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17 Dec 2002 : Column 715W—continued

Defence Procurement

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total expenditure was on procurement by each of the services in the last year for which figures are available; and how much of the procurement budget for each was spent in Scotland. [86001]

Dr. Moonie [holding answer 10 December 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 1 February 2002, Official Report, column 601W. The latest figures for XSea", XLand", XAir" and Xother" are still those for 1998–99. Ministry of Defence systems have been changing following the introduction (inter alia) of Smart Acquisition (formerly Smart Procurement) and the move from cash accounting to resource accounting and budgeting (RAB). Consideration has moved from recording and analysing inputs to the armed forces to providing capability. The latest DPA Accounts (HC13 dated 28 November 2002) show that under RAB in the financial year 2001–02, the following resources were expended:

FY 2001–02	# million
Total expenditure	4,766
Strategic deployment	1,376
Strike	1,587
Manoeuvre	1,134
Information superiority	669

In addition to these sums, the Defence Logistic Organisation provides support to the front line.

These categories are not broken down into spend in regional areas.

Departmental Staff

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) military personnel and (b) civil servants there are in his Deparment, broken down by region. [87152]

Dr. Moonie: The available information is given in table 1 below showing the position for the United Kingdom Regular Forces as at April 2002. For consistency table 2 shows Civilian Personnel as at April 2002 and in addition the latest information as at October 2002.

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Table 1 UK regular forces⁽¹³⁾ by country and Government office region (GOR) as at April 2002 (all services)

	Number
United Kingdom	171,340
By Government Office Region
England	141,720
North East	1,310
North West	1,520
Yorkshire and the Humber	13,760
East Midlands	7,510
West Midlands	6,710
Eastern	18,460
London	6,670
South East	49,990
South West	35,790
Wales	2,290
Scotland	14,250
Northern Ireland(15)	7,660
Unknowns(15)	5,420

Notes:

⁽¹²⁾ All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.

⁽¹³⁾ Figures are for UK Regular Forces, both trained and untrained, located in the UK. They therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full-time Reserve Service personnel, the Home Service battalions of the Royal Regiment and mobilised reservists.

2,291 Gurkhas deployed in the United Kingdom at 1 April 2002.

1,986 Full-time Reserve Service Personnel at 1 April 2002

3,645 Personnel in the Home Service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment at 1 April 2002.

⁽¹⁴⁾ Naval Service personnel on sea service are included against the local authority containing the home port of their ship.

⁽¹⁵⁾ The detailed figures have been compiled from unit statistics related to unit postcodes. For some units postcode information is either unavailable or inappropriate. These units include personnel who are known to be in Northern Ireland, so these have been added to the Northern Ireland total. The others are in the 'Unknowns' row.

El Alamein Memorials

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what financial support was given to UK veterans attending memorials in North Africa for the 60th anniversary of the battle of El Alamein; and if he will make a statement. [87037]

Dr. Moonie: The Ministry of Defence provided support to the Eighth Army Veterans' Association (EAVA) to commemorate the battle and a service of thanksgiving was held in Westminster Abbey on 30 October; the MOD organised and funded the service. Two other events were also supported by the Department: a Commonwealth service to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the battle (held at the Commonwealth War Cemetery, El Alamein) and an international service (at the Italian War Memorial, near El Alamein). No financial assistance was given to veterans to visit Egypt.

Executive Agencies

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the expenditure was of each defence agency (a) in total and (b) in Scotland in the last available year; how many staff were employed by each agency (i) in total and (ii) in Scotland in that year. [86385]

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Dr. Moonie: Information on expenditure by Defence agencies is contained in the annual report and accounts of each agency, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

Information on the number of staff employed by each agency is set out in the table:

Staff employed by each agency (April 2002)

Agency	Total strength	Staff in Scotland
UK Hydrographic Office	882	4
Meteorological Office	2,091	146
Service Children's Education	726	—
Duke of York's Royal Military School	106	—
Queen Victoria School	70	70
Defence Analytical Services Agency	145	—
British Forces Post Office	340	7
Army Base Repair Organisation	2,019	82
Defence Secondary Care Agency	593	4
Ministry of Defence Police	3,262	818
Naval Recruiting and Training Agency	1,003	11
RAF Training Group Defence Agency	2,049	45
Army Training and Recruitment Agency	4,250	104
Defence Communications Service Agency	3,054	107
Defence Estates	1,363	105
Disposal Services Agency	78	3
Defence Transport and Movements Agency	314	—
Defence Science and Technical Laboratory	2,825	45
Defence Dental Agency	158	9
Medical Supply Agency	—	—
Pay and Personnel Agency	665	—
Defence Bills Agency	581	—
Naval Manning Agency	106	—
Defence Intelligence and Security Centre	135	—
Army Personnel Centre	754	680
Warship Support Agency	7,682	2,497
RAF Personnel Management Agency	236	—
Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency	229	109
Defence Vetting Agency	262	3
Defence Medical Training Organisation	169	—
Defence Aviation Repair Agency	4,343	317
Defence Storage and Distribution Agency	2,753	25
Defence Housing Executive	935	88
Defence Procurement Agency	3,726	134
Defence Geographic Imagery Intelligence Agency	690	1
Veterans Agency	879	14

Firefighters' Strike

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make an assessment of the range of equipment and clothing held by his Department to determine whether it enables it to (a) provide cover for services withdrawn by the fire brigades and (b) conduct firefighting operations for which it is responsible. [87859]

Mr. Ingram: The Armed Forces have been supplied with suitable and adequate equipment and clothing to provide the agreed level of fire cover in the event of industrial action being taken by local fire brigades. When not in use the responsibility for such equipment rests with the Office of my right hon Friend the Deputy Prime Minister.

The Defence Fire Services are also supplied with and maintain all the necessary equipment and clothing to conduct those operations for which they are primarily responsible.

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Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what his present estimates are for (a) the full costs and (b) the additional costs incurred by his Department in planning for and providing military personnel and equipment to cover for services withdrawn by the fire brigades; and what elements his Department has taken into account in calculating its costs incurred in providing such services; [87856]

(2) what the arrangements are for his Department to recover from the authorities responsible for the provision of such services its costs in providing services withdrawn by the fire brigades; and when he expects his Department to receive the repayments due to it from other authorities in respect of its costs in providing services withdrawn by the fire brigades. [87857]

Mr. Ingram: It is too early to make even the broadest of estimates of how much the military assistance will cost at this stage, because the costs incurred during the actual strike periods have yet to be fully captured through the Ministry of Defence's central cost reporting system, and because we have no relevant historical examples to predict from. This prevents the Department from making any accurate costs estimates beyond those associated with the initial purchase of the urgent operational equipment necessary to equip the services.

In that regard, in the run up to the strike we incurred costs of around #8 million on purchasing major items of equipment such as protective clothing, breathing apparatus and hydraulic cutting equipment.

Under the rules that apply to operations of this sort, the Ministry of Defence will recover from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) the additional costs that are incurred in providing military assistance, ensuring that the operation is cost neutral so far as the defence budget is concerned.

We expect to receive repayment for the additional costs incurred thus far by the defence budget on this operation once they have been reported, scrutinised and notified to the ODPM.

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