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Blue Danube Atomic Bomb

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when drawings and specifications of the Blue Danube atomic bomb were placed in the Public Records Office; and if he will make a statement. [51024]

Mr. Hoon: The file containing this information about Blue Danube was transferred to the Public Record Office in August 1994.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received from the US Government regarding publication of details of the Blue Danube atomic bomb. [51022]

Mr. Hoon: None.

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Nuclear Weapons

Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the maximum number of warheads loaded on to the individual Trident D5 missiles currently deployed; and what is the maximum number of warheads that could be deployed on each of the United Kingdom's Trident D5 missiles. [51137]

Mr. Ingram: A maximum of 12 nuclear warheads could be deployed on each of the United Kingdom's Trident D5 missiles. The number of warheads loaded on to each missile currently deployed is withheld under Exemption 1 (Defence, Security and International Relations) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

QinetiQ

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps were taken to ensure that the bidding process for contractors in respect of QinetiQ was conducted in accordance with his Department's rules; and if he will make a statement. [50680]

Dr. Moonie: An advert was placed in the Financial Times (European edition) on 8 March 2002 seeking expressions of interest in becoming a strategic partner to QinetiQ in writing to UBS Warburg by 15 March 2002. Almost 40 parties expressed an interest and were forwarded a pre-qualification questionnaire for response by 28 March. 16 completed responses have been received and these are at present being assessed with the intention of selecting those parties to receive the information memorandum.

Senior Armed Forces

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 552W, on senior members of the armed forces, how many officers of the rank of general and above in each service attended (a) independent and (b) state schools. [51228]

Mr. Ingram: I have nothing to add to my earlier reply. This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Service Accommodation

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) service family accommodation and (b) single living accommodation units were of (i) grade one, (ii) grade two, (iii) grade three and (iv) grade four standard in each year between 1997 and 2001; and if he will make a statement. [51168]

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

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) married quarters and (b) single living accommodation quarters have been inspected for health and safety in the last 12 months; how many have failed health and safety inspections; and if he will make a statement. [51166]

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

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many repairs have been made to (a) service family accommodation and (b) single living accommodation in each year between 1997 and 2001; how many of these have repeated repairs conducted in the previous year; and if he will make a statement. [51167]

Dr. Moonie: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

ABRO (Staff Rights)

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the steps taken by his Department to protect staff rights in connection with service with ABRO, with special reference to the case of Mr. Alan Ely of Linlithgow. [46924]

Mr. Ingram: ABRO staff are Ministry of Defence civil servants and enjoy the same employment rights as all other staff employed in the Department. With particular regard to the dismissal case of Mr. Alan Ely, the appropriate departmental procedures were followed by ABRO.

Legal proceedings in this matter are currently on-going. On legal advice the MOD has appealed against the level of the Employment Tribunal's compensation award, made to Mr. Ely for unfair dismissal.

Donna Nook Range

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the annual cost of inspections of the Donna Nook range conducted by Explosives Ordnance Disposal personnel from RAF Coningsby has been in the last five years; and what his estimate is of the one-off cost of permanently disposing of munitions contained in this dump. [48661]

Dr. Moonie: Information on costs over the last five years is not available but, in the last financial year, the cost of RAF Coningsby-based personnel clearing RAF Donna Nook air weapons range was estimated to be £97,000. This figure does not include the cost of training, incidental expenses or the cost of replacing specialist bomb disposal equipment. Those personnel who undertake the clearance of the air weapons range also inspect the munitions dump weekly. No estimate has been made of the one-off cost of disposal of the munitions contained in this dump.

Military Aviation Accidents

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military aviation accidents involving RAF and other countries' air forces occurred in the UK (a) from 1990 to 1997 and (b) from 1997 to the present, broken down by region and by air force; and if he will make a statement. [51726]

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

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Service Personnel (Transport)

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what official guidelines there are concerning travel time for service personnel returning to their home base from overseas; and if he will make a statement. [51732]

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

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how she proposes to modify the voluntary status of the UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme 2002 to comply with the mandatory status of the EU Trading Scheme when the latter comes into force in 2005. [48981]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 15 April 2002]: The Government welcome the principles of EU trading to encourage European industry to gain early experience of trading in advance of international trading under the Kyoto protocol. The Commission's proposal for a EU emissions trading scheme does differ in some respects from the UK scheme; one significant difference is that the Commission's proposal is for a mandatory scheme whereas the UK scheme is voluntary. The Government are working with the Commission and other member states during the negotiation process to develop a less rigid emissions trading scheme for the EU that takes account of existing national trading arrangements and provides for them to run their course. It has always been the Government's intention that the transition between the UK scheme and any EU or international trading scheme will be as seamless as possible.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she intends that the use of sinks and forest sequestration will be allowed as part of the UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme 2002. [48983]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 15 April 2002]: Although the Government recognise that carbon sinks can provide environmental and other benefits, they believe that the UK's current priority should be actual emissions reductions, rather than carbon sequestration (either as sinks or storage) because of the complexities and uncertainties involved in forestry projects and other carbon sinks. For the time being, therefore, sinks and forest sequestration projects are not eligible for entry into the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. This approach to sinks and sequestration will be kept under review.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the rules her Department has drawn up to ensure that the UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme 2002 delivers emission reductions additional to those required by regulation will be published. [48976]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 15 April 2002]: The Government have already made further details on the treatment of regulatory requirements in the UK

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Greenhouse Gas Trading Scheme available on request. The Government intend to formally publish these details later this week.

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on progress with the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. [51943]

Margaret Beckett: The UK Emissions Trading Scheme went live on 2 April with the opening of the innovative, web-based Emissions Trading Registry, which records the transfer of allowances from buyer to seller. A number of trades have already taken place.

A total of 34 organisations successfully joined the Scheme through a competitive auction held in March. In return for taking on legally binding emissions reduction targets, these organisations will each receive a share of the financial incentive that the Government are making available over the five years of the Scheme. They can choose to meet their annual targets by reducing emissions themselves or by buying surplus allowances from other participating organisations. To date, over 50 other organisations have opened trading accounts so that they can buy and sell allowances.

We expect the volume of trades and number of participants to increase in the autumn and beyond when participation in the Scheme widens as some of the 6,000 companies in Climate Change Agreements begin buying allowances to enable them to meet their targets or selling any over-achievement to other participants. Projects that produce quantified reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will also be able, in time and subject to prior approval from the Government, to earn credits that can then be traded through the Scheme.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will state the baselines for the average emissions in (a) 1998, (b) 1999 and (c) 2000 for each of the direct participants of the UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme 2002. [48977]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 15 April 2002]: Direct participants in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme are currently in the process of having their baseline emissions independently verified by organisations accredited for this specific purpose by the UK Accreditation Service. These independent verification organisations will provide the Government with a verified baseline (an average of emissions in 1998–2000 unless there are regulatory requirements to take into account) for each direct participant. Once they have done so, the Government will make the baseline emissions for each direct participant publicly available. The Government expect to publish the first independently verified baselines at the end of this month. They will be available on www.defra.gov.uk/etr.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which of the direct participants of the UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme 2002 fall under (a) integrated pollution control and (b) the flare consents regime for offshore installations; and what reduction in emissions for these companies is stipulated by the conditions set in their IPC authorisations and flare consents. [48980]

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Mr. Meacher [holding answer 15 April 2002]: Three direct participants (DuPont UK Ltd, Ineos Fluor Ltd and Rhodia Organique Fine Ltd) in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme are subject to regulation under Integrated Pollution Control, and two (British Petroleum plc and Shell UK Ltd) that are subject to the Department of Trade and Industry's flare consent regime. The terms of these regulatory requirements under IPC are already available on the public register at the following local Environment Agency offices: Coverdale House, York for DuPont, Richard Fairclough House, Warrington for Ineos Fluor and Rivers House, Bridgewater for Rhodia. The 2002 flare consents for British Petroleum installations and fields in the Emissions Trading Scheme allow 1,132.55 thousand standard cubic metres of natural gas flared per day. For Shell, the comparable number is 698.17 thousand standard cubic metres of natural gas flared per day.

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