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Royal Navy Fire Fighting School
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the cost was of re-locating the fire fighting school to Whale Island, Portsmouth; and if he will make a statement; [155800]
- (2) what the costs were of the fuel tanks recently installed at Whale Island, Portsmouth; and if he will make a statement. [155798]
Mr. Spellar: The overall cost of the new fire fighting training units at HMS Excellent, HMS Raleigh and Strathclyde fire brigade was £6.50 million (excluding VAT) per annum over a 20-year period. These provide all the fire fighting training for the Royal Navy.
The overall project was funded as a private finance initiative (PFI) with Flagship Fire Fighting Ltd. under the public-private partnership agreement between the Navy Recruiting and Training Agency and Flagship Training Ltd. Flagship own the facilities at HMS Excellent and HMS Raleigh and the Royal Navy pays a monthly cost for the training, currently estimated to average £500,000 per month. The cost of demolition of the fire fighting training facility at Horsea Island was £65,000.
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The fuel tanks referred to are, in fact, waste water tanks which hold waste water expended following completion of the day's fire fighting training activities.
The cost of the waste water tanks is included within the PFI contract with Flagship Fire Fighting Training Ltd.
Rosyth
Mr. Welsh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the assets disposed of by his Department at Rosyth, indicating in each case the nature of the asset, the date of its disposal and the sum realised on disposal. [151652]
Dr. Moonie: Babcock Rosyth Defence Ltd., the owners of Rosyth royal dockyard, currently operate a regional marketing agreement for the disposal of surplus Ministry of Defence assets in Scotland, northern England and Germany. A list of those assets disposed of since the agreement came into operation in January 1997 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Smart Procurement
Mr. Nigel Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was paid by his Department, including the Defence Procurement Agency to consultants to develop the smart procurement initiative. [153450]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 13 March 2001]: The Ministry of Defence has received advice from a number of consultancy companies on various aspects of the smart procurement initiative (SPI) and related changes.
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, McKinsey and Co. Inc. were paid £1.35 million for their work specifically to help develop SPI.
Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he had on the replacement of General Sir Rupert Smith as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe by General Dietrich Stockmann; if the UK made a nomination for this post; and if he will make a statement. [155794]
Mr. Hoon: This change was part of an agreement reached preceding implementation of the new NATO command structure in 1999, under which the United Kingdom and Germany will alternate the provision of Senior Commanders at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and Regional Headquarters Allied Forces Northern Europe (RHQ AFNORTH). At SHAPE, we will provide either Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) or the Chief of Staff and at RHQ AFNORTH we will provide either the Commander in Chief (C in C) or the Deputy C in C. The nation filling the DSACEUR post will provide the Deputy C in C at the Regional HQ; the UK has recently taken over the key C in C NORTH post in anticipation of General Sir Rupert Smith handing over to General Stockmann as DSACEUR.
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EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Planning Agreements
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which Government programmes allow for the use of section 106 contributions from planning agreements as match-funding; and if he will make a statement. [152491]
Jacqui Smith: Section 106 agreements are sometimes used to secure funding for school projects across all sectors. There is no obligation for match funding under such agreements, though money from a section 106 agreement could be used to part-fund a school's project. Current Government policy on use of section 106 funding is set out in circular 1/97 issued by DETR.
Teacher Vacancies
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will set out, for each month since May 1997, for each local education authority in England, the teaching post vacancies notified to his Department. [153279]
Ms Estelle Morris [holding answer 12 March 2001]: Information on teacher vacancies in January each year since 1995, for each local education authority, is shown in table 42 of Statistics of Education, Teachers, England and Wales, 2000 edition, which is available in the House of Commons Library.
Teacher vacancies for each local authority are collected only for January of each year.
The number of regular teachers (excluding short-term supply) in the maintained schools sector in England at January 2000 was 404,600, the highest for 10 years and 6,900 higher than January 1998.
There was a growth of more than 2,000 in the number of people training to be teachers between 1999-2000, and 2000-01, the first such increase since 1992-93.
Mr. Joyce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what guidance his Department provides to schools on publications in which teaching vacancies are advertised; [155603]
- (2) what guidance his Department provides to colleges on the publications in which teaching vacancies are advertised. [155625]
Ms Estelle Morris: My Department does not publish guidance on this matter, which is best decided by schools and colleges themselves in the light of their individual circumstances and requirements.
Coalmining Areas (Departmental Support)
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what specific support his Department has provided to coalmining communities by (a) region and (b) local education authority area since 1997. [154304]
Ms Estelle Morris: Most funding provided by the Department is distributed via local education authorities. The Department does not hold information on support
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provided to coalmining communities by region. The tables set out the total funding to coalfield areas for the years 1996-97 to 2001-01 by local education authority area. The following revenue grants have been included: DfEE contributions to the standards fund; class size reduction grant; funding for education action zones; grant for nursery vouchers in 1997-98; school budget support grant; and school standards grant.
Where there are no figures against years 1996-97 or 1997-98, the authority had either been subject to local government reorganisation, or had yet to be created as a result of LGR.
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DfEE has commissioned research to look at educational participation and attainment in the coalfields.
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