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Pilots (Flying Hours)

Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the average number of hours flown by RAF fast jet pilots in each of the last three calendar years; and how many hours are funded for 1997. [16805]

Mr. Soames: The information requested is shown. Funded hours are calculated on the basis of financial years; total funded hours per pilot for 1996-97 are therefore given.

	Calendar year Funded in
Aircraft type	1994	1995	1996	1996-97
Harrier	203.25	210.89	212.18	232
Jaguar	225.53	201.21	189.89	222
Tornado F3	214.59	211.94	190.09	222
Tornado GR	224.36	222.35	212.93	222
Hawk: 100 Squadron only	n/a	n/a	291	280

The Hawk fleet is primarily used for fast jet pilot student training at RAF Valley. Hours flown by students and instructors are dependent on the length of the training programme. The figures shown above for Hawk refer only to 100 Squadron, which provides a target towing capability; data prior to 1996 are not readily available in the form requested and could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the average number of hours flown per annum by Royal Navy Sea Harrier pilots in each of the last three calendar years; and how many hours are funded for 1997. [16804]

Mr. Soames: The average annual number of hours flown per pilot by Royal Navy Sea Harrier pilots in each of the last three calendar years is as follows:
1994: 170 hours
1995: 160 hours
1996: 165 hours.

The funded level for financial year 1996-97 was 215 hours. The funded levels for 1997-98 have not yet been finalised.

Joint Service Command and Staff College

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his estimate of the cost of providing a joint service command and staff college at Shrivenham. [17056]

Mr. Soames: The estimated cost of contractor-provided permanent facilities and services for the joint service command and staff college at Shrivenham, as proposed by the Defence Management Consortium, is approximately £500 million--undiscounted and VAT inclusive--for a 30-year period. This covers provision of teaching and residential accommodation for some 650 students at a time--to meet a total annual throughput of over 2,000 students--facilities management and some academic support.

Cadets

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current level of funding for the air cadets. [17427]

26 Feb 1997 : Column: 255

Mr. Soames: The level of funding for the air cadet organisation for the financial year 1996-97 is £18.735 million.

Submarine Reactor Cores

Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been average annual running cost of transporting used submarine reactor cores over the past 10 years. [17635]

Mr. Arbuthnot: The average annual running cost to MOD of transporting used submarine reactor fuel, using used core transport packages prior to 1992, was approximately £200,000 per year. The average cost after that time is higher at approximately £780,000 per year. The cost increase is due both to the smaller capacity of our current fuel transport flasks, and an increase in reactor core movements.

New fuel transport flasks being constructed by British Nuclear Fuels, which are larger than the current design, will be introduced into service at the end of 1998.

Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress being made towards introducing the new core transport package flasks for the transport of submarine reactor cores. [17634]

Mr. Arbuthnot: I refer to the hon. Member to the answer I gave on the 6 June 1996, Official Report, columns 521-22, to the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell). Satisfactory progress is being made towards introducing the new used core transport package flasks for the transport of submarine reactor cores at the end of 1998.

26 Feb 1997 : Column: 256

Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the location of each of the used reactor cores from his Department's nuclear-powered submarines. [17636]

Mr. Arbuthnot: Currently, 45 used submarine reactor cores are held in long-term storage at BNF plc Sellafield and three are held in temporary storage--one each at Rosyth dockyard, Devonport dockyard and the naval reactor test establishment at Dounreay.

MOD policy is to remove all used submarine reactor cores to long-term storage at BNF plc Sellafield as soon as possible after defuel. The cores currently in temporary storage will be removed at the first available opportunity.

Departmental Contracts

Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the contracts awarded by his Department to (a) EDS, (b) Andersens, (c) BMI and (d) Capita and (e) Sema since 1992 and the broad function to be carried out by the contractor and the value of the contract in each case. [17611]

Mr. Arbuthnot: The table summarises the number of contracts recorded on my Department's headquarters contracts database for each of the companies and each of the years requested. Because of the way in which the information is recorded, this is shown by financial year ending 31 March, rather than calendar year. I am withholding under exemption 7 of the code of practice on access to government information details of individual contract values and, when there are only a few contracts, total values.

To list each contract individually and research even the broad function of each could be carried out only at disproportionate cost.

26 Feb 1997 : Column: 255

	Financial year
	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	(11)1996-97
EDS	58	66	72	47	31
Andersens	9	6	1	nil	2
BMI	nil	1	nil	nil	nil
Capita	nil	1	nil	6	nil
Sema	9	6	6	6	3

(11) To January.

The data do not include contracts placed by MOD agencies. I have asked chief executives to write to the hon. Member separately if they hold relevant information.

26 Feb 1997 : Column: 255

Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Alan Howarth, dated 26 February 1997:

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) to your question asking for a list of contracts awarded to EDS, Andersons, BMI, Capita and Sema since 1992 together with the function of the contractor and value of contract in each case.

I am afraid that it is not our practice to give details of individual contracts, either by function or value, as this information is commercially confidential but I list below the numbers of contracts placed by DERA with Anderson, Capita, EDS and Sema since 1992 and the approximate total value of the contracts for each company. DERA has placed no contracts with BMI since 1992.

26 Feb 1997 : Column: 256

Company	Number of contracts	Total value £ million
Anderson	2	0.2
Capita	6	0.2
EDS	412	39.0
Sema	126	8.0

I hope this is helpful.

Letter from J. C. R. Hunt to Mr. Alan Howarth, dated 26 February 1997:

I am replying to your Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about contracts awarded to EDS, Andersens, BMI, Capita and Sema since 1992, as this falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Executive of the Meteorological Office.

Of the companies you list the Meterological Office has, since 1992, awarded:-

(a) a software development contract to EDS Defence Ltd valued at £27K, VAT exclusive

26 Feb 1997 : Column: 257

(b) a contract for consultancy support for the introduction of a new Management Information System placed with Capita Recruitment, with a value of £72K, VAT exclusive.

I hope this answers your question.

Letter from Michael R. Pack to Mr. Alan Howarth, dated 26 February 1997:

1. You recently asked the Secretary of State for Defence a Parliamentary Question about contracts awarded by the Ministry of Defence to a number of commercial companies.

2. For the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office Defence Agency, the issues raised fall within the responsibilities delegated to the Chief Executive, Rear Admiral J P Clarke. In the normal course of events, Admiral Clarke would have replied to you personally but he is at present absent from the Office on official duty so I am replying on his behalf.

3. Before 31 March 1996, contracts were not let by the Hydrographic Office but by the appropriate contract branch within the Ministry of Defence. Since becoming a Trading fund on 1 April, however, we have let one small contract with EDS to provide training in a software package for the management of geographic data; and a more substantial contract to provide post design services for the document management and geographic management systems themselves. The former is complete; the latter ongoing.

5. As regards the value of the contracts I am sure you appreciate that such information is commercially sensitive.

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