House of Commons Hansard Debates for 16 Mar 1995

Mr. Livingstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the nature of the collaboration between the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment and the Institute of Aviation Medicine with regard to the service volunteers programme; and in which years this collaboration took place.

Mr. Soames: This is a matter for the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, Porton Down under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member. Letter from Graham Pearson to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 16 March 1995:

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking what is the nature of the collaboration between the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment and the Institute of Aviation Medicine with regard to the Service Volunteers programme; and in which years this collaboration took place, has been passed to me to answer as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. The role of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is to ensure that the UK Armed Forces have effective protective measures against the threat that chemical or biological weapons may be used against them. In order to carry out this work, it is necessary to use Service volunteers to:

a. assess the ability of Service personnel to function with new equipment and procedures,

b. develop medical countermeasures to protect Service personnel and,

c. evaluate the effects of very low and medically safe concentrations of CW agents on the ability of unprotected personnel to operate normally.

No studies involving volunteers are carried out unless there is a clear military need and a detailed protocol has been reviewed and approved by an independent Ethics Committee in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Royal College of Physicians.

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3. There has been long standing collaboration between CBDE Porton Down and the Institute of Aviation Medicine on a wide range of topics of mutual interest involving visits to and by each Establishment. This collaboration has addressed inter alia the effects of nerve agents on the visual acuity of pilots. Insofar as the Service Volunteer programme is concerned, CBDE and IAM have collaborated in the analytical methods used in carrying out studies with the Nerve Agent Pretreatment Set (NAPS).

Respirators

Mr. Livingstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service volunteers have been involved in studies with the S6 respirator at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, Porton Down since 1965; in which years these studies took place; what was the nature and purpose of these studies; and under which defence agreement the results of these studies were exchanged with other countries.

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking how many Service volunteers have been involved in studies with the S6 respirator at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, Porton Down since 1965; in which years these studies took place; what was the nature and purpose of these studies; and under which Defence Agreement the results of these studies were exchanged with other countries, has been passed to me to answer as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. The role of the chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is to ensure that the UK Armed Forces have effective protective measures against the threat that chemical or biological weapons may be used against them. In order to carry out this work, it is necessary to use Service volunteers to:

a. assess the ability of Service personnel to function with new equipment and procedures,

b. develop medical countermeasures to protect Service personnel and,

c. evaluate the effects of very low and medically safe concentrations of CW agents on the ability of unprotected personnel to operate normally.

No studies involving volunteers are carried out unless there is a clear military need and detailed protocol has been reviewed and approved by an independent Ethics Committee in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Royal College of Physicians.

3. Our records are not maintained in such a way as to identify the number of Service personnel who have participated in studies with the S6 respirator at CBDE. Studies have been carried out at CBDE on the protection afforded by the S6 respirator when worn by human beings. In addition, during the research and development phases of the S6 programme, user trials were conducted to determine the military acceptability of various aspects of the design. There trials took the form of issuing prototype respirators to units for use during routine exercises.

4. The results of this work were part of the chemical and biological defence programme and have formed part of the technical database drawn upon in collaboration with our Allies under the agreements covering research, development, deployment and standardisation of chemical and biological defence equipment such as those listed by the Right Hon. Archie Hamilton in his reply of 21 May 1992, Official Report, columns 255 56.

Mr. Livingstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 3 February, Official Report , column 889 , when the S10 respirator was issued for use by the armed forces; when the NATO triptych was laid down; and what are its provisions.

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Mr. Soames: This matter is for the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, Porton Down under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Graham Pearson to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 16 March 1995:

1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking pursuant to his Answer of 3 February, Official Report, column 889, when the S10 respirator was issued for use by the Armed Forces; when the Nato triptych was laid down; and what are its provisions, has been passed to me to answer as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.

2. The role of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is to carry out work to ensure that the UK Armed Forces are provided with effective protective measures against the threat that chemical and biological weapons may be used against them.

3. The S10 respirator began entering service with UK Armed Forces in 1986 87, and is now the standard issue respirator for all Service personnel.

4. The current version of the NATO NBC Respirator Triptych was issued in May 1991 and replaced the original version issued in 1967. The Triptych comprise three sections headed: Operational Requirements, Technical Specifications, and Evaluation Tests and Criteria. These are further sub- divided into sections on protection characteristics, use characteristics, survivability, and storage and service life. These lay down the minimum requirements for various parameters such as comfort, compatibility with other equipment, field of vision, protection properties, flash resistance, care and maintenance, canister thread dimensions, and communication. A series of Annexes describe some of the test methods used in determining compliance with the requirements.

War Widows

Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in how many cases a post-1973 war widow has (a) been warned that she might lose her attributable forces family pension or (b) had the pension terminated on the ground that she had been co-habiting.

Mr. Soames: Each new award to a service widow or widower is accompanied by a guide explaining the conditions of the award. The information includes advice to the pensioner that the pension ceases on remarriage or on living with a partner as husband and wife. The Paymaster General also issues an annual newsletter to every pensioner which contains a reminder that the Paymaster General is to be informed in the event of a service widow or widower's remarriage or living with a new partner.

Information on the number of widows whose attributable forces family pension has ceased on living with a man as his wife is not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many post- -1973 war widows are currently in receipt of an attributable forces family pension.

Mr. Soames: Departmental records of service widows pensions in payment do not separately identify those in receipt of attributable forces family pensions. There are, however, some 64,000 armed forces dependants' pensions in payment of which it is estimated some 2,000 will be attributable forces family pensions to service widows.

Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total annual cost of the attributable forces family pension currently being paid to post-1973 war widows.

Mr. Soames: Departmental records of service widows pensions in payment do not separately identify those in

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receipt of attributable forces family pensions and therefore it is not possible easily to isolate the total annual cost of such pensions.

The current rates of attributable pensions for the dependants of those who gave service on or after 31 December 1994, excluding senior officers, range between £4,882 and £20,493 per annum.

Anglo-French Nuclear Co-operation

Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many French Government employees have visited the United Kingdom to discuss or review nuclear matters during the last year; and if he will list the locations where the meetings took place.

Mr. Freeman: French Government employees frequently visit the United Kingdom to discuss a wide range of issues, including nuclear matters.

AWE Aldermaston and Burghfield

Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date the Health and Safety Executive issued a prohibition notice on the A45 facility at atomic weapons establishment Aldermaston; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Freeman: Two prohibition notices relating to the A45 complex at AWE Aldermaston were issued by the Health and Safety Executive on 3 September 1993 following the spillage of some coolant from a lathe. The notices are a matter of public record and both have since been lifted.

Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the decision to end the requirement at the atomic weapons establishments Aldermaston and Burghfield to submit fire reports to Berkshire fire and rescue service.

Mr. Freeman: It has long been the practice to alert the Berkshire fire and rescue service to all fire service calls received at AWE Aldermaston and Burghfield other than those concerning minor on-site road traffic accidents. There are no plans to change these arrangements.

Blinding Laser Weapons

Sir Peter Emery: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what action he is taking to arrange the UN conference, convened for September 1995 in Vienna, to update the UN weapons convention to stop the development, production and use of blinding laser weapons; (2) what action Her Majesty's Government are taking to bring about international agreement to make illegal and ban the use of weapons purely made for the blinding of people.

Mr. Soames: We are considering proposals to add to the UN weaponry convention a new protocol covering the employment of lasers.

NATO Air Defence Agreement

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors led the United Kingdom not to become party to the recent NATO agreement to develop co-operatively a medium extended air defence system; and if he will make a statement.

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Mr. Freeman: A quadrilateral statement of intent on MEADS was recently agreed by France, Germany, Italy and the USA. We are currently reviewing the nature and timing of our requirement for a future medium surface-to-air missile, in parallel with studies into ballistic missile defence options. At this stage it would be premature to commit ourselves to meeting any such requirements through the MEADS programme, although we are keeping in close touch with its progress.

Boarding School Allowance

Mr. Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many serving armed forces personnel in the United Kingdom who live within daily travelling distance of their work base have financial support from his Department for their children to attend independent schools; and what is his estimate of the cost.

Mr. Soames: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost. Boarding school allowance is paid to assist eligible service parents of all ranks to provide a stable education for their children and to avoid the disruptive school changes which would otherwise be likely to occur as a result of the frequent postings within the United Kingdom and abroad to which service personnel are liable. Eligibility depends on the liability of service parents to be posted within the course of a discrete stage of education for the child. It may well happen, therefore, that for part of this period the service parent is working and living close to the school selected for the child.

Clothing Contracts

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the delay in the allocation of Ministry of Defence clothing contracts in the current year.

Mr. Freeman: There have been no general delays in placing MOD clothing contracts in the current year. The placement of a small number of these contracts has, however, been delayed while Ministers reviewed MOD's response to the demise of the priority suppliers scheme.

Injury Compensation Claims

Mr. O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance is normally given to members of the armed forces in pursuing claims against third parties for compensation for injuries in the course of their duties.

Mr. Soames: There is no general provision for such assistance from the Ministry of Defence either for members of the armed forces or for civilian employees. All personnel do, of course, have the same entitlement as members of the public to apply to the Legal Aid Board for assistance in bringing claims through the courts against third parties for damages for personal injury.

Service Housing

Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement on the reasons for the failure of the project to transfer MOD married quarters to a housing trust; and what are his present intentions for the married quarters owned by his Department;

(2) what severance payments are to be paid to Mr. Mike Robinson and Mr. Mark Taylor in respect of the failed

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MOD housing trust project; how far these exceed the amounts required by contract; and who was responsible for negotiating the original contracts.

Mr. Fatchett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the employment of (a) Mike Robinson, as chief executive, and (b) the senior managers of the housing trust; and what sum of public money will be used to terminate their contracts.

Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will give details of the severance clauses contained in the employment contracts of the current (a) chairman and (b) finance director of the Defence housing trust;

(2) what are his Department's future plans for the married quarters housing stock;

(3) what is the total cost of the severance pay, including pension rights, for (a) Mr. Mike Robinson, chairman of the Ministry of Defence Housing Trust, and (b) Mr. Mark Taylor, finance director of the Ministry of Defence Housing Trust.

Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what is (a) the minimum and (b) the maximum amounts of severance pay that Michael Robinson and Mark Taylor, employees of the housing trust, are entitled to under their contracts;

(2) if he will list the criteria which will be used to decide if the Chief Executive of the housing trust receives a performance related bonus in April 1995;

(3) how much the chief executive of the housing trust has received, or will receive in severance pay;

(4) how much Mark Taylor, an employee of the housing trust, has received or will be receiving in severance payment.

Mr. Soames [holding answers 8 and 9 March 1995]: In keeping with our determination to improve the management of service housing, my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State announced on 17 November 1994, Official Report , column 1 , our plans to establish a Defence Housing Executive. This organisation will manage the married quarters estate on a fully integrated basis an deliver important management improvements as sought under the earlier proposals for a housing trust.

The trust proposals had to be abandoned when it was concluded that the proposed new body could not properly be classified to the private sector, and would not therefore be able to gain access to private sector capital to fund its operations and improve the housing stock. Since the three senior managers of the embryo housing trust had originally been recruited and appointed by the Ministry of Defence, following open competition, for the specific purpose of setting up and managing the trust, they were consequently entitled to be released from, and paid for the unexpired portion of their contracts. All three agreed to stay on, however, to assist us in reorganising the way in which we manage our housing estate and preparing for the establishment of the Defence Housing Executive.

This work, to which their contribution has been invaluable, has progressed well, and the Defence Housing Executive is on course to take up its responsibilities from 1 April 1995. Meanwhile, and in addition to the Defence Housing Executive initiative, we are continuing to consider alternative possibilities for transferring the married quarters estate to the private sector.

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Once the Defence Housing Executive formally comes into being, my Department will no longer require the services of two of the senior managers, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Taylor. They will accordingly be made redundant on 31 March. In line with the provisions of their contracts, they will be entitled to compensation for the remainder of the three year period of their contracts, calculated at the annual rate of the first year's salary plus any bonus earned during the first year. Although the amounts of compensation have yet to be finalised, they are expected to be around £200,000 for Mr. Robinson and £170,000 for Mr. Taylor, depending on the final assessment of performance against milestones agreed with their line management. The basic pay for their period of service will be pensionable.

I am pleased to be able to announce that the third manager recruited to the trust, Mr. James, will stay on in the role of chief executive of the Defence Housing Executive. Under Mr. James's direction, the executive will bring together the disparate housing staffs, and will manage and maintain the married quarters estate as a single entity in accordance with best professional practice. Drawing on may of the plans originally developed for the housing trust, it will be able to maximise efficiencies and provide a better service to service personnel and their families.

Mr. Fatchett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out the total amount of fees paid to (a) estate agents and (b) consultants in relation to the sale of surplus Ministry of Defence houses in the period 1 January 1993 to 31 December 1994.

Mr. Soames [holding answer 14 March 1995]: Although this information is not available in the precise form requested, fees paid to estate agents and consultants in support of the land and buildings disposal programme total £7.27 million for the period in question. These fees cover the cost of advice on planning, highways and other matters, and help to ensure that the best return for the taxpayer is obtained.

Bilateral Cost-sharing Agreement

Mr. Livingstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 2 February, Official Report , column 858 , what works under the bilateral cost-sharing agreement are being carried out at each of the named locations; how much money was owed by the United States Government under this agreement on (a) 31 March 1992 and (b) 31 March 1993; what percentage of the annual expenditure under this agreement this figure represented on both dates, excluding administration costs; and which agency is responsible for carrying out the works and for collecting the debts under this arrangement.

Mr. Soames: Works being carried out at the locations named in my previous answer cover operation and maintenance, minor and major projects. Bills with the US Government for payment amounted to £12, 200,00 on 31 March 1992 and £7,040,000 on 31 March 1993 representing 13.5 per cent. and 8.7 per cent. respectively of the annual expenditure on US works under the agreement. The Ministry of Defence, defence works services--United States forces--is responsible for carrying out work under the cost-sharing agreement, and for managing the associated financial arrangements.

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TREASURY

European Monetary Institute

Mr. Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the percentage and numerical breakdown by nationality of the employees of the European Monetary Institute.

Mr. Nelson: The information requested as at 9 March 1995 is as follows:


Distribution of EMI appointments by nationality 

Nationality |Number     |Per cent.              

------------------------------------------------

Austrian    |5          |3.2                    

Belgian     |9          |5.8                    

British     |29         |18.8                   

Danish      |4          |2.6                    

Dutch       |9          |5.8                    

Finish      |1          |0.6                    

French      |15         |9.7                    

German      |51         |33.1                   

Greek       |2          |1.3                    

Irish       |11         |7.1                    

Italian     |9          |5.8                    

Luxembourg  |0          |0                      

Portuguese  |0          |0                      

Spanish     |8          |5.2                    

Swedish     |1          |0.6                    

                                                

Total       |154                                

Note:                                           

Percentages do not sum to 100 per cent. because 

of rounding.

Exchange Rate Policy

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what was the percentage change in nominal

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exchange rate between February 1993 and January 1994; and what were the policy considerations underlying this;

(2) what priority he attaches when he increases interest rates to (a) defending the exchange rate and (b) controlling inflation; and if he will make a statement on the connection between the two processes.

Mr. Nelson: Interest rates are set to deliver low inflation. Since changes in interest rates influence inflation with a lag, interest rate decisions are based on an assessment of the prospects for underlying inflation in one to two years' time. This assessment is based on a wide range of information including movements in the exchange rate. While the Government recognise the value of exchange rate stability, they do not have a target for the exchange rate. Figures for the nominal exchange rate are published by the Central Statistical Office in table 7.1A of "Financial Statistics", a copy of which is in the Library.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of the change in the exchange rate between February 1993 and January 1994 on the competitiveness of British manufactured goods at home and overseas.

Mr. Nelson: An assessment of developments in trade and the balance of payments, including competitiveness, was published in chapter 3 of the November 1994 "Financial Statement and Budget Report". This took full account of changes in the level of the exchange rate.

Barings

Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation will be affected by developments at Barings.

Mr. Nelson: That is a matter for them, but from what the two institutions have told my officials, neither currently believes that it will be affected by developments at Barings.

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