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Departmental Policies (Bolton, West)

Ms Kelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Bolton, West constituency, the effects on Bolton, West of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [150603]

Dr. Moonie [holding answer 5 March 2001]: The Ministry of Defence has a wide-ranging presence throughout the UK in terms of defence establishments and the service and civilian personnel they employ. This presence brings benefits to many communities, local

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economies and jobs. Also, 60,000 new defence contracts are placed each year that provide support to industry and create and sustain defence-related employment.

The Ministry of Defence has maintained a large number of personnel in the north-west, a significant proportion of whom are based close to Bolton: within a 25-mile radius distance of the constituency, MOD direct employees totalled some 2,700 personnel as of 1 October 1999 (service and civilian).

Since 2 May 1997, around 440 contracts with a total value of some £332 million were placed with prime contractors in the Bolton area ¹ . A contract was placed with Matra BAe Dynamics in February 2000 for the supply of Seawolf Block 2 missiles for the Royal Navy, and this good news for UK industry safeguards about 300 high skill jobs at MBD and its suppliers, including the Lostock MBD plant.

I draw attention to the Defence Analytical Services Agency report "UK Defence Statistics 2000", which contains a wealth of defence statistical information, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.

¹ The decision as to where work under a particular contract will be undertaken rests with the contractor, therefore work on a contract placed with a prime contract in the Bolton area may well be done elsewhere, similarly, contracts placed with contractors outside the Bolton area could lead to sub-contracts on companies in Bolton.

Departmental Policies (Warrington, North)

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Warrington, North constituency, the effects on Warrington, North of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [152315]

Dr. Moonie [holding answer 6 March 2001]: The Ministry of Defence has wide-ranging presence throughout the UK in terms of defence establishments and the service and civilian personnel they employ. This presence brings benefits to many communities, local economies and jobs. Also, 60,000 new defence contracts are placed each year that provide support to industry and create and sustain defence-related employment.

The Ministry of Defence has maintained a large number of personnel in the Warrington area: within a 25-mile radius distance of the constituency, MOD direct employees totalled some 4,150 personnel as of 1 October 1999 (service and civilian).

Since 2 May 1997, around 440 contracts with a total value of nearly £50 million were placed with prime contractors in the Warrington area ¹ .

I draw attention to the Defence Analytical Services Agency report "UK Defence Statistics 2000", which contains a wealth of defence statistical information, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.

¹ The decision as to where work under a particular contract will be undertaken rests with the contractor, therefore work on a contract placed with a prime contract in the Warrington area may well be done elsewhere: similarly contracts placed with contractors outside the Warrington area could lead to sub-contracts on companies in Warrington.

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Departmental Policies (Don Valley)

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Don Valley constituency, the effects on Doncaster of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [153521]

Dr. Moonie: The Ministry of Defence has a wide-ranging presence throughout the UK in terms of defence establishments and the service and civilian personnel they employ. This presence brings benefits to many communities, local economies and jobs. Also, 60,000 new defence contracts are placed each year that provide support to industry and create and sustain defence-related employment.

The Ministry of Defence has maintained a very substantial number of personnel in the Don Valley area: within a 25-mile radius distance of the constituency, MOD direct employees totalled 620 personnel (service and civilian) on average during the period of interest.

Since 2 May 1997, nearly 160 contracts with a total value of nearly £2 million were placed with prime contractors in the Don Valley area ¹ .

I draw attention to the Defence Analytical Services Agency report "UK Defence Statistics 2000", which contains a welfare of defence statistical information, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.

¹ The decision as to where work under a particular contract will be undertaken rests with the contractor, therefore work on a contract placed with a prime contract in the Don Valley area may well be done elsewhere: similarly, contracts placed with contractors outside the Don Valley area could lead to sub-contracts on companies in Don Valley.

Special Advisers

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the combined cost of employing special advisers in his Department from 1997 to date. [160053]

Mr. Hoon [holding answer 1 May 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer which my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster gave him on 1 May 2001, Official Report, column 607W.

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many special advisers worked in his Department from 1997 to date. [160054]

Mr. Hoon [holding answer 1 May 2001]: During the period in question a total of four individuals have worked as special advisers in this Department, but no more than two have been employed at any time.

Richard King

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the result of the SIM investigation was into the death of Grenadier Guardsman Richard King during exercises at Sennybridge; what correspondence he has had with the families of the deceased soldier; and what time elapsed between the death of Guardsman King and his family being informed of the results of the inquiry. [159546]

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Mr. Spellar: The investigation by the Royal Military Police special investigation branch into the death of Guardsman King concluded on 29 February 2000. As a result, eight senior non-commissioned officers and two junior non-commissioned officers were reported for neglect of duty. The Army Prosecuting Authority, an organisation similar in role to that of the Crown Prosecution Service and wholly independent of the chain of command, subsequently concluded that there was insufficient prospect of securing a conviction at a court martial to warrant trial.

The Secretary of State has had no direct contact with the family of Guardsman King, although officers from Guardsman King's unit have insisted the family and a number of officials from the Ministry of Defence have also been in correspondence with them. The associated Army Board of Inquiry was convened on 15 January 2001; it is still on-going and the family will continue to be informed of developments.

Plastic Baton Rounds

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information is routinely collected to monitor the use of plastic baton rounds. [159547]

Mr. Spellar: Information on plastic baton rounds fired by the Army is collected from a number of sources: the daily incident briefs (DIBs), brigade daily Northern Ireland reports (NIREPs) and plastic baton log reports. The information is held for internal use by Headquarters Northern Ireland, which also relays details of any baton round sage to the RUC as part of normal liaison activities.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 13 March 2001, Official Report, column 507W, if he will extend the table provided in order to record in each year since 1991, the number of (a) PBRs fired, (b) target hits and (c) injuries and fatalities. [159548]

Mr. Spellar: The only record we have of the number of targets hit since 1991 is the same as the number of injuries which appears in the table given in my answer of 13 March 2001, Official Report, columns 507-08W.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the muzzle velocity is of the L21 A1 baton round. [158506]

Mr. Spellar: The muzzle velocity of baton rounds is normally measured 2m from the gun muzzle. At 2m, the average (mean) velocity of a sample of 360 L21A1 baton rounds fired from L104 guns was 71.4 metres per second (m/s).

DMSO Solvent Experiments

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 23 April 2001, Official Report, columns 94-95W, regarding DMSO solvent experiments, if he will place in the Library copies of the two protocols which were submitted to the ethical sub-group of the defence scientific advisory committee medical committee and the minutes of the committee which relate to the discussion of these two protocols. [159803]

Dr. Moonie: I will arrange to have copies of the two protocols relating to the trials involving human volunteers and the solvent DMSO to be placed in the Library of the

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House. However, the minutes of the ethical sub-group of the medical committee of the defence scientific advisory committee have, in line with Ministry of Defence policy, been sent to MOD defence records. I have arranged for them to be recalled and will then be in a position to consider their placement in the Library.

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