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Eurofighter
29. Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his latest estimate of the sales of Eurofighter in the first five years of operation. [113717]
Mr. Hoon: I am pleased to say that the export prospects for Eurofighter are excellent. As my hon. Friend will be aware from the announcement made of 8 March, Greece has made a commitment to purchase 60 aircraft, with an option for a further 30. A number of other countries are showing interest in Eurofighter and I am sure that the Greek commitment represents the first of a number of opportunities for future sales of this excellent combat aircraft, bringing benefit to the UK defence industry, as well as those of our Eurofighter partners.
Invincible Replacements
30. Mr. Savidge: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in the Government's plans to procure replacements for the current Invincible class of aircraft carriers. [113718]
38. Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to procure replacements for the Invincible class of aircraft carriers. [113727]
20 Mar 2000 : Column: 424W
Mr. Hoon:
Competitive contracts, each potentially worth about £30 million, for the future aircraft carrier assessment phase were awarded on 23 November to BAe Land and Sea Systems, now BAE SYSTEMS, and Thomson-CSF Naval Combat Systems. The assessment phase will investigate options for carrier design and, by 2003, will deliver proposals for the demonstration and manufacture of the vessels. The carriers, which will be built in the United Kingdom at an estimated cost of £2 billion, are scheduled to enter service in 2012 and 2015.
31. Mr. Geraint Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans his Department has to increase the proportion of accredited training and education in the armed forces. [113719]
Mr. Spellar:
Civilian accreditation of military education and training is an important recruiting and retention issue for the armed forces. As such all three Services are working closely with a number of key accreditation and awarding bodies to increase the amount of civilian recognition given to military courses, leading to the award of academic, vocational and professional qualifications.
32. Mr. Dalyell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the actions of British forces defending (a) Serbs and (b) Albanian civilians in Kosovo. [113720]
Mr. Hoon:
The role of British forces in Kosovo is to provide a secure environment for all Kosovans, whatever their ethnic origin.
British forces, based in Multi-National Brigade (Centre), provide round-the-clock patrols, static guards, protection of churches, patriarchal sites and businesses, as well as checkpoints at permanent and varying locations.
British forces remain available to COMKFOR, to assist where the need is greatest.
33. Mr. Wilkinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the (a) payload, (b) range, (c) fuselage volume, (d) cost and (e) availability of the (i) Boeing C17 and (ii) Antonov 100-124 aircraft for the Royal Air Force's short-term strategic aircraft requirements. [113721]
Dr. Moonie:
On the basis of information publicly available, the C-17 has a maximum payload capability of 77 tonnes at the military limit of 2.25g, which it can carry an approximate range of 2,400 nautical miles, whereas the Anl24-100 has a maximum payload capability of 120 tonnes at the civil limit of 2.5g, which it can carry up to a range of 1,790 nautical miles.
The C-17 has a fuselage volume of 592m 3 , whereas the An124-100 has a fuselage volume of 1,270m 3 . I am withholding commercially sensitive details of costs and availability under Exemption 13 (third party's commercial confidences) of the Code of Practice on access to Government Information.
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34. Mr. David Heath:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent representations he has received seeking the payment of ex-gratia compensation to prisoners of war held in the far east during world war two. [113723]
Dr. Moonie:
Since the beginning of 1999, we have received three Parliamentary Questions relating to this subject and over 450 letters. These have come particularly from Members of Parliament, Ex-Service Organisations and former Far Eastern Prisoners of War and their families, the majority of which have been in response to the Royal British Legion campaign. My hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces also met officers of the Royal British Legion last year.
35. Mr. St. Aubyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the number of private sector firms invited to tender for the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) Life Extension Programme. [113724]
Dr. Moonie:
The CVR(T) Life Extension Programme was a single source procurement for which only Alvis Vehicles Ltd. were invited to tender. Since Alvis are the Design Authority for CVR(T) and hold the Intellectual Property Rights for much of the vehicle, the MOD could not issue information to a third party to have the vehicle redesigned. There was therefore no practicable alternative but to contract with Alvis. However, this covered only the design of the modifications and the conversion of the first 200 vehicles and a limited competition is being run between Alvis and the MOD's Army Base Repair Organisation to convert the remaining vehicles.
36. Mr. Corbyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list all support from the services sent to Mozambique to assist flood victims; and what was the income to his Department from leasing equipment and aircraft. [113725]
Mr. Hoon:
The Ministry of Defence has, at the request of the Department for International Development (DfID), provided four Puma helicopters with around 100 support personnel, and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort George with an additional five helicopters to Mozambique to assist in the international flood relief efforts.
The current estimate of the MOD's additional costs, which the DfID agreed to reimburse, is around £1.15 million for the four Puma aircraft and support personnel, which includes the cost of both deployment and recovery by civilian charter and RAF transport aircraft. The deployment of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort George is estimated at £1.4 million. It would be highly misleading to refer to this as income; the DfID will merely make good the additional costs the Ministry of Defence incurs in giving assistance.
37. Mrs. Fyfe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will discuss with the Secretary of State for
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International Development a plan for future provision of helicopters and other aircraft, as well as personnel, in cases of emergencies in countries overseas. [113726]
Mr. Hoon:
There are well-established procedures between the Department for International Development and the Ministry of Defence for calling on military support in response to emergencies in countries overseas. These procedures are reviewed as a matter of routine following every operation, and will involve discussions between both Departments at every level.
Mr. Pond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to improve leave entitlements for Service personnel. [113704]
Mr. Spellar:
As part of our "Policy for People" in the Strategic Defence Review we undertook to introduce a Common Annual Leave Allowance of 30 working days for all Service personnel. This was implemented in April 1999.
Additionally, we announced the introduction in July 1999 of post-operational tour leave, which is a guaranteed period of leave when personnel return from operational detachment.
We are now confident that the recently introduced measures are fully in keeping with the best standards in practice in either the public or private sector. None the less, we keep the position under review.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) single quarters and (b) married quarters there are at (i) RAF Halton and (ii) RAF High Wycombe; and how many of such quarters in each station are unoccupied. [114208]
Dr. Moonie
[holding answer 13 March 2000]: At RAF Halton there are currently 539 families quarters, of which 120 are unoccupied. Of these 80 are surplus for disposal and the remainder are awaiting incoming Service families or modernisation.
| Total capacity | Unoccupied | |
|---|---|---|
| RAF Halton | 2,553 | 1,193 |
| RAF High Wycombe | 641 | 184 |
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