Department in relation to submarine refitting at the Rosyth and Devonport dockyards.
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Mr. Aitken : The Ministry of Defence has engaged Mott MacDonald, a firm of civil engineering consultants, to provide independent professional advice in relation to the design and build stages of Babcock Thorn Ltd's proposal for a modification of the nuclear submarine refitting facility at Rosyth, and Devonport Management Ltd's proposal for the redevelopment of existing docks at Devonport.
Nuclear Submarines
Mr. Streeter : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions his Department has requested Devonport and Rosyth to submit best and final offers for the refit of Britain's nuclear submarines.
Mr. Aitken : Both dockyard management companies have, at their own initiative, made revisions to the proposals which they originally submitted to the Ministry of Defence in November last year. They have both been given equal treatment including a recent and final opportunity to revise their respective proposals if they so wish.
Gleneagles Nuclear Planning Meeting
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list the items discussed at the Gleneagles nuclear planning meeting on 20 and 21 October ;
(2) whether he discussed (a) the first use of nuclear weapons and (b) ballistic missile defences at the Gleneagles nuclear planning group meeting on 20 and 21 October.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : I refer the hon. Member to the final communique of the NATO nuclear planning group meeting, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what were the total costs incurred by hosting the NATO nuclear planning group meetings at Gleneagles on 20 and 21 October ; and which Department are meeting this cost.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Although it is too early to provide a precise final figure, we estimate the cost to Ministry of Defence votes of hosting the NATO nuclear planning group meeting at Gleneagles at some £1.5 million.
Helicopters
Mr. Trotter : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 30 November, Official Report, column 61, which aircraft carrier will receive the Merlin EH101 helicopter first and when ; which helicopters will be deployed on the aircraft carrier not due to receive the Merlin EH101 helicopter from the batch ordered last year ; and what assessment he has made of the operational consequences.
Mr. Aitken : Plans are not yet finalised as to which aircraft carrier will be the first to receive the Merlin EH101 helicopter. Sea King helicopters will continue to be deployed on aircraft carriers until they are replaced by the Merlins. The operational consequences of the sequential introduction of the Merlin EH101 were taken into account in deciding how to introduce Merlin into Royal Navy service.
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Refit and Repair Contracts
Mr. Trotter : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 30 November, Official Report , column 59 , if he will set out the measurements used by his Department of total naval production load ; what proportion of this load and of total Royal Navy refit, repair and maintenance of expenditure was accounted for in 1991-92 by nuclear refit, repair and maintenance ; and what proportion of load and of expenditure arose from contracts awarded overseas.
Mr. Aitken : The total naval production load comprises the estimated industrial work required to complete each project in the planned refit and docking programme expressed as man weeks. In 1991-92, the proportions of the total naval production load and of total expenditure attributed to nuclear refit, repair and maintenance work were 17.1 and 26.1 per cent., respectively. The programme attributed to contracts awarded overseas were 0.8 and 0.28 per cent., respectively. The overseas expenditure arose from work carried out on vessels deployed overseas, for which it would have been operationally impossible or uneconomic to bring the vessels to the United Kingdom.
Indonesian Nationals
Mr. Hain : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Indonesian nationals are or have been training in British military establishments (a) currently and (b) in the last three years.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Indonesian nationals are attending, and have attended, a range of developmental and technical training courses in British military establishments. Details of the training, including numbers involved, are confidential between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of Indonesia.
Christmas Parties
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what authorisation he has given for expenditure on Christmas party festivities in his Department and in other parts of the armed services based in Great Britain.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Department has clear guidelines covering the use of official funds on hospitality which is required to be in the direct defence interest. These rules are not relaxed at Christmas time or at any other time of the year.
Bill Payments
Dr. Spink : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to improve his Ministry's bill payment service for defence contractors ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Aitken : I am pleased to report that last month the Ministry of Defence accounts office in Liverpool introduced an improved bill payment service for defence contractors. This marks the achievement of one of the targets which was set when the Directorate General of Defence Accounts was launched as a defence support agency in April last year.
Under the new system, defence contractors have the opportunity to present their claims to the Liverpool office
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every fortnight and payment is made directly to their bank accounts. Previously contractors were paid by cheque every four weeks.Fortnightly billing started on 2 November, and already a total of almost 10,000 payments worth £750 million have been paid to 5,000 companies under the new arrangements. Next year the Ministry of Defence expects to pay over £12 billion to nearly 20,000 contractors.
The Government recognise the importance of healthy cash flow and have declared their intention to improve payment standards. I am sure that the new payment arrangements will be welcomed by the many thousands of contractors, including all those small businesses, who provide services to the Ministry of Defence, and who will no longer suffer the risk of delays in payment by cheque through the post.
Army Training
Dr. Goodson-Wickes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what further progress has been made in restructuring the Army's training base in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Plans for the rationalisation of the Army training organisation were outlined in Cmnd 1595. I announced on 10 March at column 500 our proposals to improve basic training for adults and young soldiers, juniors and apprentices at a reduced number of larger, more efficient establishments. Consultation with the trades unions is now complete and I can confirm that all adult and young soldier training will be undertaken in five new Army training regiments to be formed at Glencorse, Lichfield, Bassingbourn, Pirbright and Winchester.
To enable these changes, specialist infantry training will move to interim locations at Ouston, Strensall and Catterick. It is also our intention that Royal Signals training should in due course be concentrated at Blandford and this will permit specialist infantry training to be concentrated at Catterick in the long term. As a result of the reorganisation of infantry training, we shall not now need to use Crickhowell for this purpose in the interim, but it will continue to provide training facilities for the TA as at present. Infantry training at Brecon will also be increased with the formation of a new tactics and skill at arms wing. This will result in an increase of one third in student numbers ; some additional civilian staff will also be required. This will require substantial new investment on student accommodation over the next few years. Having examined further a pilot scheme for the training of juniors, we have concluded that in the light of the introduction of the single school-leaving point in 1995, the
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junior entry no longer justifies the very substantial investment involved. The Army must, however, retain access to the school-leaver market and we therefore now propose to introduce a single entry for the Army, subsuming all those who would previously have been recruited as juniors, young soldiers and adults. They will undertake their basic training at one of the five Army training regiments. As a result, the establishments at Bramcote and Harrogate need not now be converted to Army junior leader regiments. We will be examining the potential for alternative defence uses for these establishments although none has yet been found. It is not therefore possible to say what might be the detailed implications for civilian staff. There will be smaller changes at Winchester, although that establishment will continue with its main role as an Army training regiment. The introduction of the single school-leaving point also has implications for the concept of a single Army technical college, which I announced on 5 June at column 672. We now propose that apprentices will undertake their military leadership and technical training at their respective arm and service centres. It will, therefore, not now be necessary to establish the Army technical college at Arborfield and Aldershot, but REME and Army catering corps apprentices will continue to be trained at these sites. I am pleased to say that since announcing the end of apprentice training at Chepstow, further study has identified the barracks there as a suitable location for an infantry battalion returning to the United Kingdom. With some 650 men, up to half of whom will have families, the positive economic impact will be considerable. The necessary building work will begin on the cessation of apprentice training in 1994, allowing occupation in 1996.Full consultation with the trades unions on these proposals will take place in the normal way before final decisions are taken. We have also laid down the principles for further restructuring the training organisation and improving special provision to arm and service and career training. Where possible, such training will be concentrated in single centres with any further training done at the minimum number of wings. We shall also examine the content of specialist and career training to identify the potential for market testing and contractorisation ; areas of commonality ; and the scope for savings between arms and services, as well as between the Army and other services. Until detailed plans are brought forward, it will not be possible to say what will be the precise implications for either civilian staff or training establishments. We shall invite the trades unions to contribute to specific areas of study and shall, of course, undertake formal consultation in the normal way when appropriate.
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