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Budgets
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are (a) the current budgets and (b) the previous budgets of all the higher level budget holders with the exception of GOC Northern Ireland, DG General Intelligence (Eurasia), DG Management and Support of Intelligence, DG of Strategic and Technical Intelligence and DG Intelligence (Rest of World) ; and if he will list the planned budgets for all the same budget holders for (i) 1993-94, (ii) 1994-95 and (iii) 1995-96. Mr. Hanley : The budgets for higher level budget holders are now published annually in Defence Statistics,
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available in the Library of the House. The budgets for financial year 1992-93 are shown in table 1.3A on page 10 of Defence Statistics, 1992 edition, and the budgets for 1993-94 in table 1.3 on page 9 of the UK Defence Statistics, 1993 edition. We do not publish details of planned budgets as approval to commit expenditure is subject to formal endorsement through Ministers and the parliamentary supply system.Army Costs
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what is the annual running cost of (a) an armoured regiment, (b) an infantry battalion and (c) an artillery field regiment stationed in the United Kingdom ; and what changes have occurred in this figure since 1989-90 ;
(2) what is the annual running cost of (a) an armoured regiment, (b) an infantry battalion and (c) an artillery field regiment stationed with the British Army of the Rhine ; and what changes have occurred in this figure since 1989-90.
Mr. Hanley : Since 1991, when new management strategy was introduced, the basis for costing Army units has changed. In addition, the current methodology does not distinguish between UK and Germany-based units, and cannot be compared with figures for 1989-90. Estimates for this financial year, at current prices, are as follows :
(£ million) Unit |Costs ------------------------------- Armoured regiments |23 Infantry battalion |23 (Armoured) Artillery field |22 Regiment (AS90)
These figures include manpower, fuel, ammunition, training and spares costs.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current annual cost of (a) a regular Army soldier, (b) a Territorial Army soldier, (c) a Royal Navy sailor, (d) a Royal Naval Reserve sailor, (e) a Royal Naval Auxiliary Service sailor, (f) a Royal Air Force airman or woman, and (g) a Royal Auxiliary Air Force airman or woman.
Mr. Hanley : The information which can be provided without disproportionate cost is shown in the table. The figures are an average cost per person, taken for all ranks, commissioned and non-commissioned, in 1992-93. The figures for the regulars include pay, earnings-related national insurance contribution, allowances and superannuation. The figures for the Reserves include allowances and, except for the Royal Naval Auxiliary Reserve, pay, ERNIC and training bounties.
No account has been taken of any other costs--for example, equipment development, production and maintenance, fuel, ammunition, accommodation and utilities, food or transport.
1992-93 average pay bill cost of service
personnel<1>
|£
--------------------------------------------------
a. Regular Army<2> |25,400
b. Territorial Army<3> |1,900
c. Royal Navy<4> |30,000
d. Royal Naval Reserve<5> |2,100
e. Royal Naval Auxiliary Service<6> |900
f. Royal Air Force |27,100
g. Royal Auxiliary Air Force |2,400
<1> Rounded to the nearest £100.
<2> Including the Home Service full-time element
of the Royal Irish Regiment, and the non-Regular
permanent staff of the Territorial Army.
Excluding Gurkhas, and locally enlisted personnel
overseas.
<3> Not including the Home Service part-time
element of the Royal Irish Regiment.
<4> Excluding the Royal Marines, and locally
enlisted personnel overseas.
<5> Not including the Royal Marines Reserve.
<6> Excluding permanent staff.
Maintenance Backlog
ace Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total maintenance backlog of (a) unavoidable and essential repairs and (b) urgent repairs on the defence estate at 1 April in each year since 1980 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Aitken : Since the untying from the Property Services Agency on 1 April 1990, the information requested has been held by 23 separate top- level budget holders within the Ministry of Defence. It would, therefore, involve disproportionate cost to acquire the information.
Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps
ace Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what British contribution is made to the reaction force planning staff at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : The United Kingdom contributes six officers and two other ranks to the Allied Command Europe Reaction Force Planning Staff-- ARFPS--whose total strength is 48 officers and 13 other ranks.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements have been made for funding the new NATO rapid reaction force ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : The nations assigning forces to the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps--ARRC--will meet the costs of their national contingencies. The costs of the headquarters will be shared between the participating nations and NATO on terms presently under negotiation.
Belize
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current annual running cost of (a) the Army detachment and (b) the RAF detachment stationed in Belize ; and what changes have occurred in these figures since 1989-90.
Mr. Hanley : It is not possible to attribute the total costs of the Belize garrison to the Army element or to the RAF element except for manpower costs. A significant cost element is for services common to both detachments and covers areas such as the garrison headquarters, works services, utilities and locally employed civilians. The costs
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of the garrison for the 1991-92, 1992-93 and an estimate for 1993-94, split into directly identifiable Army and RAF costs and common costs, are given. Comparable data for 1989-90 are not available.
£ million
|1991-92|1992-93|1993-94
----------------------------------------------
Army manpower |21 |18 |24
RAF manpower |5 |6 |5
Common costs |12 |10 |10
|-------|-------|-------
Total |38 |34 |39
Nuclear Test Veterans
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a further statement on the issue of compensation for nuclear test veterans.
Mr. Hanley : Compensation would be sympathetically considered for any British nuclear test veteran who could be shown to have suffered injury or illness as a result of radiation from the nuclear tests. No such case has yet been found. The report of the National Radiological Protection Board--NRPB--published in 1988 found no overall excess of death or malignant disease among test veterans : this position is confirmed in the NRPB follow-up study to be published this week. A copy will be placed in the Library.
Dr. Liam Fox : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the follow-up report by the National Radiological Protection Board being published in the British Medical Journal on mortality and cancer among nuclear test veterans.
Mr. Hanley : The joint National Radiological Protection Board/Imperial Cancer Research Fund--NRPB/ICRF--study into Mortality and Cancer incidence among nuclear test participants, commissioned by the Ministry of Defence, will be published on Saturday 11 December in the British Medical Journal after having successfully completed independent peer review. There will also be an accompanying NRPB report.
The NRPB is an independent statutory body which was set up to give advice on radiation protection. The ICRF is a charitable organisation which plays a leading role in cancer research. The authors of the report include eminent scientists who have published widely in the field, among whom is the distinguished epidemiologist Professor Sir Richard Doll, OBE, MD, DSc, FRS, FRCP, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the university of Oxford, who is well known for his work on smoking-related disease.
The Ministry of Defence accepts the findings of this independent report. The study concludes that participation in the nuclear weapon test programme has had no detectable effect on participants' expectation of life, or on their risk of developing cancer or other fatal diseases.
A report published by the NRPB in 1988 dealt with mortality and cancer up to 31 December 1983 among former test participants, compared with a control group of service and civilian personnel matched for age, sex and rank who served in tropical areas at the time of the tests but were not, themselves, participants in the atmospheric nuclear weapon test programme. This study found no overall excess of death, or of cancer, among former
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participants compared with national rates. Out of over 20,000 former test participants, about 1,600 had died, including 400 from cancer--no more than among the matched control group or the general population. Of these 400, 22 had died of leukaemia and six from multiple myeloma, figures higher than the control group but similar to those expected from national rates. The authors considered that one possibility was that these elevated levels simply reflected an unusually low incidence of myeloma and leukaemia among the control group.The follow-up report to be published in the British Medical Journal includes cancer and mortality data to 31December 1990. During the seven years between the end of 1983 and the end of 1990, about 1,200 further deaths occurred among former test participants, 370 of them from cancer. Again, these figures were no higher than among either the general population or the matched control group. Of the 370 further cancer deaths among participants, three were from multiple myeloma and six from leukaemia. The three deaths from myeloma were fewer than among the general population and the control group. Taken together with the figures from the previous study, for all deaths up to 31 December 1990 there was no increased incidence of multiple myeloma among participants compared with either the general population or controls.
The six deaths from leukaemia among participants between 1 January 1984 and 31 December 1990 were fewer than expected from national rates and fewer in veterans than among the controls. Furthermore, the total number of deaths for the entire period of both studies up to the end of 1990 from leukaemia was exactly the same as expected nationally. The excess of leukaemia in test participants compared with the control group found in the previous study is therefore likely to be a chance finding, although the report states that the possibility that test participation may have caused a small risk of developing leukaemia in the early years after the tests, cannot be completely ruled out. The study however, finds the evidence for a causal link to be weak for several reasons.
First, the highest increase amongst participants was not among men in groups whose duties gave them the potential for exposure to ionising radiation, nor among men employed by the atomic weapons research establishment or directly involved in the minor trials at Maralinga in whom undocumented inhalation or ingestion, if any, was most likely to have occurred. Secondly, the recorded doses of external radiatiposure to ionising radiation.
The Ministry of Defence has also compiled for the NRPB an environmental monitoring report for Christmas island. A copy has been placed in the Library. This report shows that measurements of radioactive fallout taken at the time of the tests were usually below the limit of detection. On the few occasions when radioactivity was detectable the levels were low, decayed or dispersed rapidly, and did not constitute a hazard or danger to test participants, visitors or inhabitants of the island. The dates when elevated levels were found were not associated with the detonation date of any particular United Kingdom device, but corresponded to the worldwide fallout pattern of the time. Such global fallout is part of background radiation to which we are all exposed.
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I can also announce today that I have, in line with the Government's commitment to open government, and the Ministry of Defence's wish to open to public scrutiny any documents relating to the safety of test participants, declassified the yields of Christmas island tests. The figures are contained in the environmental monitoring report for Christmas island to which I have just referred. The corresponding figures for the Australian atmospheric nuclear weapon tests were declassified in 1985. The yield figures can be used to calculate doses from information readily available in the open literature. These calculations confirm the assertion that doses were vanishingly low at all points where participants were mustered at the instant of detonation.I believe that this new NRPB/ICRF study confirms that there is no evidence to suggest that any cancer or other fatal disease was caused by exposure to ionising radiation from the tests.
A copy of the British Medical Journal article and associated report will be placed in the Library of the House.
ENVIRONMENT
Housing
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of the total dwelling stock in each local authority area in England is (a) unfit for habitation and (b) in need of major renovation.
Sir George Young : Local authorities are requested to provide information in their annual housing investment programme--HIP1--returns on all dwellings in their area which are unfit, and on those not unfit but in need of renovation. However, there are doubts about the quality of the data provided by some authorities.
These doubts arise because of the substantial variations between neighbouring authorities in the proportions of dwellings reported as unfit or in need of repair, and also because of implausible changes between years in some of the reported figures.
The data reported by local authorities in England on total dwelling stock-- column A15--and the numbers of dwellings reported as unfit--column A35--and not unfit but in need of renovation--column A45--from which the percentages requested can be calculated are in the 1993 "HIP1 All Items Print". A copy is available in the Library.
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how his Department will be represented at the Salford inquiry on housing in the north-west to be held on 12 January 1994.
Sir George Young : Officials from the Department's north-west regional office will attend.
Advertising
Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much his Department spends annually on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising and (c) press advertising ; and what were the corresponding figures for 1985 and 1979.
Mr. Gummer : In the financial year 1992-93, the Department spent £2,660,198.30 on press advertising and
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£2,799,915.14 on television advertising. These costs include creative and production charges, value added tax, and other levies as paid.The main campaigns were :
Helping the Earth begins at Home.
Right to Buy.
Council Tax Press Advertising March 1993.
Making a Corporate Commitment--to Energy Saving.
Halon Banking.
EMAS--Energy Management Assistance Scheme.
There was no expenditure on radio advertising in that financial year.
A breakdown of publicity expenditure is not available for the years 1985 and 1979.
Biodiversity
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends to publish the biodiversity action plan compiled in response to the biodiversity convention signed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
Mr. Yeo : Work on the production of the biodiversity action plan is in its final stages, and publication will be after the House returns, in January.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on how Britain's impact on biodiversity in other countries will be addressed in the United Kingdom's follow-up to agreements made at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
Mr. Yeo : Britain's impact on biodiversity in other countries will be addressed in the biodiversity action plan and the sustainable development strategy as appropriate, both of which are due to be published after the House returns, in January.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements have been made for the ratification before the end of 1993 of the biological diversity convention by the United Kingdom.
Mr. Yeo : The convention on biological diversity was laid before Parliament in January of this year. I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Mr. Smith) on 2 December 1993, Official Report, column 654.
Information Security
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the operation of his Department's sensitive documents unit ; how many staff are employed in its operation ; and approximately how many documents per annum come within its purview.
Mr. Gummer : A large number of staff in the Department handle documents which may be regarded as sensitive. There is no special unit ; all staff are required to handle sensitive documents according to standard rules.
Community Care
Mr. Nick Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in the Official Report the representations he has received concerning his proposals to
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reinstate certification 10 of the Housing Corporation's special needs procedure guide and the consequent withdrawal of revenue funding where a social services authority sponsors an individual under the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990.Sir George Young : My right hon. Friend and I have received representations from the organisations listed below, or from hon. Members writing on their behalf, in connection with the application of the Housing Corporation's revenue funding rules beyond the current financial year. A further five hon. Members have written to us about the general issue.
Advance Housing and Support Ltd.
Association for Residential Care
Association of London Authorities
Bristol Churches Housing Association
Elfrida Rathbone Islington
London Borough Grants Committee
Look Ahead Housing Association
MacIntyre Care
MENCAP
Methodist Church and Centre
MIND
National Autistic Society
National Federation of Housing Associations
Oxford Cyrenian Community
Phoenix House Housing Association
Shaftesbury Society
Single Homelessness in London
Spastics Society
Special Needs Housing Association Group
St Anne's Shelter and Housing Action
Tower Hamlets Consortium Ltd.
Turning Point
Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when current planning permission for the thermal oxide reprocessing plant at Sellafield expires.
Mr. Curry : The planning permission, which is contained in SI 1978 No. 523, did not specify a final date by which the buildings must be completed and the plant brought into use.
Local Government Reorganisation
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what safeguards he has instituted in the local government review process to ensure that the trading standards departments are not adversely affected in the reorganisation process.
Mr. Baldry : The Local Government Commission's recommendations must enable adequate provision to be made for all existing local government functions, including the trading standards service. This is a matter we shall be looking at as we receive the commission's final reports for each area.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many representations he has received about trading standards departments in relation to the local government review.
Mr. Baldry : This year, my right hon. Friend has received 24 representations on the general issue of trading standards in relation to the local government review.
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements have been made to ensure
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the continued existence and development of a network of county record offices after the reform of local government authorities.Mr. Baldry : The Local Government Commission's recommendations must enable adequate provision to be made for all existing local government functions, including the provision of archive services. This is a matter we shall be looking at as we receive the commission's final reports for each area.
Council House Sales
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what statutory provisions govern the requirement on borough councils to devote receipts from sale of dwellings to their tenants solely to redeem accumulated debt.
Sir George Young : Section 59 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 requires local authorities to set aside as provision for credit liabilities 75 per cent. of their receipts from the disposal of dwellings and 50 per cent. of other receipts; the remainder may be spent. Those percentages are varied for certain receipts by the Local Authorities (Capital Finance) Regulations 1990, as amended, and in particular are reduced to nil for virtually all receipts obtained between 13 November 1992 and 31 December 1993.
Section 64 of the 1989 Act provides that amounts set aside may be used to repay borrowing or discharge credit liabilities; they may also be used for capital expenditure on the strength of a credit approval. The regulations give authorities without long-term debt greater freedom to spend these amounts.
Grants (Day Visitors)
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, in the local government finance statement for 1994-95, how much extra grant Stockport metropolitan borough council will get as a result of the inclusion of day visitors in the formula; and how much of that extra will relate to visitors to Lyme park.
Mr. Baldry : Stockport metropolitan borough council would receive £0.264 million as a result of the inclusion of an allowance for day visitors to the authority within the proposed calculation of standard spending assessments for 1994-95. It is not possible to say how much of that amount is attributable to day visitors to specific attractions. Lyme park, however, is not within the Stockport metropolitan district and, therefore, visitors to the park would not be included in Stockport's figures.
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what account is taken of sites outside a borough but maintained by the authority in calculating grants for day visitors.
Mr. Baldry : The allowance within standard spending assessments for day visitors is designed to reflect the impact on services provided by local authorities of visitors to their area.
The services likely to be affected include street cleaning, refuse collection and environmental health.
It is not the intention that the allowance should compensate authorities directly for the cost of any recreational facilities which they choose to provide in the areas of other authorities.
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