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Ethnic Minorities

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of employees in his private office are (a) of Asian origin and (b) of Afro-Caribbean origin. [8964]

Mr. Spellar: Data on the ethnic origin of civilian staff are collected on a self declaration, confidential basis. Under my Department's code of practice on ethnicity data relating to civilian staff, we do not give information if numbers in statistical summaries are so small that it would be easy to identify the individuals concerned.

The number of staff in private office who have declared themselves as of Asian origin is fewer than five and is not therefore given. The number of staff who have declared themselves as of Afro-Caribbean origin is five which is 10 per cent. of the current total numbers of civilian and service staff.

Hawk Aircraft (Indonesia)

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he undertook with (a) the Foreign Secretary and (b) the President of the Board of Trade before the decision was made to allow further sales of Hawk jets to Indonesia. [10366]

Mr. Spellar: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for Small Firms, Trade and Industry on 11 July 1997, Official Report, columns 646-47.

Services Museums

Mr. Colvin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list the services museums indicating the financial contribution to each from his Department in the latest year for which figures are available; [10753]

(2) what action he will take following the publication of the report "The Way Ahead" on services museums.[10751]

Mr. Spellar: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House. I shall also provide additional information on the funding and location of museums across all three services which, for completeness, should have been included in the Minister for the Armed Forces' answers to him of 29 July 1997, Official Report, columns 178-79.

Departmental Payroll

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list each of the functions relating to the payroll for which his Department is responsible, indicating the management systems purchased, all sub-contractors involved in the work, co-operative arrangements with other Departments and the costs of the systems and processes in the last year for which figures are available.[10739]

Mr. Spellar: Employees on the payroll of the Ministry of Defence are either civil servants or members of the armed forces.

31 Jul 1997 : Column: 468

Civil Service For civil servants the Pay and Personnel Agency carries out the following functions related to the department's payroll responsibilities. The associated management systems and costs are also shown.

Function	Management systems	Costs of the systems/processes in 1996-97 £ million
Civil Service non-industrial pay	On-line validation and error reporting--known as "OLIVER"	5.59
Civil Service industrial pay	The Defence Industrial Pay Systems (DIPS)	5.82
Pensions administration	Financial Information System--known as "FIS"	2.97
Expenses management and processing	Computerised payment and authorising of civilian travel--"COMPACT"	1.54
Personnel IT support	Civilian Personnel Management Information System--CIPMIS	0.62

There are no co-operative arrangements with other Departments although the agency does provide some payroll associated services to other Government Departments and agencies on a recoverable costs basis.

There is no sub-contractor involvement with the systems and processes associated with civilian payroll as the bulk are bespoke systems designed, maintained and operated in-house. However, the management system use for pensions administration is provided by Chessington Computer Services Ltd., which is contracted by the Cabinet Office under the central arrangements for the principal civil service pension scheme. Similarly the agency maintains a civilian staff personnel information system as a complementary service to the MOD and this uses a contractor--CAP Gemini--to provide IT operations and support.

Armed Forces For members of the armed forces, the Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency--AFPAA--formed on 1 April 1997, is responsible for the following tri-service payroll functions:

Payment of regular, reserve and volunteer reserve military personnel including associated allowances.

Payment of terminal grants, special capital payments and resettlement commutation.

Payment of family maintenance grants.

Pensions administration.

A number of mostly bespoke management systems provide the listed functions but a separate, commercial, package has been purchased to administer RAF reserves pay.

There are no co-operative arrangements with other Government Departments for armed forces payroll. However, normal administrative arrangements exist with external organisations such as DSS, CSA, HMIT and the Inland Revenue.

31 Jul 1997 : Column: 469

Sub-contractors who are employed by--AFPAA--and provide support to payroll systems are; QVF, Grist, CSS Trident, Lorien and Parity Solutions Ltd.

As military personnel administration and payroll functions utilise the same IT infrastructure and systems, it is not possible to identify separately those costs specifically attributable to payroll. However, indicative costs for providing payroll and pensions services to the armed forces are;

Navy £10.13 million

Army £11.69 million

RAF £9.81 million

AFPAA is currently engaged in the procurement of a partner from the private sector, through the private finance initiative, to deliver most of the agency's services. The contractor will be required to deliver a harmonised tri-service pay system by 1 April 2000."

HMS Tiger

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what type of Royal Navy vessels have carried the designation HMS Tiger; and what was the role of each vessel. [11959]

Mr. Spellar: There have been 12 ships of war built since the 15th century that have borne the name "Tiger".

Type	Built/commissioned
22 Gun ship	1546
Discovery vessel	1613
32 Gun ship	1647
48 Gun ship	1678
50 Gun ship	1743
60 Gun ship	1747
4 Gun ship	1794
12 Gun ship	1805
Sloop	1849
Destroyer	1900
Battlecruiser	1913
Cruiser	1942

Waste Minimisation

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement on existing targets set to minimise waste within his Department; [11560]

(2) what plans he has to introduce a waste minimisation strategy for his Department; [11559]

(3) if he will list the amount, and proportion, of paper recycled by his Department in each of the last five years.[11561]

Mr. Spellar: I will write to my hon. Friend and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Nuclear Weapons

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the nuclear accident response organisation was set up; and how many units within his Department report to it. [11828]

Mr. Spellar: A nuclear accident response capability has been in existence since the 1950s, when my Department began to use nuclear material. This capability

31 Jul 1997 : Column: 470

has been developed over time into what is now known as the MOD Nuclear Accident Response Organisation. This organisation would draw on skills from a range of units across the armed forces and the MOD.

Mr. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when his Department plans to hold the next exercise to test procedures for dealing with accidents involving nuclear weapons on British territory; where this exercise will be held; and what is the title of this exercise. [11947]

Mr. Spellar: The next exercise--Exercise Senator 97--to test procedures in the event of an accident involving nuclear weapons on British territory, will be held between 22 and 26 September 1997 in conjunction with the authorities in Lincolnshire. Details of the exercise will be sent in the normal way to the hon. Members in whose constituencies the exercise will occur.

Mr. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make public reports of exercises held to test his Department's procedures for dealing with an accident involving nuclear weapons on British territory. [11946]

Mr. Spellar: The reports of exercises held to test the Department's procedures for dealing with an accident involving nuclear weapons are classified or management in confidence documents. Making these reports public could affect the candour with which participants comment on experience and undermine the value of the exercises. We are considering, in consultation with all participating agencies, whether a summary of exercise activities should be publicly available on request.

Mr. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the members of the nuclear weapons safety committee, indicating the Government Departments and organisations they represent. [11948]

Mr. Spellar: The members of the nuclear weapon safety committee are as follows:

Professor Sir John Cadogan CBE FRSE HON FEng FRS (Chairman)

Professor R.J. Berry RD FRCP FRCR FFOM

Professor R.H. Clarke

Mr. H.J. Dunster CB

Dr. B. Edmondson

Dr. B.L. Eyre CBE FEng

Mr. D.C. Fakley OBE

Professor J. E. Field OBE FRS

Rear Admiral J. S. Grove CB OBE RN Retired

Sir John Hill FEng FRS

Mr. P.G.E.F. Jones CB

Dr. F.H. Panton CBE

Members are invited to serve on the committee in their own right as acknowledged experts in the nuclear field. As such, they do not represent any particular organisations or Government Departments. They are assisted by officials from my Department who also attend meetings as and when necessary.

Mr. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidelines for service personnel he has drawn up on how to fight fires involving nuclear weapons; when the latest version of these were issued; and how many versions have been issued since 1967. [11958]

31 Jul 1997 : Column: 471

Mr. Spellar: Instructions to service personnel on fighting fires involving nuclear weapons are contained in various service publications, which are updated as necessary. The key principles in these instructions are the same as the guidelines issued to civilian fire service personnel in the "local authority and emergency service information on nuclear weapon transport contingency plans"--the LAESI document a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library.

Mr. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many exercises have been held since January 1996 to test his Department's procedures for dealing with an accident involving nuclear weapons on British territory; what were the names of these exercises; and where and when they were held. [11884]

Mr. Spellar: The following medium and major nuclear weapon accident exercises have been held since January 1996:

Nuclear weapon accident exercises since January 1996

Date	Name	Location
February 1996	Running Fox	Hampshire
April 1996	(10)Standardisation	Wiltshire
May 1996	Senator 96	Northumberland
June 1996	Running Fox	Hampshire
September 1996	Bowline	Argyll and Bute
October 1996	(10)Standardisation	Oxfordshire
October 1996	(10)Standardisation	Suffolk
November 1996	(10)Standardisation	South Glamorgan
March 1997	(10)Standardisation	Norfolk
April 1997	(10)Standardisation	Wiltshire
June 1997	(10)Standardisation	West Yorkshire

(10) Standardisation exercises test the RAF immediate response force teams for the transportation of nuclear weapons.

Information regarding minor exercises, organised at unit level is not held centrally.

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