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12 Dec 2002 : Column 415W—continued
Bullying
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 19 November, Official Report, column 36W, how many complaints about bullying have been recorded in each year at the Dalton Barracks in Oxfordshire; and what measures have been taken to protect service personnel against bullying. [86051]
Dr. Moonie: Since 1 January 1999, the Royal Military Police has received one report of alleged assault/bullying at Dalton Barracks, Abingdon. The case was considered by the Commanding Officer and the individual found not guilty.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces on 4 November 2002, Official Report, column 57W to my hon. Friend the Member for Selby (Mr. Grogan). Bullying and harassment in any form are not tolerated, and the Services incorporate procedures and undertake training at all levels in an attempt to raise awareness of these issues, minimise, and if possible eradicate, such practices.
Cadet Forces (Funding)
Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what criteria he uses to decide the level of funds for (a) the Sea Cadets, (b) the Army Cadets and (c) the Air Training Corps; and if he will make it his policy that the Sea Cadets are funded on an equal basis to the Army Cadets and Air Training Corps. [85803]
Dr. Moonie: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 3 December 2002 Official Report, columns 691–92W. The budget for the cadet organisations is reviewed in the same way as the rest of the Ministry of Defence. The budget is considered against the requirement to sustain a vigorous and vibrant youth organisation which sustains active membership for enrolled cadets. Risks to sustaining the cadet organisations are then considered alongside the other risks to the MOD's output targets. In the case of the Sea Cadet Corps, this process is based on the Corps's known annual requirements and any specific changing needs. Consideration is also given to the Sea Cadet Corps's other sources of income, on a year-by-year basis.
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Challenger 2 Tanks
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he and his Department have held with Vickers Defence Systems regarding the modification of Challenger 2 tanks for desert conditions; and if he will make a statement. [85361]
Mr. Hoon: There has been a wide range of discussions with Alvis Vickers Ltd. (previously Vickers Defence Systems) related to the deployment of Challenger 2 in desert conditions. This dialogue continues and a Post Design Services enabling agreement with Alvis Vickers Limited was authorised at the end of October 2002 to deal specifically with the modification of Challenger 2 tanks for these environments.
Confidential Support Line
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have phoned the Army's confidential support line in each year since its formation; in what form statistical information about calls is monitored; and how general observations drawn by advice workers are passed on to appropriate authorities for action to prevent bullying. [86048]
Dr. Moonie: The purpose of the Army Confidential Support Line, which was established on 1 December 1991, is to provide a means of support to serving soldiers and their dependants, although calls may also be taken from members of the other Services, Ministry of Defence civilians and ex-Service personnel. The collation of statistics is not a primary function of the support staff and as no personal information is requested from any caller, those statistics which are available are, inevitably, incomplete. As such, no specific analysis of the available statistics is undertaken.
Those statistics which are available for 1998–2001 are contained within the Soldiers Sailors Airmen's Families Association—Forces Help Confidential Support Line Annual Report 2001, a copy of which I will place in the Library of the House.
Deepcut/Catterick Barracks
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the balance is between civilian and ranking officer staff responsible for advice work carried out at (a) Deepcut and (b) Catterick Barracks by (i) the regimental medical office, (ii) the Padre, (iii) the unit
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welfare officer, (iv) the local army welfare worker and (v) the Women's Royal Voluntary Service welfare office. [86076]
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Dr. Moonie: The information requested is as follows:
| Medical centre | Padre | Unit welfare office | Army welfare service | WRVS/Salvation Army(4) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civilian | Military | Civilian | Military | Civilian | Military | Civilian | Military | Civilian | Military | |
| Deepcut | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1(5) | 0 | 1(5) | 2(6) | 2 | 0 |
| Catterick | 7 | 1(4) | ||||||||
| >1(6) | 0 | 3(8) | 2(9) | 1(6) | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | ||
(4) At Catterick.
(5) Retired officer.
(6) NCO.
(7) Officer.
(8) At present, shortly to become four.
(9) Of which one is a retired officer.
Note:
The information for Catterick is in respect of the Infantry Training Centre only.
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many welfare agency case conferences have been held at (a) Deepcut and (b) Catterick Barracks since 1990; what venues have been used for the meetings; and on how many occasions each year the conferences have passed on concerns about bullying to the Officer Commanding. [86077]
Dr. Moonie: Given the number of agencies involved in the provision of welfare support, no central records of case conferences, or their venues, are maintained by either establishment. Catterick Garrison alone comprises the School of Infantry, seven other major and fifteen further minor units. Welfare meetings will vary across all units but may range from regular staff meetings to Commanding Officer's conferences. All cases of bullying which are reported to any welfare agency or the chain of command will be passed to the Commanding Officer for appropriate action.
Defence Establishments (State of Alert)
Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the states of alert which are operated by defence establishments, and the criteria which apply in each case. [86448]
Dr. Moonie: I am withholding details on the states of alert operated across the various sectors in accordance with Exemption 1 (Defence, security and international relations) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Defence Industries (Employment)
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how his Department calculates the number of people employed in and by defence related industries in the regions of the UK; what multiplier is used; and what the regional and national totals are. [86012]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 10 December 2002]: Estimates of employment can be determined as the addition of three elements. These are:
- Xdirect". The Xdirect" numbers are those employed in the supplying manufacturer i.e the company contracted by the Ministry of Defence to undertake the work, or the exporter;
Xindirect". These include those indirectly employed through work generated in subcontractors and those who supply the main contractor. As well as manufacturers of products which are embodied in the final product, these will include suppliers of services e.g. consultants and electricity generators; and
Xinduced", i.e. employment resulting from the additional consumer spending which arise from the direct and indirect employees.
- the Xfinal demand" of expenditure by (grouped) standard industrial categories is determined for MOD UK expenditure on equipment and non-equipment using information from MOD systems. Figures for exports are more problematic—various sources are used for these;
direct employment. Using MOD final demand and turnover per (full-time equivalent) employee for the sectors involved, direct employment follows by division; and
indirect employment. Total and indirect demand is calculated using the MOD final demand and (adapted) UK Input-Output Analytical Tables. The latest available Analytical Tables, which are produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), are for the year 1995. They were published in May 2002. The Analytical Tables are assumed to change slowly, so may be applied to years other than the ones for which they were prepared. There are various ways of deriving indirect employment. The one proposed by DASA is to calculate it as derived indirect demand divided by the appropriate rates (output at basic prices) for the sectors concerned. Such details are still subject to review (see below).
DASA has been leading a review into the method for estimating employment dependent on MOD equipment and non-equipment expenditure and exports. One of the outcomes of the review is that regional estimates of direct equipment related employment should not be published as National Statistics any more. The
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underlying data are not of a good enough quality and they only ever represented less than a third of the total employment estimates.
Estimates of regional indirect employment have never been prepared. They are more difficult to establish. Although Analytical Tables and multipliers are produced for some areas, for example, for Scotland (by the Scottish Executive), the calculation of employment would require knowledge of the volumes of Xexports" and Ximports" of MOD defence equipment from other regions. These data are not available. Analytical Tables are not produced by the ONS for the English regions.
A detailed report on the calculation of the UK employment estimates has been prepared. This is currently being peer reviewed and will be made available on the DASA website.
Provisional figures for the UK were published as Table 1.11 of UK Defence Statistics 2002, a copy of which is available from the Library of the House.
| 2000–01 (thousands)(10) | |
|---|---|
| Total employment | 310 |
| Direct (total) | 155 |
| Indirect (total) | 150 |
| Employment from MOD expenditure (sub total) | 235 |
| Equipment expenditure | |
| Direct | 70 |
| Indirect | 70 |
| Non-equipment expenditure | |
| Direct | 55 |
| Indirect | 40 |
| Employment from defence exports (sub total) | 70 |
| Direct | 30 |
| Indirect | 40 |
(10) Provisional. The figures are rounded to the nearest 5,000. Differences between the totals and the sums are caused by the rounding.
Although numbers are no longer published as National Statistics, the Defence Analytical Services Agency has continued to derive regional breakdowns of the direct MOD equipment expenditure. The latest, provisional, and, as indicated above, qualified figures are:
| Direct employment (thousands)(11) | |
|---|---|
| Scotland | 5 |
| Wales | 1 |
| Northern Ireland | 1 |
| England | |
| North East | 1 |
| Yorks and Humberside | 1 |
| East Midlands | 2 |
| Eastern | 8 |
| London and South East | 20 |
| South West | 16 |
| West Midlands | 2 |
| North West | 15 |
| Total | 72 |
(11) Provisional. The numbers calculated have been rounded to the nearest thousand, but are indicative only. The difference between 'region totals' and the 'UK total' is due to rounding anomalies.
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