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Parachute Regiment
2. Mr. Bob Russell (Colchester): When he will announce the location of the Parachute Regiment as a result of the strategic defence review. [65524]
The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. George Robertson): I hope to be able to announce the future location of the Parachute Regiment in the near future.
Mr. Russell: Does the Secretary of State accept that there is a lot of anxiety in the garrison towns of Colchester and Aldershot about where the Parachute Regiment will eventually be based, given that the strategic defence review proposed that 24 Air Mobile Brigade in Colchester should be brought together with the Parachute Regiment in Aldershot? Surely the time is long overdue for that anxiety to be put to one side. All the personnel, military and civilian, should know what is going on.
Mr. Robertson: The hon. Gentleman is right and we shall be able to do that shortly. I understand the concerns that he expresses on behalf of his constituents. He will be aware that a large number of moves--in the military as well as the geographical sense--were necessary in association with the creation of two new brigade
formations that arose from the strategic defence review. The issues are coming to a head and I hope to be able to make an announcement soon.
Mr. Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley): While my right hon. Friend is considering the future of the paras, will he also consider the future of the 101 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and ensure that we get correct answers in the House? Will he ask the National Audit Office to investigate the misleading financial information that has come out?
Mr. Robertson: I congratulate my hon. Friend on his tenacious approach to the decision that we put forward on the restructuring and modernisation of the Territorial Army. My hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces will have heard his words. All the decisions in the strategic defence review and the restructuring of the Territorial Army that was part of it were carefully considered in the wider context. The National Audit Office has a remit to look at all aspects of my Department, which it regularly does.
Mr. Gerald Howarth (Aldershot): The Secretary of State persists with the fiction that no decision has been made, but it is not good enough to tell the House that. Is he aware that the Aldershot News carries detailed information from documents provided by the military showing the advanced stage of the plans to move the Parachute Regiment and 5 Airborne Brigade from Aldershot to Colchester? It is not acceptable for the right hon. Gentleman to persist with the suggestion that no decision has been made, when the military has all the plans. May I remind him that the Defence Select Committee suggested that the Secretary of State, in making the decision--which appears to have been made, according to the reports--ought to give full justification for any move from Aldershot?
Mr. Robertson: May I make it absolutely clear to the hon. Gentleman that the decision has not been taken? Ministers in my Department make decisions, and the relevant decision has not been made. Recommendations may be circulating among those up the military structure, but at the top of the chain of command are Ministers of the Crown, and we will take the decision.
I understand that we have a friendly rivalry between the hon. Members representing the two garrison towns affected--the hon. Members for Aldershot (Mr. Howarth) and for Colchester (Mr. Russell)--and I can assure them that a wise and proper decision will be made. Aldershot is one of the four main Army garrison towns in the United Kingdom and the people there have always regarded themselves as a major part of the British Army. That will continue to be the case. Whatever the precise composition of the units at Aldershot, I do not reckon that there will be any great alteration to the numbers of people who are based there.
Although we have not made a decision about the Parachute Regiment's location, I can announce that the Joint Helicopter Command--which will be part and parcel of that decision--will be based at the Army's Land Command headquarters at Wilton in Wiltshire. The headquarters will form on 1 October this year and will be fully operational by 1 April next year. Some 12,000
service personnel and 350 helicopters will, in the first instance, come under the command of Air Vice-Marshal David Niven.
3. Mr. Chris Pond (Gravesham):
What measures he is taking to investigate the cause of health problems among Gulf war veterans. [65525]
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr. Doug Henderson):
My Department is supporting research into Gulf veterans' illnesses, which currently comprises two major epidemiological studies, a neuromuscular symptoms study, an independent review of research literature and a programme to investigate possible interactions between the medical countermeasures which were used during the 1990-91 Gulf conflict. Scientific research is, of course, only part of a wider programme of work by the MOD to address Gulf veterans' health concerns, which will continue for as long as it is needed.
Mr. Pond:
Will my hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to Nigel Thompson, a severely disabled Gulf war veteran, who was recently presented with an award by the Prime Minister and opposition leaders for outstanding achievement through his work for the Royal British Legion and other veterans of the conflict? Although the recent King's college research concluded that there was no such thing as Gulf war syndrome, those engaged in the conflict did suffer from a number of conditions which were associated with their participation. Will my hon. Friend examine ways in which those brave people can be compensated adequately for those conditions?
Mr. Henderson:
I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and I join him in commending the work of Nigel Thompson, a Gulf war veteran. I wish to reassure people such as Nigel, who served in the Gulf and may be ill, that we are doing everything that we can to get to the bottom of what happened in the Gulf, and to try to find out what illnesses people suffered from and the cause of them. We are trying to find out how we can prevent those illnesses from recurring, and we are trying to help those currently suffering, including those who may be entitled to compensation. Those who are suffering can receive war pensions, but we are continuing to assess whether there are any other payments for which they may claim. I reassure my hon. Friend and the House that if compensation should be paid, it will be paid.
Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham):
Is the Minister aware of the damage that is being done to the morale of the excellent and dedicated teams of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency by the continued uncertainty about their prospects? In the light of that concern, will the hon. Gentleman take this opportunity to give a definite date for the publication of firm proposals on the future of the Defence Diversification Agency and that of DERA?
Madam Speaker:
Order. The hon. Gentleman is totally out of order. We are moving on.
Defence Diversification Agency
4. Mr. Brian Jenkins (Tamworth): If he will make a statement on progress towards establishing a Defence Diversification Agency. [65527]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. John Spellar): As we foreshadowed in our November White Paper, the Defence Diversification Agency began work last month under its director designate, Joe Carr, fulfilling yet another Government manifesto commitment. Officials are currently discussing with the Cabinet Office the appropriate status of the Defence Diversification Council, which will assist in the strategic oversight of the agency's work.
Mr. Jenkins: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer, that information and that good news. Will the agency work with other groups, and in particular with the new regional development agencies? Will it be tasked with trying to regenerate areas that were formerly dependent on defence work, starting the long programme of regeneration that was so sorely neglected by the previous Government?
Mr. Spellar: We very much look forward to working with the regional development agencies, some of which have already started to be very active. Our work can dovetail with theirs, but they have a specific role and specific statutory duties while the agency will spread out the considerable body of scientific and technical knowledge that exists in Government laboratories to ensure that it is used much more widely in the commercial and industrial worlds, to the benefit of both working people and the economy.
Information Warfare
5. Mrs. Jacqui Lait (Beckenham): What steps are being taken to counter the threat of information warfare. [65528]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. John Spellar): As I explained to the hon. Lady in the Adjournment debate on information warfare on 4 November 1998, the Ministry of Defence has a wide range of measures in place to protect its systems from the threat of information warfare.
Mrs. Lait: If a 15-year-old can break an encryption code, is the Minister worried that the defence encryption codes could be equally easily broken? If a pilotless Tornado is run by software that could be written abroad and hence be open to malign interference, does that concern him? When can we expect the statement that I was promised in that Adjournment debate--a promise that was repeated by two civil servants a month later? How short is shortly?
Mr. Spellar: Very shortly. As I said in that Adjournment debate, the Government attach great importance to the protection of key information technology systems both in government and in the private sector, and we will very shortly announce new initiatives to enhance the defence of the critical national infrastructure against the risk of a disabling electronic attack.
We have several mechanisms for protecting information systems, one of which is restricting access. There are differences between the systems here and in other countries, and we have greater physical protections, so we cannot read across into this country from experiences abroad. We also undertake rigorous examination and checking of the software that is put in our equipment; and of course the Y2K problem is very much occupying the attention of our information technology people at this very moment.
Mr. Ken Maginnis (Fermanagh and South Tyrone):
On information warfare, but much closer to home, does the Minister consider that it would be a futile exercise to caution the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Minister with responsibility for security about their foolhardiness in disseminating operational information for political reasons? Does he recognise the fact that currently and, more especially, in the future, if the violence escalates once again, soldiers' lives will be jeopardised by those Ministers--his colleagues--making public statements about operational matters? Is not it about time that the two Ministers concerned stopped pandering to the IRA in order to keep the ceasefire going?
Mr. Spellar:
We certainly do not recognise that situation. I can reassure the hon. Gentleman and the House that no Ministers in the Government would ever jeopardise in any way the operations or the security of our forces.
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