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Royal Defence Medical School

Mr. Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations have been made to him regarding the location of the royal defence medical school. [5567]

Mr. Soames: A number of representations have been received about the proposed transfer of the royal defence medical college from Millbank to HMS Dolphin.

Mr. Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he proposes to transfer the royal defence medical school to HMS Dolphin, Gosport. [5565]

Mr. Soames: The royal defence medical college will move from Millbank to HMS Dolphin at Gosport during 1997.

Mr. Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the future of the royal defence medical school; and if he will make a statement.[5566]

Mr. Soames: The royal defence medical college supervises the basic and higher professional training of all service medical officers, and all training for nurses and medical technicians. In order that the college may fulfil its wider role as the centre of excellence for military medicine, it is planned to relocate it at HMS Dolphin close to the tri-service hospital at Haslar.

The new health studies division of the college is already located at HMS Dolphin in temporary accommodation; it will expand and move into a purpose-built building next year. The remaining college facilities at Millbank, including postgraduate medical education, nurse, laboratory technician and operating department practitioner training, defence medical entomology and the library, will move to HMS Dolphin next year when accommodation becomes available.

Royal Army Medical Corps

Mr. Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to move the RAMC headquarters mess from its present site; and if he will make a statement. [5581]

Mr. Soames: The future location of the RAMC mess is currently being studied. No decision has yet been made.

Convicted Service Men (Cyprus)

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the case of the three British service men convicted in Cyprus of the manslaughter of a Danish tour guide. [5504]

26 Nov 1996 : Column: 200

Mr. Soames: The three British service men were tried and convicted in March this year by the Cypriot authorities for the abduction and manslaughter of Miss Jensen. The soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequently discharged from the Army as a result of their conviction.

Air Force Crosses

Mr. Mans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the criteria for the award of Air Force Crosses were changed; what were the previous criteria; and what are the new criteria. [6246]

Mr. Soames: Prior to 14 February 1994, the Air Force Cross was awarded to commissioned officers and warrant officers of the armed forces in recognition of acts of exceptional valour, courage or devotion to duty while flying, though not in active operations against the enemy. From that date, its award is reserved for acts of exceptional gallantry in the air not in the face of the enemy and, having subsumed the Air Force Medal, is available to all ranks. Devotion to duty while flying is now recognised by a meritorious award, either OBE or MBE, in the half-yearly honours lists.

Departmental Decisions (Appeals)

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those administrative decisions of his Department affecting (a) United Kingdom citizens and (b) non-citizens where there is no right of appeal. [6021]

Mr. Soames [holding answer 25 November 1996.]: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Kuwait

Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British service men are currently on active service in Kuwait; what duties they are performing; and if he will make a statement. [4561]

Mr. Soames: There are no UK military personnel on active service as such in Kuwait. However, there are currently 13 UK military personnel serving as military observers with the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait observation mission, UNIKOM. The function of the military observers is to monitor the UN demilitarised zone along the boundary between Iraq and Kuwait in support of UN Security Council resolution 687. In addition to these, there are 57 loan personnel in the British military mission providing training to the Kuwaiti armed forces.

Employment (contracts)

Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what level of employment in the defence industry in the United Kingdom is supported by MOD contracts; and if he will make a statement. [4562]

Mr. Arbuthnot: Estimates of UK employment dependent on my Department's expenditure appear in table 1.10 of "UK Defence Statistics 1996", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

26 Nov 1996 : Column: 201

Ex-service Personnel

Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many ex-service personnel are currently available for call-up in times of national emergency. [5713]

Mr. Soames: The strength of our regular reserves is shown in table 2.13 on page 43 of the 1996 edition of "United Kingdom Defence Statistics", a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.

Female Service Personnel

Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many female officers there were at 1 October 1991. [5710]

Mr. Soames: At 1 October 1991, there were 2,855 female officers in the armed forces.

Dr. Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 15 November, Official Report, column 373, if he will provide a breakdown by rank of the female officers in the armed forces at 1 October. [5711]

Mr. Soames: The information is given below in terms of Army equivalent ranks.

UK Regular Forces: Female Officers at 1 October 1996

	Royal Navy	Army	RAF	Total
Total	434	1,073	891	2,398
Brigadier	0	0	2	2
Colonel	3	10	2	15
Lieutenant Colonel	12	36	39	87
Major	54	213	162	429
Captain	268	471	470	1,209
Lieutenant/2nd Lieutenant	87	235	204	526
Officer Designate	10	108	12	130

There are no female officers above the rank of Brigadier.

Women

Ms Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to measure and evaluate the effect of his Department's policies on women. [5484]

Mr. Soames: My Department's policies which are most likely to impact on women are those related to its role as an employer of service and civilian personnel. Where appropriate, statistical and other forms of monitoring are continually undertaken to assess the effectiveness of such policies. This is part of a range of practical measures included within annual programmes of action, aimed at promoting equal opportunities for female civilian personnel, and women in the armed forces. In addition, my officials are currently preparing guidance for service and civilian policy staffs on appraising policy proposals for equal treatment based on guidance which was circulated at Cabinet level for Departments to adapt to their own circumstances.

Publicity

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the outturn figure for his Department's expenditure on publicity and promotions in 1995-96. [6138]

26 Nov 1996 : Column: 202

Mr. Soames: A breakdown of expenditure on publicity for 1995-96 has been published in the MOD performance report for 1995-96--Cm 3448, page 32--a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House. The figures now also include expenditure on the recruitment of tri-service reservists.

Gulf War

Mr. Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with his French counterpart concerning the use of organophosphate pesticides during the Gulf war. [4324]

Mr. Soames: My officials are in contact with the French on a variety of Gulf health issues including the use of organophosphate pesticides.

Unexploded Bombs

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide precise locations of the sites of unexploded world war two bombs in London. [4334]

Mr. Soames: The most precise information available to my Department on this subject was provided with my letter of 11 November to the hon. Member. A copy was also placed in the Library of the House.

Gulf War Syndrome

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 5 November, Official Report, columns 409-10, if he will make a statement of his Department's latest inquiries into Gulf war syndrome. [4480]

Mr. Soames: My Department continues to operate a medical assessment programme. As at 21 November, 875 people have been seen by the medical assessment programme. We continue to urge all Gulf veterans who believe they are ill as a result of their service to come forward for assessment. We shall shortly announce details of the research into the health problems of Gulf war veterans, recommended by the Medical Research Council.

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