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MOD Police Vehicles

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the merits of the MoD police purchasing vehicles through a central purchasing agency. [18398]

Dr. Moonie: The Defence Procurement Agency is the central purchasing agency for the Ministry of Defence. The MOD Police is a Defence Agency and the DPA purchase all vehicles used by the Force in line with standard procurement procedures.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what policy the MOD police adopts towards supporting British manufacturing when purchasing vehicles. [18399]

Dr. Moonie: The Defence Procurement Agency purchase all vehicles for the Ministry of Defence Police on a best value for money basis.

NATO Defence Capabilities Initiative

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the NATO Defence Capabilities Initiative will report; and if he will make a statement. [18640]

Mr. Hoon: NATO's Defence Capabilities Initiative was launched at the Washington Summit in April 1999 with a view to addressing shortfalls in military capabilities across the Alliance. The Initiative is overseen by the High Level Steering Group (HLSG), the Chairman of which periodically reports to NATO Defence Ministers. The next report is due to be presented at the December Ministerials, with the HLSG's final report at the Prague Summit next year.

Since 1999 NATO nations have been working hard to implement the DCI. Progress has been made in many capability areas, including interoperability; logistics co-operation; air to air refuelling; air and sealift; and acquisition of precision-guided munitions. The UK's own performance within the Defence Capabilities Initiative compares very well with the Alliance average.

Far East Prisoners of War

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the pick-up rate broken down by condition of the medical screening programme for Far East prisoners of war; and if he will make a statement. [18407]

Dr. Moonie: There is no medical screening programme for former Far East prisoners of war. The War Pensions Agency does however offer a Tropical Disease Investigation. Arrangements for this are not conditional upon a person being in receipt of a war pension. Since May 2000, Tropical Disease Investigations have been offered to 45 former Far East prisoners of war of whom 15 have accepted and 30 declined.

Military Courses

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total revenue his Department has received in each of the last 10 years as a result of providing places on UK military courses to overseas service men. [16142]

Mr. Ingram: The table shows the revenue received by the Ministry of Defence for the period 1991–92 to 2000–01 in support of International Training.

28 Nov 2001 : Column: 915W

Year	£ million
1991–92	63.186
1992–93	36.793
1993–94	39.522
1994–95	34.626
1995–96	45.907
1996–97	39.749
1997–98	19.860
1998–99	22.765
1999–2000	22.767
2000–01	17.709

Divorce (Service Men)

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service men occupying married quarters were divorced in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [16144]

28 Nov 2001 : Column: 916W

Dr. Moonie: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Public Service Agreements

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to renegotiate the public service agreements signed with the Treasury for 2001 to 2004. [18461]

Mr. Hoon: The Ministry of Defence's Public Service Agreement (PSA) records the key defence outcomes the Government aim to achieve over the Spending Review period. The PSA agreed as part of Spending Review 2000 relates to the period 2001–02 to 2003–04. As part of Spending Review 2002, all Departments' PSAs will be reviewed and revised as necessary for the period 2003–04 to 2005–06.

28 Nov 2001 : Column: 917W

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Individual Learning Accounts

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when her Department first received warnings from training providers that the individual learning account scheme was open to fraud. [14580]

John Healey [holding answer 13 November 2001]: My Department actively engaged learning providers in the development of the individual learning accounts programme. For example, a number of seminars were held with learning providers in 2000, prior to the introduction of the national framework for individual learning accounts, and these continued into 2001. At these events providers expressed a wide range of opinions. In September 2000 James O'Brien, Managing Director, Pitman Training, wrote to Ministers to express concern that the programme was open to abuse but that the cap on public support for each individual's ILA account introduced to help control such abuse had been set at too low a level. We have not yet been able to trace any earlier correspondence on the specific topic of potential abuse of the ILA scheme.

Gender Stereotyping

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance has been issued to careers teachers to challenge preconceptions about girls' and boys' subjects and employments. [16264]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information and good practice to challenge preconceptions about career choices is contained in a number of documents made available by my Department to schools and careers advisers, including "Developing the careers education curriculum in schools", 1999, and "School improvement: how careers work can help", 2000. The issue is also covered by research published by the Equal Opportunities Commission, and in forthcoming guidance by Ofsted on evaluating careers education in schools, which will be issued to schools early in the new year.

The Connexions service works with young people aged between 13 and 19, including those in schools, and subsumes the role of careers services in guiding young people on suitable employment and learning choices. Connexions and careers services work closely with careers teachers to provide comprehensive and impartial information, advice and guidance. They offer training to teachers and other staff so that schools can challenge stereotyping, promote equality of opportunity and engender a wide awareness of opportunities among pupils.

Specialist Schools

Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many specialist schools have closed since 1997 in (a) England and (b) east Devon. [17269]

Mr. Timms: One specialist school has closed in England since 1997; this was due to local authority reorganisation. No specialist schools have closed in east Devon. 25 former specialist schools in England no longer have Specialist School status. All of these lost their status since 1997. There were none in east Devon.

28 Nov 2001 : Column: 918W

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many specialist schools have closed since 1997 in Arundel and South Downs. [18310]

Mr. Timms: No specialist schools have closed in Arundel and South Downs since the inception of specialist schools. There are 25 former specialist schools in England which no longer have Specialist School status. All of these have lost their status since 1997. None of them are located in the constituency of Arundel and South Downs.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for each specialist school and college in (a) Nottingham and (b) Nottinghamshire, what were its (i) targets associated with specialist status and (ii) success in meeting those targets in the most recent year for which information is available. [18619]

Mr. Timms: This information cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.

Jean Monnet Chairs

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the Jean Monnet (a) chairs and (b) chair occupants funded in the UK by European Community money. [17622]

Margaret Hodge: Jean Monnet chairs are co-financed by their universities and by the European Commission. The present occupants of the Jean Monnet chairs in United Kingdom and their universities are listed by subject area.

Jean Monnet chairs in UK universities

Chair	University
European Law
To be appointed	University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd
Prof. A. M. Arnull	University of Birmingham
Prof. Estella Baker	University of Leicester
M. Brian Bercusson	University of Manchester
Prof. Lammy Betten	University of Exeter
Prof. Christopher Bovis	University of Central Lancashire, Preston
Mr. Noreen Burrows	University of Glasgow
Ms Holly Culen	University of Durban
Mr. Peter Joseph Cullen	University of Edinburgh
Prof. Arthur Alan Dashwood	University of Cambridge
Dr. Charles Debattista	University of Southampton
Prof. Barry Fitzpatrick	University of Ulster, Coleraine
Ms Theodora Kostakopoulou	University of East Anglia, Norwich
Ms Catherine Kratz	University of Lancaster
Mr. Duncan Matthews	University of Warwick, Coventry
Ms Helen Meenan	University of Kingston
Dr. Sarah Mercer	University of Northumbria at Newcastle
Dr. Nanette Neuwahl	University of Liverpool
Mrs. Ursula O'Hare	University of Newcastle
Prof. Nuala O'Loan	University of Ulster, Coleraine
Prof. M. G. Ross	University of Leicester
Prof. Jo Shaw	University of Leeds
Prof. Peter Stone	University of Essex, Colchester
Prof. Anna Syngellakis	University of Portsmouth
Prof. Erika Szyszczak	University of Nottingham
Prof. A. G. Toth	University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Prof. John Anthony Usher	University of Edinburgh
Prof. Ferdinand von Prondzynski	University of Hull
Prof. Thomas Waelde	University of Dundee
Prof. Adrian Wood	Metropolitan University of Leeds
European Economics
Dr. Robert William Ackrill	University of Leicester
Prof. Ian Gregory Barnes	University of Lincolnshire and Humberside, Lincoln
Dr. Marius Brulhart	University of Manchester
Dr. Alan Butt Philip	University of Bath
Dr. Lawrence Jeremy Clegg	University of Leeds
Dr. Felicia Fai	University of Bath
Dr. Vanessa Fry	University of Essex, Colchester
To be appointed	De Montfort University, Leicester
Prof. Andrews Hughes Hallett	University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Dr. Theodore Hitiris	University of York
Dr. Peter Holmes	University of Sussex, Brighton
Dr. Andrew Mountford	University of Southampton
Dr. Cillian Ryan	University of Birmingham
Mr. Andrew Scott	University of Edinburgh
Mr. Stephen Smith	University College of London
Dr. Mehmet Ugur	University of Greenwich, London
Prof. Roger W. Vickerman	University of Kent at Canterbury
European Political Integration
Mr. D. J. Allen	University of Loughborough
Prof. Andrea Bosco	South Bank University, London
Prof. Irene Brennan	University of Westminster, London
Prof. Simon Bulmer	University of Manchester
Dr. M. Burgess	University of Hull
Dr. Thomas Christiansen	University of Wales Aberystwyth
Dr. Clive Church	University of Kent at Canterbury
Dr. Michelle Cini	University of Bristol
Prof. K. Doogan	University of Bristol
Dr. Geoffrey Edwards	University of Cambridge
Dr. D. M. Farrell	University of Manchester
Dr. Helen Fawcett	University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Prof. Kevin Featherstone	University of Bradford
Prof. Stephen Alan George	University of Sheffield
Mrs. Jacqueline Gower	Thames Valley University, London
Dr. Justin Greenwood	Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Mr. Frank Gregory	University of Southampton
Prof. Catherine Hoskyns	University of Coventry
Prof. Jolyon Howorth	University of Bath
Ms Annabel K. Kiernan	University of Paisley
Prof. Emil Kirchner	University of Essex, Colchester
Dr. Robert Leonardi	London School of Economics and Political Science, London
Prof. Juliet Lodge	University of Leeds
Prof. C. J. Lord	University of Leeds
Prof. John P. Loughlin	University of Wales, College of Cardiff
Mr. Howard Machin	London School of Economics and Political Science, London
Mr. Michael Mannin	John Moores University, Liverpool
Mr. S. Marsh	University of Wales, College of Cardiff
Prof. Elizabeth Meehan	Queen's University Belfast
Dr. A. Menon	University of Oxford
Prof. Michael Newman	University of North London
Prof. Neill Nugent	Metropolitan University of Manchester
Dr. John Peterson	University of Glasgow
Dr. John Redmond	University of Birmingham
Prof. Jeremy Richardson	University Essex
Dr. Ella Ritchie	University of Newcastle
Prof. T. C. Salmon	University of Aberdeen
Mr. George Schopflin	School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London
Prof. Michael Smith	University of Loughborough
Dr. Stelios Stavridis	University of Reading
Dr. Paul Taggart	University of Sussex, Brighton
Prof. Helen Wallace	University of Sussex, Brighton
Dr. Alison Watson	University of St. Andrews
Dr. Mark Wise	University of Plymouth
History of European Integration
Dr. A. J. Crozier	Queen Mary and Westfield College, London
Dr. Anne Deighton	University of Oxford
Prof. Michael Smith	Queen's University Belfast
Dr. Stephen Ward	University of Salford

28 Nov 2001 : Column: 920W

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