---

Army Base Repair Organisation

Mr. Olner: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what performance targets have been set for the Army Base Repair Organisation for 2000-01. [123221]

Mr. Spellar: Key Targets have been set for the Chief Executive of the ABRO for financial year 2000-01. The targets build on the progress already made by the Agency since it formed in April 1993 and are as follows:

Key Target 1--Quantity
To complete 95 per cent. of all Sensitive and Significant programmes within the times agreed with the customer.
Key Target 2--Timeliness
To complete 95 per cent. of District Load tasks within the priorities agreed with the customer.
Key Target 3--Efficiency
To increase manpower utilisation by 3 per cent.
Key Target 4--Working Towards Trading Fund Status
ABRO to proceed to shadow trading by 1 April 2001.

Gulf (Reserve Forces)

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if members of the Reserve Forces who served in the Gulf are entitled to attributable pensions benefits. [123222]

18 May 2000 : Column: 203W

Mr. Spellar: Attributable benefits for Reserve Service were introduced in 1980, and the regulations are contained in the Naval and Marine Pay and Pensions (Non-Effective Benefits and Family Pension) Order 1999, the Army Pay Warrant 1977, and the Queen's Regulations for the Royal Air Force. It has been the practice since 1980 to award attributable benefits only where members of the Reserve Forces are medically discharged from the Reserves at an end of a period of active duty. During periods of recalled service for operations, individuals in the regular reserve forces could claim benefits only if they were medically discharged at the point of demobilisation. We have now taken legal advice, which suggests that Army reservists are, under current regulations, eligible to claim attributable benefits if they are medically discharged from the reserve at any time. Our legal advisers have also identified some anomalies in the regulations for the other Services.

We therefore propose for the future that all members of the volunteer reserves and regular reserves should be eligible for attributable benefits if they are medically discharged from the reserve forces at any time for reasons attributable to reserve service. The existing anomalies in the regulations, under which reservists are treated differently depending on which Service they come from, will be removed. We shall re-examine claims from Gulf Reservists under the interpretation of the regulations we now believe to be correct. We shall also consider any new claims.

Gulf War Illnesses

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the RAND Corporation report entitled, "A Review of the Scientific Literature as it Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses, volume II: Pyridostigmine Bromide". [123223]

Mr. Spellar: The RAND report, which is a comprehensive compilation of published literature on pyridostigmine bromide (PB) and its relationship to Gulf Veterans' Illnesses (GVI), has now been carefully reviewed and a written assessment of the report has been produced. I am placing a copy of this assessment in the Library of the House.

The RAND report does not present any new work on pyridostigmine bromide. It concentrates on several hypotheses of how PB might be the cause of GVI and to a lesser extent discusses the effectiveness of PB. Although a number of theories have been identified they have not, in our view, been critically evaluated and there is no differentiation between the credibility and the value of the various pieces of research. The report gives no guidance as to which of the various hypotheses is worthy of further investigation or for the prioritisation of further research. The approach and methodology adopted for this review do not advance the debate on whether PB is possibly linked to illness in Gulf veterans.

Naval Bases and Supply Agency

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what performance targets have been set for the Naval Bases and Supply Agency for 2000-01. [123225]

18 May 2000 : Column: 204W

Mr. Spellar: Key Targets have been set for the Chief Executive of the NBSA for financial year 2000-01. The targets build on the progress already made by the Agency since it formed in December 1996 and are as follows:

Key Target 1--Quantity and Timeliness
To provide up to 40028 Standard Berth Unit Days on demand.
Key Target 2--Timeliness, Quality and Cost
Provide quality, timely and cost effective engineering support to allocated vessels to the annual level indicated in the Fleet Time Maintenance Loading Programme (FTMLP) within ± 3 per cent. of budget.
Key Target 3--Quantity, Timeliness and Efficiency
Non-explosive Stores: Supply 88 per cent. of available material, including fuel, within Required Delivery Dates, while achieving the agreed targets for high priority Operational Defects.
Key Target 4--Quantity and Timeliness
Munitions: Supply 99 per cent. of available maintained munitions within demand timescales.
Key Target 5--Quantity
Provide Single Living Accommodation (SLA) to 25 per cent. of entitled personnel at Director Naval Services and Conditions (DNSC) Grade 2 standards or better.

Defence Communications Services Agency

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what performance targets have been set for the Defence Communications Services Agency for 2000-01. [123224]

Mr. Spellar: Key Targets have been set for the Chief Executive of the DCSA for financial year 2000-01. The targets build on the progress made by the Agency since it formed in April 1998 and are as follows:

Key Target 1--Service Assurance (Quantity)
To achieve a mean 96 per cent. of the service performance targets in the Services Baseline Document.
Key Target 2--Service Provisioning (Timeliness)
To commission 90 per cent. of new requests for service on or before the dates agreed with customers.
Key Target 3--Service Restoration (Timeliness)
To restore 95 per cent. of interrupted services classed as operationally urgent within four hours or within other specific periods agreed with customers.
Key Target 4--Service Support (Quality)
To achieve a 75 per cent. average success rate in response to demands on all DCSA Operator Assistance Centres (OACs) and helpdesk facilities.
Key Target 5--Customer Satisfaction (Quality)
To achieve a 70 per cent. mean of customers/users who express moderate or high satisfaction with the services and support offered by the DCSA.
Key Target 6--Efficiency
To achieve an improvement in efficiency by reducing the average unit cost of output for current DCSA products by 5 per cent. per annum.

Defence Evaluation and Research Agency

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the foreign representations that he received in respect of the DERA part sell-off and privatisation; and if he will make a statement. [122379]

Mr. Hoon: Throughout the DERA PPP process there has been substantial and widespread discussion with officials from each of our international collaborative

18 May 2000 : Column: 205W

partners. These have involved a considerable number of British officials, with meetings taking place in the UK and overseas often in the margins of bilateral and multilateral meetings. In addition, we have received written responses as part of last year's consultation process from a number of foreign companies. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Mr. Taylor) on 10 January 2000, Official Report, column 85W, regarding details of the companies and our international collaborative partners.

Representations have focused on the need to ensure that PPP does not affect our ability to:

(a) maintain and further develop our international research programmes;
(b) ensure that security sensitive information owned by foreign governments and passed to the UK under Government- to-Government arrangements, can continue to be adequately protected; and
(c) ensure that foreign commercially sensitive intellectual property passed to the UK under Governent-to-Government arrangements can continue to be adequately protected.

Ms Squire: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if it is DERA's policy to support the (a) Business Innovation Centre at Rosyth Europarc and (b) application for European funding. [122399]

Dr. Moonie: The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) is strongly committed, through the Defence Diversification Agency (DDA), to encouraging the widest possible exploitation of defence technology in the civil sector, in line with Government policy. The DDA is implementing this policy by establishing a national network of technology diversification managers, all rooted in DERA but located in regionally based business communities, one of which is the Rosyth Europarc, to provide a technology brokering service. It is also DERA's policy to support the Europarc Business Innovation Centre's application for European funding.

---