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Smart Procurement

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much money has been saved by Smart Procurement since its inception in 1998; how much it is projected to save over the next five years; and if he will make a statement. [38280]

Dr. Moonie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 72W.

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Deployments

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his Department's staff have been involved in deployments to (a) Slovakia, (b) Macedonia and (c) Bulgaria in the last five years; at what costs; and if he will make a statement. [38059]

Mr. Ingram: Numbers of military and civilian Ministry of Defence personnel deployed through the Outreach programme to Slovakia, Macedonia and Bulgaria during the last three years are given below (figures are not held centrally prior to this date). The figures for 1999–00 and 2000–01 were previously published in MOD Performance Reports (Cm 5000 Annex G and Cm5920 Annex H). They include members of visiting training and advisory teams and resident in-country advisers. The costs shown are approximate.

		1999–2000		2000–01		2001–02
	Numbers	Cost ÿK	Numbers	Cost ÿK	Numbers	Cost ÿK
Slovakia	2	75	1	120	5	154
Macedonia	—	—	3	200	1	125
Bulgaria	4	63	1	78	2	164

These deployments form part of the Outreach programme in central and eastern Europe which, in turn, is part of the wider Defence Diplomacy mission. Outreach contributes to international stability by assisting countries in the region to establish democratically accountable, cost-effective armed forces capable of contributing both to national and regional security and, increasingly, to international security through participation in peace support operations.

Not all personnel taking part in Outreach activities are captured in the annually published figures. The inclusion of personnel engaged in one-off, short duration activities would distort the overall picture.

There are Defence Attachés in the British Embassies in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Slovakia, all of whom have support staff. They are also not included.

In addition to Outreach deployments, the UK contributed some 2,000 personnel to NATO's Task Force Harvest, which was deployed to Macedonia between 23 August and 25 September 2001. The projected cost for operations in Macedonia for the Financial Year 2001–02 is ÿ8.7 million.

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence where the British Armed Forces are deployed as at 1 February. [38508]

Mr. Ingram: The latest available figures are for deployment of UK Regular Forces as at 1 January 2002.

	All Services	Naval Service	Army	RAF
United Kingdom	165,206	37,948	79,874	47,384
Continental Europe	25,132	372	23,041	1,719
Cyprus	3,301	7	2,149	1,145
Gibraltar	402	229	71	102
Other Mediterranean, Near East and Gulf	3,679	1,257	697	1,725
Far East	290	54	212	24
Other locations	6,045	1,817	3,177	1,051
Global Total	204,055	41,684	109,221	53,150

Figures are for UK Regular Forces (including both Trained and Untrained personnel), and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve personnel, the Home Service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment, mobilised reservists and Naval Activated Reservists.

C-17 Globemasters

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many C-17 Globemasters the armed forces own; whether Globemasters are deployed in Afghanistan; what plans he has for further purchase of the Globemaster; and if he will make a statement.[38281]

Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave him on 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 72W, and on 7 February 2002, Official Report, column 1088W, to the hon. Member for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray).

Framework Agreement

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what projects, if any have been designated Co-operative Armaments Programmes under the Six-Nation Framework Agreement. [38991]

Dr. Moonie: None. Whilst the harmonisation of military requirements is a specific part of the Framework Agreement, the work in this area is designed to examine the scope for meeting military requirements jointly. The intention is that this work should act as a

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foundation for the establishment of potential co-operative armaments programmes, but it is too early to expect the Framework Agreement to have generated any such programmes at this stage of its implementation. However, it is also the intention that existing co-operative armaments programmes might benefit from work on the implementation of the Framework Agreement. An example of this is the proposed creation of a Global Export Licence to simplify the licensing process on co-operative programmes.

Correspondence

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 19 December 2001, Official Report, column 343W, ref. 24020, when he intends to write to the hon. Member; and if he will place a copy in the Library. [38821]

Mr. Ingram: I have written to the hon. Member today to explain the delay. My officials are continuing to compile the information requested and I will provide a substantive reply as quickly as possible. A copy will be placed in the Library of the House.

RAF Bases (Commercial Operations)

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the Civil Aviation Authority about the suitability of RAF Lyneham for commercial airline operations. [38527]

Mr. Ingram: No discussions have taken place to date between the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Defence about the suitability of RAF Lyneham for commercial airline operations, although such discussions will be part of the overall assessment process.

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with Richard Branson and executives of Virgin about the commercial future of RAF Brize Norton. [38526]

Mr. Ingram: No discussions have taken place between the Ministry of Defence and Mr. Richard Branson or other executives of Virgin about the commercial future of RAF Brize Norton.

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Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the physical contours of RAF Lyneham conform to the CAA's safety requirements for commercial airline operations. [38528]

Mr. Ingram: RAF Lyneham is regulated by Ministry of Defence safety guidelines and not guidelines set out by the Civil Aviation Authority, which is responsible for civil airfields. However, the hon. Member will wish to be aware that I have directed that the issue of Civil Aviation Authority licensing of the three stations will be addressed as part on the on-going Strategic Review of RAF Lyneham, RAF St Mawgan and RAF Brize Norton.

Army HQ

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 340W, when the final assessment of the costs of moving the Army's northern headquarters from York to Edinburgh will have been made; what increase there has been in the number of people working at Craigiehall and York; and what military reason there was for the move from York to Craigiehall. [38872]

Mr. Ingram: The final assessment of the costs of locating the Army's northern headquarters in Edinburgh should be completed in the early summer of this year. This work will also confirm manpower numbers but initial indications are that there has been an increase of some 170 at Craigiehall and of some 14 at York resulting from the move of headquarters, and the relocation of other organisations. The military judgements that led to the location of the headquarters in Edinburgh took into account a number of issues and were finely balanced. The conclusion was that the role of divisional headquarters could be discharged from either York or Edinburgh.

Tours of Duty

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the units in the Army that have had an average interval between operational tours of (a) over 24 months and (b) under 24 months in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [38346]

Mr. Ingram: The following table shows the average interval between operational tours by individual arms/corps covering the years 1996–97 to 2000–01.

Average tour intervals

Year (April to March)	Royal Armoured Corps	Royal Artillery	Royal Engineers	Royal Signals	Infantry	Royal Logistic Corps1
1966–97	25	21	12	19	21	—
1997–98	19	36	17	21	22	—
1998–99	30	19	24	21	27	—
1999–2000	14	25	13	10	15	30
2000–01	26	42	34	24	22	30

1 Not calculated until 1999–2000.

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the report written by Colonel Curran Snagge entitled XThe Command Structure in the UK" examining the move of the Army's northern headquarters from York to Edinburgh. [38529]

Mr. Ingram: No.

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