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27 Nov 2002 : Column 328W—continued

Departmental Jobs (Scotland)

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many, and what percentage, of (a) civil service, (b) executive agencies and (c) non-departmental public body jobs under the remit of his Department are located in Scotland; and how many of each have been relocated to Scotland since May 1997. [83580]

Dr. Moonie: The information for the civil servants and the executive agencies is shown below as at October 2002 and April 1997 (closest data available to May 1997). The non-departmental public bodies data is shown as at October 2002 and April 1998 (closest data available to May 1997). Information on relocations is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

(FTE)

		Executive Agencies(15)		Civil Servants(16)		Non departmental public bodies(17)
	April 1997	October 2002	April 1997	October 2002	April 1998	October 2002
Scotland	6,401	5,296	3,223	3,148	0	0
Not Scotland	54,649	43,436	42,611	35,038	344	387
Total	61,050	48,732	45,834	38,186	344	387
Percentage Scotland	10.5	10.9	7.0	8.2	0.0	0.0

Notes:

⁽¹⁵⁾ The Ministry of Defence does not centrally hold information on the number of jobs or posts within its organisation and the equivalent number of people is shown as the nearest comparator.

⁽¹⁶⁾ Figures include foil time equivalent numbers for individuals working part time.

⁽¹⁷⁾ Figures are individually rounded and may not sum precisely to the totals shown.

Eurofighter Typhoon

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to be able to make a statement on the recent crash of a pre-production Eurofighter Typhoon in Spain. [83366]

Dr. Moonie [holding answer 26 November 2002):We very much regret the accident involving a Typhoon Development (not pre-production) aircraft last week but are relieved that both aircrew survived. It is too early to speculate on the cause or implications of the accident.

Fire Service Cover

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what special training has been given to civilian firefighters to work with the armed services in the event of chemical, biological or radiological attack against the United Kingdom; and whether such skills are shared by service personnel substituting for civilian firefighters on strike. [82903]

Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence has no responsibility for the training given to civilian firefighters.

During periods of industrial action, armed forces personnel will provide emergency fire and rescue cover. This will include a capability to handle hazardous materials and decontamination. Other contingency plans are in place for responding to a chemical, biological or radiological attack.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what assessment he made after 11 September 2001 of the role of civilian firefighters in the event of terrorist attack against military targets in the United Kingdom; [82902]

(2) what discussions there have been between his Department and firefighters' leaders on action to be taken by striking firefighters in the event of a terrorist attack against military installations in the United Kingdom; [82904]

(3) what estimate he has made of the impact of industrial action by firefighters on their response times in the event of a terrorist attack against military targets in the United Kingdom. [82905]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 25 November 2002]: Civil firefighters clearly have a role to play in responding to terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, whether the attack is against a civil or military target. The nature of their response and arrangements during industrial action is a matter for the FBU, local authorities and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, who have responsibility for fire services. The Ministry of Defence welcomes the protocol agreed between these parties relating to the response to a terrorist incident during periods of industrial action.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many military personnel manning Green Goddess applicances have been drawn from units usually employed on security duties at military bases in the United Kingdom; [82906]

27 Nov 2002 : Column 329W

(2) what overall assessment he has made of the implications of industrial action by firefighters on the safety and security of military installations in the United Kingdom. [82907]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 25 November 2002]: Security at military establishments is provided by trained military personnel based there, the Ministry of Defence Guard Service, the MOD Police (MDP) or a combination of the three. Neither the MOD Guard Service nor the MDP personnel are involved in providing emergency fire and rescue cover (Operation FRESCO) during the firemen's strike. Military personnel engaged in providing security do so as part of their normal daily duties and tasking is done on a rotational basis. There are no military units dedicated to providing security at military establishments.

Armed forces personnel engaged in Operation FRESCO have been drawn from many different units and from all three Services. This has been done to help minimise the effect of withdrawing forces from their normal duties and to ensure that military core business can continue, including the provision of security at military establishments. Security at those establishments has not been compromised.

HMNLS Rotterdam

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what UK operations and training exercises HMNLS Rotterdam has participated in the past two years; and which British personnel were embarked on the ship. [82212]

Mr. Ingram: The United Kingdom/Netherlands Amphibious Group, formed 29 years ago, enjoys a unique, close and historic working relationship in NATO and the European Amphibious Initiative, and regularly shares assets and a unified command.

In the past two years HNLMS ROTTERDAM has participated in the routine training deployments ARGONAUT 00 and ARGONAUT 02 which took place between mid-September to late-November 2000 and early-September to early- November 2002 respectively. HNLMS ROTTERDAM'S participation in the former was curtailed when she was called to undertake national tasking. For completeness, HNLMS ROTTERDAM has also participated in the following NATO exercises with UK involvement and/or where UK personnel have been embarked on the ship:

a. NATO exercise DESTINED GLORY 01 during which 845 Squadron (five x Sea King Mk4 and some 70 squadron personnel) embarked during the period October to November 2001 to provide lift for the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps (RNLMC).


b. NATO exercise DESTINED GLORY 02, the main focus of the ARGONAUT 02 deployment. During the exercise, and in his NATO role, Commander United Kingdom Netherlands Amphibious Group (COMUKNLPHIBGRU), a RN Commodore, together with 173 UK personnel (constituting 34 per cent. of the ship's company) and four Sea King Mk4 from 845 Squadron providing lift for the RNLMC, embarked in ROTTERDAM between September to November 2002.

27 Nov 2002 : Column 330W

Iraq

Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions (a) coalition aircraft and (b) UK aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone in Iraq have (i) detected violations of the no-fly zones, (ii) detected a direct threat to a coalition aircraft and (iii) released ordnance in each month since March, stating for each month the tonnage released; and if he will make a statement. [83246]

Mr. Ingram: The information requested is currently available only up to and including 13 November.

(i) No-fly zone (NFZ) violations are detected in several ways. I am withholding details of detection methods in accordance with Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. The number of violations recorded, by month, in the southern No Fly Zone, is as follows:

Month	Number of violations recorded
March	0
April	1
May	0
June	1
July	1
August	0
September	3
October	2
November	0

(ii) Coalition aircraft recorded threats on a total of 143 occasions, as follows:

Month	Coalition aircraft recorded threats
March	0
April	1
May	20
June	13
July	30
August	15
September	41
October	14
November	9

Note:

We do not hold separate threat figures for individual nations' aircraft.

(iii) (a) Coalition aircraft in the southern NFZ responded in self defence against Iraqi Air Defence targets on 41 occasions in the period from 1 March to 13 November, and released 126.4 tons of ordnance.

Month	Responses conducted in self defence	Tonnage of ordnance released
March	0	0
April	1	0.3
May	5	7.3
June	3	10.4
July	5	9.5
August	8	14.1
September	10	54.6
October	6	17.7
November	3	12.5

(iii) (b) Of these totals, UK aircraft responded on 17 occasions and released 46 tons of ordnance:

27 Nov 2002 : Column 331W

Month	Responses conducted in self defence	Tonnage of ordnance released
March	0	0
April	0	0
May	2	4.9
June	2	2.2
July	1	3.2
August	2	3.2
September	6	21.1
October	4	11.4
November	0	0

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