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WALES

No-smoking Policy

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on (a) the effectiveness of his Department's no-smoking policy and (b) the proportion of his Department's offices that do not allow smoking. [125169]

Mr. Paul Murphy: My Department operates the same policy on smoking as the National Assembly for Wales, which is designed to protect the great majority of staff, who do not smoke, from the effects of smoke, as required by health and safety legislation. Smoking is therefore not permitted in working areas, whether cellular or open plan, and sources of information and advice on stopping smoking are provided to those staff who wish to give up the habit.

My Department only has one building housing about 40 staff who have agreed between themselves that smoking should take place only in certain rooms.

Opinion Research

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 25 May 2000, Official Report, column 633W, on opinion research, what steps have been taken to ensure that his Department makes such results publicly available as required by paragraph 19 of the Cabinet Office May 1999 Guidelines on Research into Public Attitudes and Opinions. [125992]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Wales Office has not carried out any market or opinion research since it was established on 1 July 1999. In the event that my Department does undertake any market or opinion research, the Guidelines will be followed.

DEFENCE

Army Training and Recruiting Agency

Mr. Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what key targets have been set for the Army Training and Recruitment Agency for the financial year 2000-01. [125578]

Mr. Spellar: The Chief Executive of the Army Training and Recruiting Agency has been set the following Key Targets for 2000-01:

1. To meet the Adjutant General's requirement for 620 commissioned officers.

2. To meet the Adjutant General's requirement for 610 officers qualified for service in Field Force units following successful Special to Arm training.

3. To meet the Adjutant General's requirement for the professional development training of 6,714 officers.

4. To meet the Adjutant General's requirement for 10,831 regular soldiers qualified for service in Field Force units following successful Basic and Special to Arm training.

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5. To meet the Adjutant General's requirement for professional development training for 52,458 soldiers.

6. To achieve a 3 per cent. annual aggregate improvement in ATRA efficiency measured on the ATRA Efficiency Index.

Depleted Uranium Shells

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many depleted uranium shells have been (a) fired and (b) recovered from the DERA establishment at Dundrennan in each of the last three years; [124697]

(2) if the test firing of depleted uranium shells at the DERA establishment at Dundrennan, Kirkcudbrightshire is continuing. [124718]

Mr. Spellar: The number of depleted uranium shells fired at the range in each of the last three years is as follows:

	Number
1997	749
1998	134
1999	111

During this period only one projectile has been recovered. This was in October 1997 when a fishing vessel trawled up one in the Solway Firth. Current planning proposes a programme of DU firings up to October 2001.

Identification Friend or Foe System

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what reasons underlay the length of time taken to procure the successor Identification Friend or Foe system for the Royal Air Force; what the original cost was; if the contract is to be signed at that original cost; and if he will make a statement. [124885]

Dr. Moonie: This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Robert Walmsley to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 14 June 2000:

I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence about procurement of the Successor Identification Friend or Foe (SIFF) system for the Royal Air Force. This matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief of Defence Procurement and Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency.

The SIFF programme involves fitting new electronic equipment into some 40 different types of Sea, Land and Air platforms. Total equipment requirements are likely to number in the order of 1000 transponders and 600 interrogators: each has to be functionally and physically integrated with the host platform. SIFF is a complicated project.

The only contract placed to date for fitting SIFF has been to the Royal Air Force's Tornado F3 aircraft. This was placed with the then British Aerospace, the aircraft design authority in 1998. This contract was placed ahead of the main SIFF programme in order to achieve cost savings through alignment with the Tornado Capability Sustainment Programme. Separately, but also in 1998, the SIFF Integration Study and Planning Phase (ISPP) commenced with contracts being placed with individual platform type design authorities to investigate the fitting of a SIFF system to the platforms in the main SIFF programme. The overall value of the Tornado F3 and ISPP contracts together amounts to some £100M, and this is within the original budget provision.

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Owing to the number and diversity of the platform types, it is not possible to adopt a single prime contractor approach to manage the main SIFF programme, which amounts to an estimated value of over £400M. Outputs from ISPP have included Demonstration and Manufacture tenders provided by two competing potential equipment suppliers, BAE SYSTEMS and Raytheon Systems Ltd, covering many of the platform types, and from individual platform design authorities for the remainder. Evaluation of these tenders is an extensive and intensive task, to ensure that the decision on the choice of equipment supplier and the phasing of the work to be undertaken by the individual platform design authorities is made on the best overall balance of operational and value for money grounds. We are currently considering the way ahead in the light of this and in the current competitive situation are unable to provide further information on costs or budgets. I hope that we will be in position to announce a decision on the programme, including the choice of equipment supplier, during the summer.

AMRAAM Missiles

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what obligations Raytheon has in respect of industrial participation and offsets in respect of the current order for AMRAAM missiles for the RAF; and if he will make a statement. [124991]

Mr. Hoon: The order placed in 1992 for AMRAAM missiles is now complete and was made through the Government to Government Foreign Military Sales process. Such purchases do not attract industrial participation.

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what obligations he plans to place upon Raytheon in respect of industrial participation and offsets in respect of the additional AMRAAM order announced on 16 May; and if he will make a statement. [124990]

Mr. Hoon: The announcement on 16 May stated the intention to purchase a quantity of AMRAAM missiles to equip Eurofighter when it first enters service. Options for acquisition, whether by a Government to Government order or through a direct contract with Raytheon, are being examined. The potential for industrial participation opportunities will be taken into account.

Warrior Fighting Vehicles

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about structural and metallurgical defects on Warrior fighting vehicles in Kosovo. [125316]

Mr. Spellar: Despite its advantages there are also inherent problems in the use of aluminium armour on vehicles such as the Warrior. The Department has been aware of this for some time and appropriate repair schemes have been developed with the Design Authority. There have been no reports, however, of specific structural or metallurgical defects affecting any Warrior vehicles deployed to Kosovo.

UAVs

Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what projects his Department is engaged with the US Department of Defense involving (a) unmanned aerial vehicles and (b) unmanned aerial combat vehicles; and if he will make a statement. [125706]

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Mr. Spellar: None. However, we do have in place a number of Information Exchange Agreements with the US Department of Defense in support of unmanned aerial vehicle systems research for sea, land and air operations.

Front-line Equipment

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's policy is on the use of PFI or PPP solutions for the procurement of front-line equipment. [125805]

Mr. Spellar [holding answer 13 June 2000]: Public Private Partnerships comprise a range of close relationships between the public and private sectors including Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) and Smart Procurement. PFI solutions are being explored for a number of services in direct support of operations (e.g. Heavy Equipment Transporter, Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft) where we judge this may offer best value for money without detriment to operational effectiveness.

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