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Trident Programme
Sir Jim Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his latest estimate of the cost of the Trident programme; and if he will make a statement. [21359]
14 Mar 1996 : Column: 679
Mr. Portillo: The current estimate of the total project cost of the Trident programme, with all expenditure, including payments already made, brought up to current prices and the exchange rate assumed in the long term costing of the defence programme is £12,153 million. If payments already made are expressed at the prices and exchange rates actually incurred, with future spend on constant bases, the equivalent estimate is now £9,926 million. Expenditure on the Trident programme to 31 October 1995 represented some 83 per cent. of the latter estimate.
The revised estimate of £12,153 million represents an increase in cash terms of £471 million. After allowing for the effects of inflation and exchange rate variations there is a real cost increase of £112 million, or less than 1 per cent. Despite this variation since last year, the programme continues to show an overall reduction in real terms on its original 1982 estimate. This reduction, including the savings resulting from the decision to process missiles at the United States facility at King's Bay Georgia now stands at some £3.4 billion.
The proportion of the estimate for work undertaken in the United Kingdom has increased from 71 per cent. to 72 per cent. reflecting the effects of the change in exchange rate, price base and volume changes in the year.
I am pleased to confirm that HMS Victorious, the second of the four planned Vanguard class submarines, entered service on time at the end of last year and is now operational. The remainder of the Trident submarine programme is also still on schedule. I am, as in previous years, sending to the Chairmen of the Public Accounts Committee and of the Select Committee on Defence a more detailed report on the programme. I am also placing a copy of this report in the Library of the House.
Dr. David Clark:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what policies he has introduced to increase the number of ethnic minorities in the armed forces. [20753]
Mr. Soames:
The services are committed to a range of measures to increase ethnic minority recruitment. These include increased use of recruiters from an ethnic minority background, better representation of ethnic minority service personnel in recruiting literature, special training for recruiters, production of brochures in ethnic minority languages to target parents, development of contacts with ethnic minority communities and advertising in the ethnic minority press and on local radio.
Each of the services' recruiting organisations has an officer responsible for making contact with ethnic minority organisations to ascertain the best approach to take to aid the recruitment of ethnic minorities.
In addition, we have appointed an independent consultant, the Office for Public Management, to undertake a review of existing service and civilian equal opportunities policies and employment initiatives for ethnic minority groups and recommend any improvements.
Dr. David Clark:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on recent
14 Mar 1996 : Column: 680
developments in respect of his Department's plans to enlarge the Otterburn training range. [20805]
Mr. Soames:
My Department's proposals are not to enlarge Otterburn training area, which lies largely within the Northumberland national park, but to provide additional infrastructure to accommodate essential AS90 and multiple-launch rocket system training. My officials have been in discussion with the Northumberland national park authority for over two years about these proposals, with the aim of achieving an acceptable balance between my Department's training requirements and environmental concerns. While much progress has been made in this direction, I was very disappointed to learn that, at its meeting on 11 March, the national park authority resolved to object to my Department's proposals unless further scheme changes and environmental balancing measures were forthcoming. This is the first occasion that the national park authority has made its position expressly clear about each individual element of the scheme and accompanying balancing package.
It is difficult to see how these further measures could be accommodated, given that my Department's proposals represent the minimum infrastructure requirements for AS90-MLRS training.
My officials are, nevertheless, now considering whether it will be possible to meet the further concerns which have now been expressed by the national park authority, and it is my intention that a statement of my Department's position should be prepared for submission to the policy and resources committee of Northumberland county council when it meets on 25 April, prior to final determination by the full county council on 15 May 1996.
Mr. Jamieson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many children who received support through the service boarding scheme attend (a) Finsborough school, Suffolk, (b) Quantock school, Somerset, (c) Rodney school, Nottingham and (d) Lime House school, Cumbria; and how much each school received in each of years (i) 1992-93, (ii) 1993-94, (iii) 1994-95 and (iv) 1995-96. [20793]
Mr. Soames:
In the case of Quantock school, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 December 1995, Official Report, column 478.
As at June 1995 the number of children who received support through the service boarding school allowance scheme, attending the other three schools in question, were:
14 Mar 1996 : Column: 681
Dr. David Clark:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many incidents of racism have been investigated by his Department in each of the last five years; [20754]
Mr. Soames:
The armed forces are fully integrated, non-discriminatory organisations, subject to the Race Relations Act 1976. It has been made clear throughout the services that racial abuse or discrimination of any sort will not be tolerated.
The three services monitor complaints involving a racial element; details of numbers of recorded cases are:
The information on how much each school has received during the last four academic years is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Finsborough School: 123
Rodney School: 26
Lime House School: 90
(2) what measures his Department uses to monitor racism in the armed forces. [20804]
| Number of cases | Number of cases substantiated | |
|---|---|---|
| Army | ||
| 1990 | 3 | Nil |
| 1991 | 4 | 1 |
| 1992 | 7 | 3 |
| 1993 | 5 | 3 |
| 1994 | 4 | Nil |
| 1995 | (1)6 | -- |
| 1996 | (1)1 | -- |
| Royal Air Force | ||
| 1990 | 0 | -- |
| 1991 | 2 | Nil |
| 1992 | 3 | NIl |
| 1993 | 2 | 1 |
| 1994 | 1 | Nil |
| 1995 | 3 | 1 |
(1) Four under investigation in 1995 and 1 in 1996.
As for civilian staff within the Department, the information requested is not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Departmental Equipment and Furniture
Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the cost and number of items of equipment and furniture that have been stolen or are otherwise unaccounted for from the former Department for Education and its agencies in each of the past five years, listing by name any such items valued at £5,000 or more, and showing information technology material separately. [19413]
Mr. Robin Squire: The following table details the cost and number of items of equipment which were recorded as stolen or unaccounted for during each financial year from 1991-92 to 1995-96. Of the items recorded during this period, only one falls into the valuation category of £5,000 or more. This is a dispatch van, stolen in January 1996 and not yet recovered.
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| Number of items | Item(s) valued at £5,000 and over | Total value (£) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | |||
| Furniture | 0 | ||
| IT equipment | 0 | ||
| Other equipment | 0 | ||
| Totals 1991-92 | n/k | 0.00 | |
| 1992-93 | |||
| Furniture | 0 | ||
| IT equipment | 0 | ||
| Other equipment | 0 | ||
| Total 1992-93 | n/k | 0.00 | |
| 1993-94 | |||
| Furniture | 0 | ||
| IT equipment | 6 | n/a | 8,000.00 |
| Other equipment | 0 | ||
| Total 1993-94 | 6 | 8,000.00 | |
| 1994-95 | |||
| Furniture | 0 | ||
| IT equipment | 21 | n/a | 20,700.00 |
| Other equipment | 0 | ||
| Total 1994-95 | 21 | 20,700.00 | |
| 1995-96 (to date): | |||
| Furniture | 0 | ||
| IT equipment | 19 | 23,400.00 | |
| Other equipment | 1 | Despatch van | 8,000.00 |
| Total 1995-96 | 20 | 31,400.00 | |
| Total for the period | 47 | 60,100.00 |
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