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MOD Accommodation
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many properties earmarked for naval officers have been built by his Department (a) in total and (b) in the Portsmouth area in each of the last four years; at what cost; and if he will make a statement. [118652]
Dr. Moonie: The Defence Housing Executive (DHE) is the MOD agency responsible for managing Service housing in England, Wales and Scotland and, as a Tri-Service organisation, it does not build properties specifically for any one Service.
53 officers' quarters were built in Putney between 1995 and 1997 at a cost of £4.6 million, a small majority of which are occupied by Naval officers. At Taranto Hill, Ilchester, 34 officers' quarters are in course of
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construction as part of a larger project, at an approximate cost of £2.7 million. The majority of occupants will be Naval officers based at RNAS Yeovilton.
Four Private Finance Initiative contracts have been placed by DHE covering requirements for new officers' accommodation for Lossiemouth, Shawbury, Glasgow (at Paisley) and Yeovilton, of which only those at Yeovilton will be mainly occupied by Naval officers. These PFI houses will not be owned by DHE and the cost will be paid through a monthly payment by DHE to the owners for the properties required. Payment will be dependent on the quality of service provided.
Two further PFI contracts are planned, one to cover accommodation requirements at Waddington and one to cover requirements at Bristol, Bath, Shrivenham and Portsmouth, of which the 70 houses for Portsmouth will be mainly occupied by Naval officers' families. Because of land ownership issues, some 15 of the 70 may be built with MOD capital and be MOD owned. Firm costs are not yet available and are likely to be commercially sensitive.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many naval officers in the greater Portsmouth area are living in privately rented accommodation and awaiting
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MOD accommodation; how many of them have been waiting for more than six months; and if he will make a statement. [118655]
Dr. Moonie: 106 naval officers and their families are presently accommodated in non-Service family quarters in the greater Portsmouth area. Forty-two have been resident over six months. New applicants are allocated Service accommodation as it becomes available so that mid tour moves should not be necessary.
There are no naval officers being provided with single rented accommodation in the greater Portsmouth area at the present time.
Ferry Charter Costs
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent on charter costs for ferries to transport military assets in each of the last five years; on how many occasions and to what locations equipment was moved; and if he will make a statement. [119165]
Dr. Moonie: The information requested is not available on a consistent basis prior to Financial Year (FY) 1996-97. The following table shows the number of ships, excluding tankers, chartered from FY 1996-97 to FY 1999-2000 to transport military assets.
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| Ser. | FY | Number of ships | Annual cost (£000) | Task/Destinations (1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1996-97 | (2)49 | 18,040 | (a) Operations (11)--Split |
| (b) Exercises (29)--USA, Spain, Norway, Germany, Turkey | ||||
| (c) Resupply (13)--Antwerp and Zeebrugge (for BAOR, Germany), Gibraltar, Cyprus, Kenya, Falkland Islands (inter-island) | ||||
| (d) Training (3)--Marchwood | ||||
| 2 | 1997-98 | (2)66 | 13,491 | (a) Operations (10)--Split |
| (b) Exercises (32)--Germany, Spain, Turkey, Norway, Sardinia | ||||
| (c) Resupply (39)--Antwerp and Zeebrugge (for BAOR, Germany), Gibraltar, Cyprus, Canada, Falkland Islands (inter-island) | ||||
| (d) Training (7)--March wood | ||||
| 3 | 1998-99 | (3)46 | 16,107 | (a) Operations (16)--Split, Thessaloniki |
| (b) Exercises (18)--Germany, Norway, Spain, Poland, Turkey | ||||
| (c) Resupply (32)--Antwerp and Zeebrugge (for BAOR, Germany), Gibraltar, Cyprus, Canada, Falkland Islands (inter-island) | ||||
| (d) Training (4)--Marchwood | ||||
| 4 | 1999-2000 | (3)59 | 21,552 | (a) Operations (43)--Thessaloniki, Split, Corsica |
| (b) Exercises (19)--Germany, Norway, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, USA, Scotland | ||||
| (c) Resupply (22)--Antwerp and Zeebrugge (for BAOR, Germany), Canada, Gibraltar, Cyprus, Kenya, Falkland Islands (inter-island) |
(1) Figures indicate number of tasks carried out
(2) Number includes 1 X Joint Rapid Reaction Force (JRRF) RoRo on bare boat charter
(3) Number includes 2 X JRRF RoRos on bare boat charter
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Warship Construction
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what measures his Department is taking to ensure that the UK retains the capacity for warship construction; [119335]
- (2) if he will instruct the UK Defence Procurement Agency to ensure that UK suppliers are not disadvantaged in relation to foreign competition in respect of contracts for warship construction; and if he will make a statement. [119405]
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Dr. Moonie: Government policy, which is followed by the Defence Procurement Agency, is for warships to be built in the UK. UK warship builders are not, therefore, disadvantaged in relation to foreign competition.
The shipbuilding programme that has emerged from the Strategic Defence Review represents a considerable commitment and provides UK Shipbuilding Industry with a firm basis to invest, and modernise.
Taken together, the policy for warship building and the future requirements for warships should ensure that the UK retains the capacity for warship construction.
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Websites
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's policy is on (a) advertising and (b) acknowledging company sponsorship on the websites of his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies; which companies (i) have placed advertisements and (ii) are acknowledged as sponsors on those websites; how much revenue has been received for each financial year since 1997 from such advertisements and sponsorship; and if that revenue has been retained within the budget of his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies. [119543]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 19 April 2000]: My Department's policies on advertising and sponsorship of its Departmental websites come under the existing conventions on Government publishing and advertising as set out in the Guidance on the Work of the Government Information Service, which can be found at http:// www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/central/1999/workgis/index.htm. The Department's websites are subject to the policy guidelines issued by the Cabinet Office on the use, management and design of Government websites. These guidelines are available at http://www.iagchampions. gov.uk/guidelines/websites. They permit the use of advertisements and sponsorship on Government websites.
No advertisements and no sponsorship acknowledgements which generate revenue appear on the Department's principal websites, nor have there been any in the past. To the best of my knowledge this applies also to the websites maintained by individual Defence Agencies, units and non-departmental public bodies.
Where a company has sponsored a major Service event and a related web page exists on one of the Department's websites, that page has on occasion included the company's logo which in some cases links to the company's own website. This has been the case with some events announced on the Royal Navy and British Army websites, but no revenue has been generated by the appearance of logos. The websites for the Red Arrows and Blue Eagles aerobatic teams have been provided at no cost by commercial web designers Deltaweb, who provide a link to their own site. Some other sites, designed under contract, include acknowledgements and links to their designers' own websites.
The Ministry of Defence's main website includes a search facility provided free of charge by the International Relations and Security Network and Eurospider Information Technology AG, under the auspices of NATO's Partnership for Peace initiative. The Met. Office website similarly uses free search facilities provided by Excite.com. Links are provided to their websites. No revenue has been generated in the process.
The British Defence Staff (Washington) has a specific responsibility to promote UK defence exports to the United States. In pursuit of this objective, the BDS(W) website promotes specific items of defence equipment and its manufacturers. In addition the site search facility is presently advertiser-supported but provided free of charge by freefind.com.
Of the Department's non-departmental public bodies, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum currently includes links to BAE Systems to recognise sponsorship of
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museum exhibits. However, no revenue has been generated by the appearance of the relevant logos and links on the website.
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