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Construction Contract
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the construction contract at Coulport and the role of Tarmac in respect of that contract. [19790]
Mr. Arbuthnot: A number of major construction contracts were placed in the 1980s to prepare the Royal Naval armament depot, Coulport, Scotland for the introduction into service of the Trident strategic weapon system. Two large contracts were awarded to Tarmac Construction Limited as main contractor. One was for the provision of access roads and dockside weapon handling
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facilities. The other, for which a final price remains to be agreed, was for warhead and missile storage facilities and warhead processing arrangements.
Military Equipment Sales (Argentina)
Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if military equipment made in the United Kingdom was sold to Argentina between May 1979 and May 1982. [18581]
Mr. Arbuthnot: Details of arms sales to Argentina since 1976 were given to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee in November 1982. A copy of this--HC31-i--is available in the Library of the House. These figures indicate that, in fulfilment of contracts signed before 1979, two Lynx anti-submarine helicopters were delivered to Argentina in 1979, one type 42 destroyer was commissioned in November 1980 and some Sea Dart missiles were delivered up to 1981.
Nuclear-powered Vessels
Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the decommissioned nuclear-powered vessels in the ownership of his Department, giving the location of each and the cost of any work undertaken on each vessel since decommissioning; and what are his plans for the disposal of these vessels. [19510]
Mr. Arbuthnot: The location of each nuclear-powered submarine that has left service is as follows, with the approximate costs, where available, of undertaking the defuelling, de-equipping and lay-up preparation--DDLP. In addition to DDLP costs, the average annual maintenance cost of storing a decommissioned nuclear-powered submarine afloat is some £50,000. A docking of each submarine is also carried out every 10 years at an approximate cost of £3 million per submarine. So far, only Dreadnought has undergone a 10-yearly docking. The policy for final disposal is still under consideration.
| Submarine | Location | DDLP cost £ million |
|---|---|---|
| HMS Dreadnought | Rosyth | (4)-- |
| HMS Warspite | Devonport | 11.3 |
| HMS Churchill | Rosyth | 11.2 |
| HMS Conqueror | Devonport | 10.6 |
| HMS Swiftsure | Rosyth | 11.5 |
| HMS Courageous | Devonport | 10.8 |
| HMS Revenge | Rosyth | 18.7 |
| HMS Valiant | Devonport | (5)-- |
| HMS Resolution | Rosyth | (5)-- |
| HMS Renown | Rosyth | (5)-- |
(4) It is not possible to provide costs of the decommissioning of HMS Dreadnought, which was the first nuclear submarine to be withdrawn from service in 1982; the information, insofar as it may be available, could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
(5) HMS Valiant, HMS Resolution and HMS Renown have not yet completed their DDLP.
Atomic Weapons Test Programme (Australasia)
Mr. Churchill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much compensation has been paid since 1966 to the Australian Government or nationals by Her Majesty's Government in respect of claims by or on
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behalf of persons who suffered death or injury as a consequence of the United Kingdom's atomic weapons test programme in Australasia in the 1950s. [18880]
Mr. Soames [holding answer 4 March 1996]: As announced to the House on 10 December 1993, Official Report, column 421, the Government agreed to make an ex gratia payment of £20 million to the Federal Government of Australia as a contribution to the cost of the further clean-up of the Maralinga site. A copy of the note giving effect to this agreement was placed in the Library of the House. The note also records that the Government of Australia indemnified the Government of the UK against claims from Australian nationals or residents. We understand, however, that since then the Australian Government have paid no compensation to anyone claiming to have been injured by radiation from the British nuclear test programme.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Welsh Grand Committee
Mr. Hain: To ask the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing the House of Commons Commission what estimate he has made of the annual cost of the proposed reforms of the Welsh Grand Committee. [18467]
Mr. Beith [holding answer 4 March 1996]: On the assumption that the Welsh Grand Committee meets four times in Wales during the financial year 1996-97, an estimate of £36,000 is forecast. This estimate includes travel, accommodation, communications, security and additional staff costs; but excludes any additional costs incurred by Government Departments. Full details will be given, in due course, in the next sessional return.
Deregulation Committee
Mr. Steen: To ask the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing the House of Commons Commission what is the total estimated cost of maintaining the Deregulation Committee, broken down by office costs, staffing costs and printing costs.[18639]
Mr. Beith [holding answer 7 March 1996]: It is not possible to give a total estimated cost of maintaining the Deregulation Committee.
Currently the Committee has three full-time staff and three staff who also serve the European Legislation Committee. The Committee also receives assistance from the staff in the Committee Office providing general support for the work of Select Committees. Details of the staffing of the Committees are given in the sessional return. It is not possible to calculate office costs for individual Select Committees. The return for Session 1994-95 was published on 28 February as House of Commons Paper 132 of the current Session.
The cost of printing the reports of the Committee was £2,070 in financial year 1994-95; and in the current year, to the end of December 1995, has been £29,337. The costs relate to publication of nine reports.
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Mr. Miller:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list all cases since 1987 where his Department has bought computer capacity from (a) other Departments and (b) the private sector, giving the value of each contract and the name of the private sector contactors. [19461]
Mr. Willetts:
My Department has not purchased any computer capacity, in the sense of buying time on someone else's computer, from other Government Departments or the private sector since 1987.
Mr. Clapham:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what role the deregulation unit had in the preparation of the recently published Health and Safety Commission leaflet entitled "Your rights when health and safety inspectors take enforcement action". [19575]
Mr. Freeman:
Officials from the Cabinet Office deregulation unit and the Health and Safety Executive worked together closely in drawing up this leaflet to ensure it followed the enforcement principles in the Deregulation and Contracting out Act 1994.
Mr. Clapham:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff are employed by the deregulation unit; what indicators are used to measure its performance; and what are its total annual manning costs. [19572]
Mr. Freeman:
Staffing numbers, staffing costs and performance measures were set out in the annual MINIS 95 return for the Department of Trade and Industry, as the unit was at that stage part of that Department. The return was published on 12 June 1995 and a copy placed in the Library of the House.
The staff complement of the deregulation unit at January 1996 was 43.5.
Mr. Sutcliffe:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) how many jobs have been lost in Her Majesty's Stationery Office in each year since 1990; [19776]
(3) what is the cost of redundancy payments within HMSO for each year since 1990; [19778]
(4) what estimate he has made of the change in the number of jobs in HMSO in 1996. [19791]
Mr. Freeman:
As these questions relate purely to operational matters, I have asked the chief executive of HMSO to reply direct to the hon. Member.
(2) what is the projected cost of redundancy payments for HMSO in 1996; [19777]
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