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Armed Forces (Deaths)
Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many 16 and 17 year-olds have died while on service and in training in the UK armed forces since 1982; and if he will list the causes of death in each case. [92492]
Mr. Doug Henderson: A total of 92 Service personnel who were aged 16 or 17 have died since 1 January 1982. Nearly half these deaths occurred off-duty, and the majority of these were as a result of traffic accidents. A summary of the information is as follows:
| Cause of death | Deaths |
|---|---|
| Battle wound or injury | |
| Direct result of action by or against organised enemy | 3 |
| Other battle casualties | 1 |
| Intentional inflicted non-battle casualties | |
| Assault | (2)1 |
| Self-inflicted | (3)9 |
| Accidental injuries | |
| Off duty | (4)42 |
| Schemes and exercises | 4 |
| All other training | 8 |
| On duty | 5 |
| Natural causes (diseases) | (5)19 |
| All deaths | 92 |
(2) This death arose from a fight off duty
(3) All self-inflicted deaths occurred off duty
(4) 35 of the deaths were as a result of RTAs
(5) Includes one death as a result of heart failure that is recorded as occurring on duty
26 Jul 1999 : Column: 52
Public Appointments
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many appointments to public bodies were made by his Department in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99, broken down by (i) gender and (ii) ethnicity; and if he will list the chairmen appointed to those bodies in those years, similarly broken down. [92517]
Mr. Spellar: The following number of appointments and reappointments were made to Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) for which my department is responsible:
- (a) 1 June 1997 to 31 May 1998: 37; (i) 32 male, five female; (ii) 37 white. This includes the following appointments of Chairmen: His Honour Judge Rogers (Advisory Committee on Conscientious Objectors), Mr. John Bridgeman (National Employers' Liaison Committee) and Mr. G. Richards (Oil and Pipelines Agency).
- (b) 1 June 1998 to 31 May 1999: 31; (i) 24 male, seven female; (ii) 31 white. This includes the following appointments of Chairmen: Sir John Cadogan (Defence Nuclear Safety Committee), Sir Michael Beetham (RAF Museum), Sir Barry Wilson (Royal Naval Museum) and Baroness Dean (Armed Forces Pay Review Body).
These figures include new appointments as well as reappointments.
Appointments to the technical Boards under the Defence Scientific Advisory Council are not included (they have previously been included in answers to similar questions). The Cabinet Office has recently agreed that, as these Boards are sub-Committees of the Council, they should not be classified as advisory NDPBs. Appointments to the Council itself are included.
Within the overriding principle of selection based on merit, MOD is committed to increasing diversity in appointments to its NDPBs and raising the representation of women, people from ethnic minority groups and disabled people in line with government-wide objectives. To this end, MOD publishes an annual Plan for Public Appointments and Equal Opportunities (the plan for 1999-2002 was published in "Quangos: Opening up Public Appointments") which sets objectives and targets.
Mr. Sanders:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the recruitment totals from 1990 to the present for each TA centre in Devon. [89182]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
I will write to the hon. Member and copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Steinberg:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British troops (a) are serving with NATO and (b) are involved in peacekeeping operations. [90983]
Mr. George Robertson:
Some 16,300 UK Service personnel are currently serving with NATO, either in support of NATO operations in Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia, or in Headquarters appointments. Just over 300 are deployed in support of the UN's peacekeeping operation in Cyprus.
26 Jul 1999 : Column: 53
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what were the dates of the recent visit to the United Kingdom of the Turkish Defence Minister; what was his itinerary; which Ministers and companies he met; and what portion of the cost of the visit was met by the United Kingdom Government. [92084]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
The Turkish Defence Minister visited the United Kingdom on 12-14 July. On 13 July, he held meetings with the Secretary of State for Defence, and visited Royal School of Artillery, Larkhill. On the evening of the 13th, the Under-Secretary of State for Defence held a dinner in his honour. On 14 July, he visited Flag Officer Sea Training and the Permanent Joint Headquarters. He met representatives of the following UK companies: Marconi Electronics Systems Ltd., Matra British Aerospace Dynamics UK, Alvis plc, GKN Westland Helicopters Ltd. and British Aerospace plc. The United Kingdom Government paid for the in-country costs of the Turkish Defence Minister; the Turkish ambassador held a private dinner on 12 July.
Mr. Boswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many United Kingdom service personnel have been killed in Bosnia in the last three years. [92214]
Mr. George Robertson
[holding answer 21 July 1999]: Since 1 January 1996, 23 United Kingdom Army personnel have died while serving in Bosnia. There were no deaths of Royal Navy and Royal Air Force personnel.
None of these deaths were the result of hostile action.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many United Kingdom military personnel have visited Turkey in each of the last three years; and in which capacities. [90441]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
Senior military personnel who have visited Turkey in the last three years are as follows: in 1997, the Commander in Chief Fleet; in 1998, the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, the new Commander in Chief Fleet, the Assistant Chief of the General Staff and Flag Officer Sea Training and in 1999, the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Chief of the Air Staff and the Judge Advocate General. There have also been high-level visits to UK forces deployed on Operation 'Northern Watch'. A full list of all military personnel who have visited Turkey is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list the religious faiths ministered to by chaplains in each of HM armed forces; if he will list for each faith (a) the number of chaplains at each rank and (b) the highest rank obtained by a chaplain since 1969; what bodies govern the promotion of chaplains; and when the rules governing armed service chaplains were last amended; [92932]
26 Jul 1999 : Column: 54
Mr. Doug Henderson:
I will write to my hon. Friend and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service men and women were reported absent without leave in 1998; and how many were not recovered. [92735]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
I will write to my hon. Friend and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 25 May 1999, Official Report, column 98, on firearms training, if he will list the schools where a combined cadet force gives pupils access to firearms training; how many firearms, of what calibre, are stored on school premises; and how many pupils are enrolled in training programmes each year. [92677]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
I will write to my hon. Friend and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many persons in each of the armed forces subscribe to or identify with each major religious faith according to personnel records. [92934]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
I will write to my hon. Friend and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) of 15 July 1999, Official Report, column 286, on weapons exports, from which section of the defence budget the costs are to be met; what is the size and timing of the expenditure involved; and by what means Parliament will be informed of the expenditure after it has been incurred. [92423]
Mr. George Robertson:
The costs will be met from Section J of Vote 1. The exact size and timing remains to be determined, but I refer my hon. Friend to the Minute laid before Parliament on 4 February 1999 which reported the estimated cost to be between £15 and £17 million. Once the gift has been made in full, it will be recorded in the Appropriation Account.
(2) if he will break down into budget heads the annual cost of the chaplaincy service for each of the armed forces. [92933]
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