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Ammunition

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to announce the contract for 81 mm mortar ammunition. [22541]

27 Mar 1996 : Column: 634

Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to place an order to supply the Army with 81 mm mortar ammunition; and if he will make a statement. [22977]

Mr. Arbuthnot: There are three separate tenders for 81 mm ammunition in progress. The high explosive and illuminating rounds are subject to competitive tendering and a non-competitive contract for the smoke round is presently being negotiated with Royal Ordnance. I expect the three contracts to be in place by the end of April.

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was his Department's total expenditure on explosives, propellants, and related ammunition and products over the last five years; and what proportion of this was procured from (a) Royal Ordnance and (b) overseas sources. [22589]

Mr. Arbuthnot: I will write to the hon. Member.

Al-Yamamah Deal

Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the Al-Yamamah deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia included electric shock batons. [22708]

Mr. Arbuthnot: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 17 January 1995, Official Report, column 452.

Navy Accommodation

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the (a) officer and (b) other rank accommodation for each individual (i) barracks, (ii) airfield, (iii) shore naval base and (iv) Royal Marine base in Scotland. [22713]

Mr. Soames [holding answer 25 March 1996]: Single living accommodation at sites in Scotland is shown in the following table:

	Officers	ORS
RN Shore Establishments
HMS Gannet, Prestwick	41	263
HMS Neptune, Helensburgh	228	2,109
HMS Caledonia, Prestwick	28	487
RM Establishments
RM Condor, Arbroath	58	980
RM Reserve Scotland: main location	12	159
Glasgow, with detachments at Greenock, Dundee and Edinburgh
In addition accommodation is available at the Royal Naval Armament Depot, Coulport and the Clyde Submarine Base, Faslane
Army Barracks
Redford Infantry Barracks, Edinburgh	23	412
Dreghorn Barracks, Edinburgh	44	606
Fort George, Inverness	26	453
Barry Buddon, Training Camp, Dundee	32	475
RAF Stations
RAF Buchan, Grampian	60	264
RAG Kinloss, Grampian	112	787
RAF Leuchars, Fife	142	845
RAF Lossiemouth, Grampian	101	1,053
RAF Macrihanish, Strathclyde	0	103
RAF Saxa Vord, Shetland	14	137
RAF Stornaway, Western Isles	0	4
RAF Turnhouse, Lothian	34	80
RAF Edzell, Grampian	7	(12)128

(12) Plus 15 suites available for overspill.

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Cyprus

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the recent shooting incident that took place in Limassol, Cyprus that involved a British soldier in a local bar. [22883]

Mr. Soames: The recent shooting of a service man in Limassol is currently under investigation by the Republic of Cyprus police and service police. I cannot, therefore, comment at this stage.

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what action is to be taken by his Department to seek to improve the general behaviour of British military personnel based in Cyprus when they are off duty with special reference to visiting resorts on the island of Cyprus. [22881]

Mr. Soames: My Department attaches great importance to ensuring that the very good relations which exist between service personnel in Cyprus and the local population are maintained. All service personnel are briefed on the importance of this on arrival and the message is regularly reinforced.

If difficulties do arise firm measures are taken. Specific areas or individual premises are placed out of bounds from time to time. For example, the area of Ayia Napa remains out of bounds in the wake of the death of Louise Jensen in September 1994, and the tourist "strip" in Limassol and Larnaca are subject to a 1 am curfew for service personnel and dependants. The need to increase or reduce the out of bounds area is kept under constant review. Infringement of the rules is a punishable offence resulting in stiff penalties for the individual, ranging from fines, through loss of rank, to being sent home.

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the number of British military personnel who have been charged with being drunk and disorderly in Cyprus in each of the last three years. [22882]

Mr. Soames: This information is not held centrally and be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Contracts

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidelines are currently in force in his Department and its executive agencies relating to competitive tendering and the use of single negotiated tenders; on what grounds single negotiated tenders can be used; and what procedures are in place within his Department to ensure that the use of single negotiated tenders in competitive tendering processes is justified in all cases. [22853]

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Mr. Arbuthnot: My Department has a number of formal internal guidance documents which detail the procedures to be followed on all aspects of defence contracting, including the selection of the procurement route most likely to produce best value for money. These are supplemented where necessary by occasional memoranda on developments in best practice or updated guidance on specific aspects. A process of delegated authorities constrains the selection of non-competitiveness procurement strategies to instances where the justification for these has been rigorously examined and approval obtained from senior staff, including Ministers in high-value cases. Arguments that may be considered persuasive in support of a non-competitive procurement strategy are the absence of user rights on design information, technical or commercial risk or operational urgency. While the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency and the Meteorological Office are responsible for the placing and administration of their own contracts, they none the less receive copies of MOD procurement guidance and their procedures are consistent with the description given.

Export Applications

Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department has advised companies since 1987 on ways to alter descriptions of goods on export applications to ensure that licences are granted, when previous applications for export or transhipment licences for the same goods have been refused. [22971]

Mr. Arbuthnot: I know of no instance where my Department has acted improperly in this manner.

Courts Martial

Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Army and Air Force court martial appeals reached, and were decided by, the Court of Appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice in 1995; and when reports of these appeals will be publicly available. [23017]

Mr. Soames: Seven Army and three RAF court martial appeals were heard in 1995 by the Court-Martial Appeal Court, the members of which are civilian judges of the Court of Appeal. Copies of the judgments should now be available from the Court-Martial Appeal Court office.

Scott Inquiry

Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to paragraphs D1.27 and D.1.28 of the Scott report, if he will list those matters relating to the work of his Department since 1979 classified as matters about which successive Administrations have refused to answer.[17419]

Mr. Arbuthnot [holding answer 26 February 1996]: Matters about which successive administrations had refused to answer questions was last set out in a memorandum by the Principal Clerk to the Table Office in 1972--appendix 9 to the report of the Select Committee on Parliamentary Questions, July 1972 HC 393. As far as I am aware, there has been no such classification since 1979.

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The present Government's policy is to be as open as possible with Parliament, withholding information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest, which is decided in accordance with parliamentary convention, the law and any relevant Government code of practice.

Military Training

Mr. Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors underlay the decisions to provide United Kingdom military training assistance to (a) Indonesia, (b) Guatemala and (c) Sudan between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 1995. [22696]

Mr. Soames [holding answer 26 March 1996]: The military training assistance provided to Indonesia, Guatemala and Sudan between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 1995 was in support of defence and wider foreign policy aims.

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