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Mutual Defence Agreement
Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will update his answer of 8 March 1995, Official Report, column 253, on the number of United States personnel stationed in the United Kingdom and the number of United Kingdom personnel stationed in the United States and their locations. [12662]
Mr. Arbuthnot: There are now no US employees stationed in the UK under the terms of the 1958 agreement. Four US employees are in the UK as part of the Polaris sales agreement, as amended for Trident; they are located as follows:
Bristol: 3
Barrow: 1
Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia: 13
Kings Bay, Georgia: 1
New London, Connecticut: 1
Laurel, Maryland: 1
Dahlgren, Virginia: 1
Mr. Arbuthnot: Details of areas of research involving the Los Alamos National Laboratory are as follows:
Warhead electrical components and technologies
Energetic materials
Test monitoring
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Nuclear materials
Non-nuclear materials
Nuclear counter-terrorism technology
Facilities
Nuclear weapons engineering
Nuclear warhead physics
Computational technology
Laboratory plasma physics
Aircraft, missile and space system hardening
Manufacturing practices
Nuclear weapon accident response technology
Nuclear weapon code development
Nuclear weapon environment and damage effects
Mr. Arbuthnot: Such information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Research and Development
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the planned expenditure by his Department, its agencies and public bodies on all forms of support for defence-related research and development in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99; and if he will make a statement. [12777]
Mr. Arbuthnot: Information concerning expenditure on support for defence-related research and development is not held centrally and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost. However, under provisional plans, total departmental expenditure on actual research and development, for the years 1997-98 and 1998-99, is expected to be as follows:
| Expenditure (£ million) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Research | Development | Total research and development |
| 1997-98 | 549 | 1,687 | 2,236 |
| 1998-99 | 532 | 1,652 | 2,184 |
These data were published in the 1996 "Forward Look of Government-funded Science, Engineering and Technology", which also contains details of my Department's research and development activities.
Disciplinary Offences
Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many disciplinary offences involving (a) men and (b) women of each service of HM forces were dealt with by (i) court martial and (ii) commanding officers in each of the last two years. [13163]
Mr. Soames: The information requested is not available in the form requested. Central records of court martial convictions are maintained, but not of the individual offences brought before courts martial and acquittals. Information on the number of offences dealt with by commanding officers could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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| Service | 1995 | 1996 |
|---|---|---|
| Navy | ||
| Total | 78 | 51 |
| Service men | 77 | 48 |
| Service women | 1 | 3 |
| Army | ||
| Total | 399 | (42)292 |
| Service men | 389 | (42)285 |
| Service women | 5 | (42)3 |
| Civilian men | 2 | (42)2 |
| Civilian women | 3 | (42)2 |
| RAF | ||
| Total | 97 | 61 |
| Service men | 95 | 59 |
| Service women | 1 | 2 |
| Civilian women | 1 | -- |
(42) These figures cover the period 1 January 1996 to 1 September 1996.
Official Ministerial Visits
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list for each of the Ministers in his Department how many official ministerial visits they have undertaken since 1 January; and how many of these have been abroad. [9378]
Mr. Soames: All Ministers of this Department have made numerous visits to defence establishments and other organisations throughout the country; details of every ministerial visit are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, details of overseas visits are readily available, and the number for each Minister from 1 January 1996 to 13 December 1996 is:
Secretary of State: 31
Min (AF): 15
Min (DP): 7
USofs: 9
Note:
An overseas visit may include more than one country.
Smoking (Service Personnel)
Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the incidence of smoking-related diseases among service personnel and ex-service personnel; and how those figures compare with equivalent sections of the non-service population. [12408]
Mr. Soames: The information requested is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to discourage cigarette smoking among service personnel. [12410]
Mr. Soames: The Ministry of Defence does not encourage smoking within the armed forces; indeed the aim is to create a non-smoking working environment, insofar as this reflects the wished of staff. The dangers of
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smoking are emphasised in the services through lectures to recruits and trainee officers, and unit medical officers health education sessions. It is now a matter of policy for all medical officers to promote anti-smoking health advice, particularly at medical examination for new recruits and on an opportunistic basis for existing personnel. In addition, personnel have access to both service generated literature and Health Education Authority booklets on physical fitness in which the adverse effects of smoking are highlighted.
Duke of York (Helicopter Flight)
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 20 January, Official Report, column 452, on the flight path of the naval helicopter, if the head teacher and other senior staff at Cowarth Park school were informed beforehand of the visit of the naval helicopter. [12317]
Mr. Soames: Yes. The visit to Cowarth Park school had been prearranged with both school and local authority agencies, as is normal in such cases.
Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 20 January, Official Report, column 452, on the flight plan of the helicopter, if there was a departure from the sortie plan. [12315]
Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 20 January, Official Report, column 452, on the cost of the training flight, what is the estimated cost of keeping the naval helicopter airborne for one hour. [12318]
Mr. Soames: The cost of operating a RN Lynx MK3 helicopter for one hour, excluding overhead costs, is approximately £1,300.
Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 20 January, Official Report, column 452, on the flight plan of the helicopter, what type of helicopter was used in the training flight. [12314]
Mr. Soames: The helicopter used for this training flight was a RN Lynx MK 3.
Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 20 January, Official Report, column 452 on the flight path of the naval helicopter, what was the training purpose of the visit to Cowarth Park school. [12316]
Mr. Soames: The overall purpose of the sortie was to provide navigation training.
Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times in 1996 a naval helicopter (a) on a training sortie and (b) for any other reason picked up HRH the Duke of York from his home in Sunningdale. [13226]
Mr. Soames: The only occasion in 1996 when HRH the Duke of York was picked up by a Royal Navy helicopter from his home in Sunningdale was on 13 November.
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Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 20 January, Official Report, column 452, what was the role of the Duke of York in the helicopter training sortie on 13 November 1996. [13244]
Mr. Soames: The training sortie on 13 November 1996 included a prearranged visit to Cowarth Park school. The Duke of York was conveyed as a passenger during this leg of the overall sortie.
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