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Government Employees (Ethnic Monitoring)
Mr. Vaz:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on the availability of records which monitor the number of ethnic minorities in Government offices; and what plans he has to publish the breakdown of Government employees by race and gender. [78121]
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Mr. Kilfoyle:
Information on ethnic origin is collected through voluntary surveys in Departments and agencies. The information is treated in confidence, and to protect the privacy of individual staff in any statistical table, numbers relating to fewer than five people are not disclosed, though this policy is under review.
Information about the ethnic origin and gender of employees is submitted quarterly by Departments and agencies to Mandate, the Cabinet Office's database of civil service personnel. Aggregate information about ethnic origin and gender is collected annually from those Departments and agencies who do not currently provide Mandate records. A service-wide analysis at 1 April each year is published in "Equal Opportunities in the Civil Service Data Summary". The information for 1998 was published in February 1999. We plan to publish the 1999 Data Summary towards the end of the year.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the special advisers who have left their posts since 1 January 1998, giving in each case (a) the reasons and (b) the name of their successor. [78257]
Mr. Kilfoyle:
Listed are the names of the Special Advisers who have left the Civil Service either as a result of resignation or through having their contracts terminated as a result of ministerial changes. The names of their successors are in brackets where appropriate:
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John Adams
Wendy Alexander (Elsbeth Johnson)
Tim Allan (Lance Price)
Ruth Allen
Lisa Barclay
Tom Bentley
James Cornford
Jessica Crowe (David Mepham)
Kate Davies
Julian Eccles (Andy Burnham)
Tony Grayling
Daniel Harris (Dee Sullivan)
Liz Kendall
Cathy McGlynn
John McTernan
Marianne Morris
Nick Pearce (Sue Jackson)
Roz Preston
Huw Roberts
Norman Warner (Justin Russell)
Benjamin Wegg-Prosser
Damian Welfare
Charles Whelan.
Crown Prosecution Service
Mr. Chope: To ask the Attorney-General for what reason the Crown Prosecution Service did not meet the Government's target of producing an initial Year 2000 continuity plan by January; and for what reason it is not proposed to produce one until August. [78469]
The Attorney-General: From April 1999, the Crown Prosecution Service will be reorganised into 42 geographical CPS Areas. The reorganisation includes the appointment of 42 new Area Business Managers. The Crown Prosecution Service Year 2000 Project Board agreed that the production of Business Continuity Plans should await the appointment of the Area Business Managers as they will have a key role in the production, and operational ownership, of the Plans and business processes which the Plans must support.
August 1999 has been set as a date for the production of CPS Year 2000 Business Continuity Plans. This is an achievable target which takes account of the re-organising of the CPS in April and will enable Plans to be in place well in advance of the end of the year.
DEFENCE
RN Physiological Laboratory
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what experiments have been carried out at the Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory in the last 12 months; what animals were involved; and what was the purpose of the experiments. [65734]
Mr. Doug Henderson: This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Sir John Chisholm to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 24 March 1999:
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I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question about the former Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory (RNPL) which is now part of the Centre for Human Sciences (CHS) Sector of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). The Centre for Human Sciences is currently running a research programme for the Ministry of Defence to determine the pressure and time limits for the safe escape of Navy personnel from a sunken submarine. The programme is also looking at the best treatments to maximise the recovery of those injured whilst escaping.
Goats are being used as the experimental model for this programme because their physiological behaviour in these circumstances approximates very closely to that of humans. In addition, we already have a substantial database of behavioural information from experiments with goats, thus minimising the number of new experiments needed.
All proposed research work involving the use of animals is subjected to rigorous internal review. The animals are not immersed in water but are subjected to varying levels of atmospheric pressure whilst in a pressure chamber. They are continuously monitored during the experiment. The work is carried out strictly in accordance with the
requirements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 which is administered by the Home Office. During 1998, 124 procedures were carried out using goats (1 animal = 1 procedure; but note that individual animals may take part in several procedures).
In addition to the statutory controls already in place, the Ministry of Defence has established an independent committee to review arrangements for animal care at DERA sites carrying out work with animals and to advise on best practice. Its independent reports are made to the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence.
I hope the foregoing is helpful.
Falklands Flights
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effect the potential removal of the Lan Chile flight to and from the Falklands will have on the proposal to reduce Tristar flights to the islands. [77991]
Mr. Doug Henderson: We regret the Chilean Government's decision to ask Lan Chile to suspend flights to the Falklands and do not believe this to be justified. We hope the Lan Chile will continue to fly to the Falklands. The reduction in the number of RAF Tristar Airbridge flights to the Falkland Islands was one of a range of efficiency proposals identified by the Strategic Defence Review. It represents a rationalisation of the use of Tristar aircraft, following technical improvements that allow them to carry an increased payload. Final arrangements for the implementation of this measure are still under consideration.
Joint Training
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many joint training exercises were conducted by the Army with other countries in the past year; and which countries they were. [78119]
Mr. Doug Henderson: Seventeen training exercises have been conducted to date by the Army with other countries in the current financial year, involving personnel from the following countries:
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- Botswana
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Finland
- Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Italy
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- Jamaica
- Kenya
- Latvia
- Luxembourg
- Moldova
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Oman
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Spain
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- USA.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel were deployed on the jungle training exercises in Brunei carried out between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 1998. [76608]
Mr. Doug Henderson: The number of Royal Marine Command personnel deployed was 2,390 all ranks. In addition, 860 Gurkhas from the battalion in Burnei and 558 members of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces participated in the exercise.
TA Recruitment
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what targets were set for the Territorial Army recruitment activities held on Saturday 13 March; and what assessment he has made of their impact. [78226]
Mr. Doug Henderson: The aim of the Territorial Army National Open Day on 13 March was to reinforce the messages of the spring national marketing campaign at regional and local levels. This was part of the drive to meet the target for recruitment into the TA for the next financial year which is estimated at up to 10,000 new recruits. We are currently assessing the day's effectiveness and early indications are that it has been successful in increasing awareness of the TA.
TA Units (Wales)
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the Territorial Army units in Wales, indicating which are classed as being in (a) North Wales and (b) South Wales. [78116]
Mr. Doug Henderson [holding answer 22 March 1999]: All Territorial Army units in Wales (current and future) can be found in the publication "Modern Forces for the Modern World: A Territorial Army for the Future"--Volume 2, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. TA units in the towns listed have been classified as either South or North as follows:
(17) Aberystwyth is included in the list for South Wales because it is home to a University Officers' Training Corps which is affiliated to Cardiff University, and has a detachment of 203 Field Hospital, whose headquarters is in the South.
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