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Frigates
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what humanitarian roles are being included in the staff target for the future escort planned to replace the Type 23 frigates. [80205]
Mr. Spellar: The Staff Target for the Future Surface Combatant, FSC, formerly the Future Escort, is due to be approved in Autumn 1999. It will be derived from the Concept of Operations which is currently being prepared and includes Peace Support and Humanitarian Operations as one of the vessels' Defence Missions.
Antonov 124-100s (Chartering)
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times the RAF has hired or leased Antonov 124-100s in each of the last 10 years. [80470]
Mr. Doug Henderson: The RAF has chartered an Antonov 124-100 on the following number of occasions.
- 1996--14
- 1997--10
- 1998--16.
Records are not held for any charter prior to 1996.
Centre for Defence Medicine
Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the members of the Committee which is considering the statement of requirement for a new Centre for Defence Medicine. [80568]
Mr. Doug Henderson: A project team comprising Service and civilian staff from my Department is responsible for drawing up a Statement of Requirement (SOR) for the Centre for Defence Medicine (CDM). An outline concept for the CDM has been completed and is being used as the basis for obtaining expressions of interest from NHS Hospital Trusts.
Defence Medical Services
Mr. Viggers:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what attitude surveys have been undertaken amongst
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medical staff in the Defence Medical Services concerning the retention of a tri-service core hospital; and what were the results. [80574]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
A survey of the options for future secondary care provision was carried out in July 1998 among Defence Medical Services (DMS) personnel serving at Defence Secondary Care Agency units in the UK and the DMS Training Centre. The survey was conducted by BMRB International and their findings were published in a report entitled "Views of Military Secondary Care. Report on a survey conducted for the Surgeon General" dated September 1998, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
Mr. Viggers:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what initiatives he has taken to recruit and retain staff in the Defence Medical Services; and what have been the results. [80570]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
A tri-Service recruitment campaign for regular nurses, General Medical Practitioners and consultants has been conducted over the last two months. In response, we have received inquiries from nearly 400 people, although it is too early to say how many will ultimately join the Defence Medical Services (DMS). Work is continuing on a range of other measures to improve recruitment and retention, as indicated by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence in his announcement on 14 December 1998, Official Report, columns 328-29, about the new strategy for the DMS. These measures include identifying the causes of overstretch and more effective ways of reducing it, harmonising different terms of service within the DMS and addressing concerns about the need to maintain military standards and ethos among DMS personnel working in MOD Hospital Units in NHS Hospitals.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the proportion of the arms and military equipment held by Yugoslavia which was acquired from (a) the United Kingdom and (b) other NATO member states. [80241]
Mr. George Robertson:
The Government are committed to both the EU arms embargo on Croatia and Bosnia and the UN embargo on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. We interpret these embargoes to include any items included on the Military List.
The Government's Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls, which was published on 25 March 1999, Official Report, columns 343-50, lists by country of destination the numbers of export licences issued in each equipment category and gives details of the military equipment for which licences were granted between 2 May and 31 December 1997. It also sets out the value of defence exports to each country between 1 January and 31 December 1997.
My Department does not routinely record details of arms transfers by other NATO members.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the origin of the hits received by the Government website section devoted
13 Apr 1999 : Column: 46
to Yugoslavia (a) before and (b) since it was translated into Serbo-Croat; and what plans he has to translate it into Albanian. [80239]
Mr. George Robertson:
We are not able to determine the precise level of usage of specific parts of the Ministry of Defence website, and cannot therefore give access figures for the joint MOD/FCO section on Kosovo. We can, however, identify the origin of accesses to the MOD website as a whole. Information in Serbian was first added to the section on Kosovo on 29 March. The daily figures for accesses, for the days immediately before and after that date, are as follows:
| Date | Daily accesses |
|---|---|
| 28 March 1999 | 86,523 |
| 30 March 1999 | 149,503 |
Accesses from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are currently running at about 1,000 per day, with a total of 17,129 having been recorded between 20 March and 8 April. About 400 accesses per day were recorded prior to the inclusion of Serbian-language information on 29 March, with about 50 per day recorded in the period 1-20 March.
A total of 1,820,204 accesses were recorded in March 1999, of which the most frequently accessing countries (both before and after the inclusion of Serbian-language information) were: the UK (approx. 24 per cent.); the US (approx. 22 per cent.); Canada (2.5 per cent.); Switzerland (1.8 per cent.); Germany (1.7 per cent.); Australia (1.3 per cent.); France (1 per cent.). These proportions are fairly consistent from month to month, although the exact number of accesses can vary considerably.
The translated pages are stored on an FCO web server and are measured using a different metric (page impressions rather than hits). They have received 3,300 page impressions in the last seven days. This translates, very approximately, to some 23,000 hits.
There are no plans at present to translate any pages into Albanian.
Mr. Viggers:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what capital expenditure was (a) incurred by his Department and (b) undertaken by NHS trusts as a result of contractual arrangements with his Department, in setting up the Department's hospital units. [80619]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given the Minister of State, Department of Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham), on 9 March 1999, Official Report, column 204.
Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the expected in-service date for the Hunt Class sonar upgrade; and what changes to the in-service date have taken place since the project's inception. [80204]
Mr. Spellar:
The in-service date for the Hunt Class Sonar 2193 is now 2003, with a 2 year fitting programme for the whole class. This is the first change to the ISD since the project's inception. The original in-service date was 2001.
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Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many existing Type 22 and Type 23 Frigates will be equipped with the Merlin ASW helicopter. [80206]
Mr. Spellar:
Type 23 Frigates are all designed to operate with Merlin helicopters. The number of ships which will be equipped with Merlin will, however, depend on the operational deployments of the individual vessels. Type 22 Frigates will not be equipped with Merlin helicopters.
Mr. Key:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the current role and future work of the Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Night Observation and Counter-surveillance Centre at Larkhill. [80017]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
The current role of the Army's Surveillance Target Acquisition, Night Observation and Counter-surveillance (STANOC) Centre at Larkhill is to provide a focus for STANOC disciplines and technology, to provide advice on equipment needs and development, on training and on doctrine. The Centre also provides operational support and advice as required, to the Field Army and Other Government Departments.
The STANOC Centre is currently the subject of a review to determine the most cost-efficient means by which STANOC needs can be delivered in the future. I will write again once the outcome of the review is known.
Mr. Viggers:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reason the Royal Hospital Haslar was not expanded to the number of beds specified in Defence Cost Study 15. [80569]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
The Royal Hospital Haslar was not expanded to the number of beds specified in Defence Cost Study 15 because activity levels in the Hospital have not warranted such an expansion and additional staff have not been available to increase local capacity and therefore throughput. In addition, NHS policy since the mid 1990s has increasingly been to promote large acute hospitals which can contain a critical mass of speciality and sub-speciality activity. The Royal Hospital Haslar falls outside this recommended scale.
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