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11 Feb 2003 : Column 630W—continued
Field Hospitals
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many beds there are in each (a) regular and (b) reserve field hospital. [96932]
Dr. Moonie: The number of beds to be provided by a Regular or Reserve Field Hospital is operation specific. There is no set standard. The maximum usually provided by a single Field Hospital unit, whether Regular or Reserve, is 200 beds, with 566 medical and support staff required.
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel in each reserve field hospital unit have been paid an efficiency bounty. [96933]
Dr. Moonie: The TA bounty is awarded as a result of an individual having been available for service for the past twelve months; having completed the appropriate training; and having received the Commanding Officer's Certificate of Efficiency. Decisions regarding the award of the bounty are only made at the end of the Training Year, in April of each year. The information provided, therefore, refers to the award of the TA bounty at the end of the last Training Year, 2001–02.
Details of the award of the TA bounty to members of each Reserve Field Hospital are as follows:
| Field Hospital (V) | Personnel |
|---|---|
| 201 | 228 |
| 202 | 219 |
| 203 | 136 |
| 205 | 150 |
| 205 | 178 |
| 207 | 160 |
| 208 | 177 |
| 212 | 205 |
| 243 | 190 |
| 256 | 199 |
| Specialist Units | 376 |
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Fire Dispute
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) officers and (b) other ranks are scheduled to remain on HM ships (i) Exeter, (ii) Glasgow, (iii) Newcastle, (iv) Lancaster, (v) St. Albans and (vi) Southampton during the current phase of the firefighters' strike. [95875]
Mr. Ingram: The information requested is shown in the table:
| During strike | As of Monday 10 February | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Officers | Ratings | Officers | Ratings |
| Exeter | 9 | 122 | 13 | 222 |
| Glasgow | 14 | 135 | 19 | 221 |
| Newcastle | 6 | 67 | 6 | 67 |
| Lancaster | 12 | 95 | 17 | 118 |
| St. Albans | 5 | 53 | 12 | 120 |
| Southampton | 9 | 40 | 17 | 175 |
During the last phase of the strike the crews of HMS Lancaster, HMS Southampton, HMS St. Albans, HMS Glasgow and HMS Newcastle, while carrying out watches onboard to monitor safety systems and safety and engineering rounds, they did not live onboard. This is known as a dormant routine. HMS Newcastle remains in this routine.
Friendly Fire Casualties
Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he has had with United States officials concerning the prevention of friendly fire casualties in joint US/British military operations; and if he will make a statement. [96825]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 10 February 2003]: There have been frequent consultations between the Ministry of Defence and the United States Department of Defense on this topic.
Gas Masks
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what supplies of filter cannisters for gas masks are available; and whether there are sufficient stocks to replace all time-expired cannisters. [95984]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 6 February 2003]: For troops deployed on Operation TELIC, some 180,000 in-life filter canisters for gas masks have been issued. Further stocks are held in reserve and more will be ordered. The canisters were originally designed with a 10-year shelf life. Extensive testing (carried out in 1998) enabled us to extend the life to 15 years. Our oldest stocks were manufactured in 1991 and will not therefore expire until 2006. No soldier will commence operations with time-expired canisters.
11 Feb 2003 : Column 632W
Gulf Deployment (Equipment)
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether (a) desert T-shirts, (b) shower bags and (c) mosquito nets are part of standard equipment issued to Royal Engineers on deployment to the Gulf. [97299]
Dr. Moonie: Warm weather T-shirts are part of the desert clothing ensemble being supplied to all service personnel deploying in support of Operation Telic. Shower bags are not part of the standard personal equipment issued to service personnel, but will be available as required. Mosquito nets will be issued as personal equipment when required.
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether members of the Royal Engineers about to be deployed to the Gulf have been required to purchase (a) desert T-shirts, (b) shower bags and (c) mosquito nets. [97300]
Dr. Moonie: No service personnel about to be deployed in support of Operation Telic are required to purchase desert T-shirts, shower bags or mosquito nets.
Gulf War (Veterans Illnesses)
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the budgetary provision for 2002–03 for expenditure on Gulf War veterans' illnesses research projects is, excluding current and planned MOD research into depleted uranium munitions; and what percentage of the departmental budget this represents; [96986]
- (2) what the budgetary provision for the year 2004 for expenditure on Gulf War veterans' illnesses research projects is, excluding current and planned MOD research into depleted uranium munitions; and what percentage of the departmental budget this will represent. [96985]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 10 February 2003]: Budgetary provision for research into Gulf veterans' illnesses issues, excluding research into depleted uranium munitions, in the Ministry of Defence's Short Term Plan 2002–03 and 2003–04 is £1,010,000.
This figure represents approximately 0.004 per cent. of MOD's budget for 2002–03 and for 2003–04.
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to set up a central database of illnesses suffered by Gulf veterans in the UK. [95920]
Dr. Moonie: Primary health care records for the 53,000 or so veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict are held by their doctors and are not accessible centrally for reasons of patient confidentiality. However, the Ministry of Defence maintains some databases that contain health-related information about Gulf veterans. For example, separate databases exist to support pensions casework; processing potential claims for common law compensation and for recording information about patients who have attended the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessment Programme. In addition, data are held on cancer registrations and other cancer information. We have no plans to set up a central
11 Feb 2003 : Column 633W
database of all illnesses suffered by all Gulf veterans. To do so would be costly and would require individual informed consent from Gulf veterans, about 70 per cent. of whom have now left the armed forces and may therefore be difficult to contact.
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the incidence is of (a) lymphoma, (b) motor neurone disease, (c) diabetes, (d) renal cancer and (e) lymphocytic leukaemia in Gulf War veterans. [95921]
Dr. Moonie: The Ministry of Defence has no centralised system for monitoring and recording the health status of Service and ex-Service personnel. Given the significance attached by veterans to cancer, at MOD's request researchers at the University of Manchester are carrying out a study of the incidence of cancers in Gulf veterans. The study is using data provided by the Office for National Statistics' NHS Central Register (NHSCR) on cancer registrations in England and Wales. The study is due to complete in spring 2003. It is expected that the results will then be submitted for publication in a peer reviewed scientific journal.
Of the 3,172 Gulf veterans seen at the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessment Programme (GVMAP) as at 31 January 2003, 33 cases of diabetes mellitus, 11 cases of lymphoma (including Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkin's), seven cases of renal cancer (including renal carcinoma, hypernephroma and cancer of the kidney) and two cases of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia had been diagnosed. No cases of acute lymphocytic leukaemia were seen. MOD does maintain central records of mortality data for Gulf veterans and a comparison group, known as the Era cohort. The most recent data were published on 27 January 2003, Official Report, columns 27–29WS. This included four deaths from Motor Neurone Disease among Gulf veterans and three among the Era cohort. We are not aware of any further cases.
HMS Nottingham
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 28 January 2003, Official Report, column 747W, on HMS Nottingham, how the cost of transportation will be funded from existing funds; and what commitments are to be cut as a result. [96210]
Mr. Ingram: The cost of transporting HMS Nottingham back to the United Kingdom is expected to be funded from the Department's budget for defence-related maritime salvage and recovery activities. There are no plans to cut any commitments.
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