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Departmental Leave Entitlements

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the average annual leave entitlement of staff in his Department in each of the last four years. [31739]

Dr. Moonie: Within the Ministry of Defence there exist slight differences in annual leave entitlements between members of the Senior Civil Service, non-industrial staff and industrial staff.

Over the whole period, Senior Civil Servants have received the maximum 30 days on entry, whereas non- industrial staff have received 25 days on entry and then the maximum 30 days after 10 years' reckonable service.

Industrial staff are divided into two categories, those at Industrial Technician level and those below. In 1998, Industrial Technicians received 26 days on entry, 28 after five years' reckonable service and 29 days after 10 years' reckonable service. In 1999, the maximum entitlement was increased to 30 days after 10 years' reckonable service. Other industrial staff received 24.5 days on entry in 1998, which was increased to 25 days in 1999. In 1998, they received and still do, 26.5 days after five years' reckonable service. In addition, the maximum entitlement, awarded after 10 years' reckonable service, has been increased annually from 27 days in 1998 to 30 days in 2001.

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Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list his Department's total expenditure by month in each financial year since 1997–98. [32790]

Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary on 4 February 2002, Official Report, column 692W.

Private Medical Insurance

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many employees in (a) his Department and (b) his Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies have had private medical insurance provided for them in each year since 1997–98; what the total cost is; and if he will make a statement. [32313]

Dr. Moonie [holding answer 6 February 2002]: The Civil Service Management Code specifically precludes the provision of private medical insurance as part of any structured remuneration package. Consequently, private medical insurance is not a feature of Ministry of Defence civil service employment. The employees of MOD's non-departmental public bodies are not civil servants although, in practice, their terms and conditions are partially modelled on civil service lines. One of the MOD's non-departmental public bodies—the Oil and Pipelines Agency—does offer private medical insurance to its employees. The numbers of annual costs since 1997–98 are as follows:

Year	Number of employees	Cost pa (£000)
1997–98	(8)10	4.4
1998–99	7	5.0
1999–2000	8	5.9
2000–01	8	5.0
2001–02	5	6.2

⁽⁸⁾ Estimate

The number of staff taking up the option of private medical insurance has diminished over the years because it constitutes a taxable benefit, which many find increasingly unattractive.

Departmental Website

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total cost of his Department's website was in real terms in each of the last four years; and how many hits it received in each of those years. [36137]

Dr. Moonie: Direct costs for the Ministry of Defence's departmental website http://www.mod.uk are recorded for expenditure on contractual support—web design, maintenance and hosting—and staff costs for the central MOD website team. Total costs for the four-year period from April 1998 to April 2002 are as follows:

Financial year	£
1998–99	54,000
1999–2000	100,000
2000–01	153,000
2001–02	202,000

Usage of the MOD website began to be measured on a monthly basis in December 1997. The figures for

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2000–01 are rounded extrapolations based on data recorded between June 2000-December 2001. Hits for the four-year period from December 1997 to December 2001 are as follows:

Year	Number
December 1997-December 1998	4,576,859
December 1998-December 1999	18,195,760
December 1999-December 2000	20,700,000
December 2000-December 2001	26,200,000

Union Duties

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff in his Department, agencies and non- departmental public bodies receive paid leave to undertake union duties; how many days they are allocated; and what has been the cost to public funds in each of the last four years. [36197]

Dr. Moonie: The Ministry of Defence does not record paid time off for trade union duties by days but by percentage of their overall work time. The following table shows the number of employees who are allowed paid time off for trade union activities, the percentage of their time allowed and the cost for each of the past four years.

Numbers of TU representativespecentage

	0–10	11–49	50–99	100	Total	Cost (£)
1997–98
Industrial	478	64	11	21	574	788,576
Non-industrial	722	113	13	37	885	1,858,958
1998–99
Industrial	455	66	12	19	552	920,671
Non-industrial	824	105	17	35	981	2,265,064
1999–2000
Industrial	426	71	16	24	538	1,228,087
Non-industrial	758	108	27	34	927	2,037,451
2000–01
Industrial	360	89	17	21	487	1,123,993
Non-industrial	700	106	21	36	863	2,181,641

We do not collect the information for trade union representatives in the Service Museums which are non- departmental public bodies.

Building Works

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of new builds, demolitions, rebuilds and PFI projects in his Department in each of the last 10 years. [39465]

Dr. Moonie: Information available on the cost of new builds is contained in UK Defence Statistics 2001 (Table 1.8 page 18). Information on demolitions and rebuilds could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Gender Free Physical Training

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many women have been injured as a result of gender free physical training; [39502]

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(2) how many claims for compensation have been received from female recruits injured during gender free physical testing; [39503]

(3) how many person-days have been lost as a result of injuries sustained in gender free physical training; [39504]

(4) what has been the cost of treating women injured as a result of gender free physical training. [39505]

Mr. Ingram: Numbers of women injured since 1 April 1998, when "Gender Free" testing and training was introduced have not been separately identified. Gender distributions have been monitored on the basis of medical discharges rather than on individual injuries received. For completeness, however, the following table shows the numbers of individuals attending a general practitioner at the various Army Training Regiments (ATRs) recorded as having injuries due to training or with other injuries or disease that could be related to training. The data cover both male and female trainees and trainers alike (although the vast majority are trainees) and is expressed as a rate per 1,000 per month:

Reason	1998	1999	2000
Injuries due to military training	204.74	188.05	120.70
Musculo-skeletal diseases	74.48	70.70	63.79
Knee disorders	47.41	50.34	47.28

In 1999–2000, the combined rate for female medical discharges due to injury for all Phase 1 training establishments was 4.8 per cent., when the female to male ratio of injuries among trainees was 6:1. In the following year, this combined rate dropped to 3.5 per cent. and the ratio also fell to 3.5:1. This reduction was attributable, at least in part, to changes introduced into the selection and initial training regime, as a result of the recognised higher rate of female injury in the training system.

Similarly, the number of person-days lost as a result of injuries sustained directly as a result of gender free testing and training cannot be easily identified. The following table shows the number of working days lost as a result of injuries due to training or with other injuries or disease that could be related to training injuries and is again expressed as a rate per 1,000 personnel per month at the ATRs:

Reason	1998	1999	2000
Injuries due to military training	207.55	211.06	165.23
Musculo-skeletal diseases	108.21	97.79	92.43
Knee disorders	62.80	67.73	63.93

With regard to compensation claims, the Ministry of Defence does not record separately those cases brought against the Department by female recruits injured during gender free physical training. Again, the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Costs associated specifically with treating women injured as a result of gender free physical training cannot be readily identified. The Army training authorities are constantly working to reduce the numbers of individuals injured in training and therefore the costs associated with this, both in actual treatment costs and in respect of the number of training days lost.

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