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31 Oct 2002 : Column 896W—continued

Service Personnel (Illness)

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel are not serving because of illnesses acquired on deployments in (a) Sierra Leone, (b) Saif Sareea, (c) Afghanistan, (d) Kosovo and (e) Macedonia; and if he will make a statement. [78284]

Dr. Moonie: The number of Army personnel discharged as a result of illness following deployment to Sierra Leone and Kosovo, is one and seven respectively. No Army personnel were discharged as a result of illness to the other deployments listed. No personnel were recorded as having been discharged as a result of these deployments from the Royal Navy or the Royal Air Force.

Suez Campaign (Medals)

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) terms of reference, (b) membership and (c) date for final report are of the committee chaired by Lord Guthrie to examine the case for a service medal for veterans of the Suez Canal Zone campaign from 1951 to 1954. [78573]

Dr. Moonie: The terms of reference are as I announced in a written response to a Parliamentary Question on 23 July 2002, Official Report, column 1106W, to the hon. Member for Colchester (Mr. Bob Russell). The sub-committee of the HD Committee under the chairmanship of General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank will report on the case for an exceptional award of a GSM for the Suez Canal Zone without creating a wider precedent or breaching long-standing principles which underpin the making of such awards.

The sub-committee will consist of the chairman plus Field Marshal Sir John Chapple GCB CBE; Air Vice Marshal K D Filbey CBE FIMgt FRAes RAF; Charles de Chassiron CVO Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps and Head of Protocol Division, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; the military historian Sir Max Hastings and Gay Catto, Ceremonial Officer, Cabinet Office.

The sub-committee is necessarily independent of the Ministry of Defence and as such I have no visibility or authority over their proceedings. I am advised that the sub-committee has yet to take evidence after which it will fully consider the options. When it has reached a conclusion on the matter, it will report to the HD Committee which in turn will publish the results.

31 Oct 2002 : Column 897W

The Ceremonial Branch of the Cabinet Office are acting as secretariat to the sub-committee.

Weapon Thefts

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what category of weapons have been (a) lost and (b) stolen from MOD units and establishments in each year since 1972. [76671]

31 Oct 2002 : Column 898W

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 24 October 2002]: Ministry of Defence records show a total of 354 weapons to have been lost, and 802 weapons stolen, since 1972. 262 weapons have been recovered during this period. Only the Army and Royal Marines records go back as far as 1972. Royal Navy records go back to 1993 and the RAF to 1991. The detailed year-by-year since statistics were provided is set out in the tables.

Lost, stolen and recovered MOD weapons by type from 1 January 1972 to 28 October 2002(Lost weapons register

Year	Pistol	Mil. Rifle	SMG	LMG/ GPMG	Mortars	Antique/ other	Shot gun	Baton gun	Tgt Rifle (Sport)	Total
1972	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
1973	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
1974	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1975	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	6
1976	2	2	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	13
1977	8	10	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	21
1978	5	6	20	0	0	0	0	1	0	32
1979	9	4	17	0	0	0	1	1	0	32
1980	10	6	12	1	0	0	2	0	0	31
1981	11	5	8	0	0	0	0	1	0	25
1982	4	2	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	13
1983	9	7	7	0	2	0	0	0	0	27
1984	2	4	12	0	1	0	0	0	0	19
1985	3	7	11	0	1	0	0	0	0	22
1986	0	7	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	11
1987	2	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	7
1988	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	5
1989	3	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	7
1990	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1991	1	6	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	11
1992	7	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	12
1993	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
1994	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
1995	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1996	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1997	1	1	0	0	0	0	20	0	0	22
1998	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1999	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
2000	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3
2001	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	5
2002	3	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	11
Totals	101	79	135	3	8	2	23	3	0	354

Stolen weapons register

	Pistol	Rifle	9mm SMG	LMG/ GPMG	Mortars	Antique/ other	Shot gun	Baton gun	Tgt rifle (sport)	Total
1972	16	44	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	75
1973	13	12	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	29
1974	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
1975	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1976	10	101	3	7	2	0	0	0	0	123
1977	7	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	21
1978	6	12	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	20
1979	9	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	19
1980	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9
1981	6	15	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	23
1982	12	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	18
1983	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8
1984	6	19	5	5	0	2	0	0	0	37
1985	9	33	2	1	0	2	0	0	0	47
1986	5	20	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	29
1987	16	38	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	58
1988	11	14	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	26
1989	2	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	16
1990	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
1991	6	4	0	0	3	15	0	0	4	32
1992	15	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	3	21
1993	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	23	28
1994	4	13	0	0	0	5	0	0	2	24
1995	3	3	0	1	0	2	0	0	1	10
1996	6	16	0	0	0	12	0	0	6	40
1997	1	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8
1998	3	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15
1999	0	9	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	12
2000	21	2	0	0	0	10	7	0	2	42
2001	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6
2002	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4
Totals	211	428	37	21	7	50	10	0	35	802

31 Oct 2002 : Column 899W

Recovered weapons register

	Pistol	Mil rifle	SMG	LMG/ GPMG	Mortars	Antique/ other	Shot gun	Riot gun	Tgt rifle (sport)	Total
1972	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1973	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
1974	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1975	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1976	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
1977	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1978	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1979	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
1980	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
1981	5	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	11
1982	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
1983	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	7
1984	4	8	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	15
1985	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	5
1986	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
1987	10	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14
1988	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1990	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
1991	2	3	1	1	0	30	0	0	0	10
1992	7	4	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	14
1993	1	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	6
1994	3	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7
1995	2	7	0	0	1	2	1	0	0	13
1996	7	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	23
1997	5	12	0	1	0	0	20	0	0	39
1998	3	6	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	11
1999	3	11	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	15
2000	12	3	0	0	1	6	1	0	0	23
2001	6	6	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	14
2002	0	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9
Total	82	116	16	5	6	14	23	0	0	262

Note:

SMG(9mm Sub-Machine Gun. LMG(Light Machine Gun. GPMG(General Purpose Machine Gun

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Affordable Housing

Andrew George: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much was spent on affordable housing in villages in rural England in (a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02 and (c) 2002–03 to date. [78406]

Mr. McNulty: Information in the form requested is not available immediately. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as the information is collated.

Education Facilities

Mr Love: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidelines he issues to local authorities considering the

31 Oct 2002 : Column 900W

construction of new educational facilities on (a) green belt and (b) metropolitan open land; and if he will make a statement. [78081]

Mr. McNulty: Guidance on all aspects of development in the green belt, including new educational facilities, is set out in planning policy guidance note (PPG) 2, green belts. Designated metropolitan open land has the same status as green belt, and the planning policies set out in PPG2 will also apply to such land. New educational facilities in the green belt will be subject to the same controls as other development in the green belt and proposals will need to demonstrate that very special circumstances exist, which

31 Oct 2002 : Column 901W

outweigh the harm caused to the green belt by the development, if they are to be granted planning permission.

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