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Defence Establishments, Shoeburyness
23. Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in the disposal and reorganisation of the defence establishments in Shoeburyness. [86553]
Mr. Spellar: The Old Ranges and Horseshoe Barracks are still being prepared for disposal. Formal marketing will commence shortly, with a view to completing the sale by the end of the year. Informal negotiations are currently underway with several interested parties.
With regard to the New Ranges, I am pleased to announce that, with effect from 16 June 1999, a new partnership contract has been agreed with the existing supplier, SERCO. Over the course of the next few weeks the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency and SERCO will be working together in order to move forward on exploiting the potential of the site, both for additional range activity and for diversification.
Macedonia
25. Mrs. Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British troops there are currently in Macedonia. [86555]
Mr. George Robertson: As of today, there were some 2,900 UK Service and civilian personnel in Macedonia.
European Defence Co-operation Initiative
27. Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement concerning closer defence co-operation between members of the European Union. [86557]
Mr. George Robertson:
I refer my hon. Friend to the oral answer I gave today to my hon. Friends the Members for Harlow (Mr. Rammell), The Wrekin (Mr. Bradley) and Vale of Glamorgan (Mr. Smith), Official Report, 21 June 1999, column 747.
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28. Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to ensure that soldiers in training are able to cope with the exercise regime without damaging their health. [86558]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
The good health and physical well-being of all Service personnel is a priority for my Department, and personnel undergoing training are no exception.
As far as soldiers are concerned, the Army Training and Recruiting Agency, which is responsible for the initial and skill training of soldiers and officer cadets, takes all possible steps to ensure that both new recruits and trainees are carefully shown how to avoid injury while training. This includes briefing before and after specific training exercises, and a carefully graded introduction to the training regime. The Agency conducts a careful risk assessment and takes steps to ensure that appropriately trained personnel are available at all times to monitor exercises and training to reduce potential risks to a minimum. The details of any injuries that are sustained are the subject of a continuous audit to try to prevent repetition.
29. Laura Moffatt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the Government intends to sign the memorandum of understanding with the UN in relation to peacekeeping and peace support operations. [86559]
Mr. George Robertson:
The Government intend shortly to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with the UN, which declares UK forces as potentially available for UN peacekeeping operations.
Mr. Gapes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the role of British forces in international peacekeeping and peace enforcement missions. [86538]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
The Strategic Defence Review identified that our less stable world will require more international peace support operations. The UK will play its full part in such international efforts, as we are in KFOR in Kosovo.
UK forces have particular experience and expertise in peace implementation missions such as IFOR and SFOR in Bosnia. Many of the enhancements to our military capability following the Strategic Defence Review will have a direct application in peace support operations.
33. Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he took part in regarding the shipment of MOX fuel to Japan. [86563]
Mr. Spellar:
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend, the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Smith) on 2 March 1999, Official Report, column 663 and the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy and Industry to my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) on the same day at column 692.
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Mr. Mitchell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the changes in Britain's defence requirements resulting from the defence pillar of the Maastricht treaty. [86539]
Mr. George Robertson:
The tasks which drive our force structure are more demanding than those currently envisaged under the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy. The MOD is committed to the further development of forces that are joint, modern, inter-operable, rapidly deployable and flexible enough to tackle a wide range of militarily demanding, potentially concurrent tasks.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will visit the British Aerospace, Dunsfold site, to discuss the Harrier programme. [86540]
Mr. Spellar:
On 7 January I met four Shop Stewards from BAe Dunsfold to discuss some of their concerns and hope to visit Dunsfold in due course.
Mr. Laurence Robertson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the size of the Army in terms of (a) front-line troops, (b) non-military personnel and (c) equipment. [86542]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
Under the plans announced as a result of the SDR, the regular Army will be strengthened by the creation of some 3,200 new posts. We are creating a sixth deployable brigade, a powerful new Air Assault Brigade, and we are strengthening our logistic support capability. New equipment entering service now and in the next few years will greatly improve our ability to conduct the hard hitting, mobile land operations of the future.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of Serb non-portable air defence capability remains unaffected by NATO activity; and what assessment he has made of the threat from such weapons to NATO low-flying capability. [86733]
Mr. George Robertson:
During Operation Allied Force, the threat posed to low-flying NATO aircraft from man-portable air defence systems has been significant. These systems have a capability from well below 100 feet to over 14,000 feet and from a quarter of a mile to over two miles. NATO has taken appropriate counter measures which have been successful.
Reports from NATO pilots indicate that around 100 man-portable SAMs were launched by the Serb military during the now suspended air campaign. Man-portable air defence systems, by their nature, are very difficult to track. We believe that a number of these systems were
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destroyed during attacks against Serb military locations, but we estimate that the vast majority probably survived.
Under the terms of the Military Technical Agreement (MTA), all MANPADS held by the Serb military should now have been withdrawn from Kosovo. The risk to NATO forces from MANPADS is currently assessed to be very low.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance has been issued to troops in the Balkan theatre on measures to be taken to protect them from spent depleted-uranium weaponry. [86359]
Mr. George Robertson:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Mr. Mackinlay) on 16 June 1999, Official Report, column 148.
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Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what were the monthly (a) maximum and minimum temperatures, (b) mean daily maximum and minimum temperatures, (c) rainfall and (d) hours of daily sunshine for the weather station of Southport (Greenbank) for (i) 1994, (ii) 1995, (iii) 1996 and (iv) 1997. [87165]
Mr. Spellar:
This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Meteorological Office. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Peter Ewins to Mrs. Claire Curtis-Thomas, dated 21 June 1999:
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I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence about weather data for the weather station at Southport (Greenbank). This matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Executive of The Met. Office.
The data you requested is given in the attached table.
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