20 Mar 2001 : Column: 105W

Written Answers to Questions

Tuesday 20 March 2001

DEFENCE

Type 45 Destroyer

Mr. Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if the price of the DFM contract for the first three type 45 destroyers awarded to BAE Systems assumes (a) the involvement of BAE Systems Marine and Vosper Thornycroft in developing a single design definition for the type 45 destroyer and (b) that the first and third ships will be assembled by BAE Systems Marine and the second ship by Vosper Thornycroft; [153706]

Dr. Moonie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 30 January 2001, Official Report, column 99W. I can confirm that the type 45 DFM contract assumes, and is priced on the basis of, the procurement strategy for this Programme announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 11 July 2000, Official Report, columns 701-02. Under this, the first ship would be assembled by BAE Systems Marine with a substantial contribution by Vosper Thornycroft (VT), the second by VT and the third by BAE Systems.

Armed Forces (Sierra Leone)

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the components are of the welfare package for forces serving in Sierra Leone. [154581]

Mr. Hoon: The components of the Operational Welfare Package (OWP) for Op Silkman are as follows:







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Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) e-mail terminals, (b) telephones and (c) mail drops per week are available for Her Majesty's forces serving in Sierra Leone. [154580]

Mr. Spellar: The Operational Welfare Package (OWP) for Op Silkman includes internet access, telephones and mail drops. The numbers are as follows:




Nuclear Submarines

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 13 March 2001, Official Report, column 509W, on nuclear submarines, where his Department plans to situate the land storage facility for redundant nuclear submarines. [154494]

Mr. Spellar: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 March 2001, Official Report, columns 601-02W, to the hon. Member for South-East Cornwall (Mr. Breed).

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Correspondence

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence further to his answer of 23 January 2001, Official Report, column 536W, on depleted uranium (a) when he expects to send his letter and (b) what are the reasons for the delay. [152820]

Mr. Spellar: I have replied today to my hon. Friend. The delay in replying was caused by the need to obtain information from sources outside the Ministry of Defence.

Sir Brian Mawhinney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will give a substantive reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire on behalf of his constituent Mr. Coakes, following preliminary responses on 22 November 2000 and 6 January 2001. [154724]

Mr. Hoon: In my letters, I explained that research into the issues raised was continuing. This has involved research into records dating back 10 years and contacting key personnel in the unit to which Mr. Coakes was attached. Our inquiries are now complete and I hope to write to the right hon. Member within the next week.

Saville Inquiry

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) civil servants and (b) other personnel from his Department have attended sessions of the Saville inquiry. [154050]

Mr. Spellar: Sessions of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry have been attended variously by nine Ministry of Defence officials and one Army officer.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many persons, from which divisions and with which specialisms comprise the Bloody Sunday Inquiry Unit in his Department; [154051]

Mr. Spellar: The Bloody Sunday Inquiry Unit is an integral part of the Ministry of Defence and comprises five officials who are dedicated full-time to supporting the work of the Inquiry. They are all administrators; currently three are men and two are women; none of them come from Northern Ireland.

Service Pensions

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will review the pension provision for officers who were in service before their 21st birthdays but whose service before those dates is not counted for service pension purposes. [154295]

Mr. Spellar: The recently published Ministry of Defence Consultation Document on a new Armed Forces Pension Scheme includes the proposal that pension benefits should begin to accrue from the date of entry to the armed forces for both officers and other ranks. This compares with the current scheme under which benefits accrue from age 21 for officers and age 18 for other ranks. In line with usual practice in public sector pension schemes, these changes would not be retrospective.

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MOD Police

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence under what statutory powers he appoints members of the MOD Police Committee. [154579]

Mr. Spellar: Members of the Ministry of Defence Police Committee are appointed in accordance with the provisions of section 1(5) of the Ministry of Defence Police Act 1987.


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