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Civilian Staff (Northern Ireland)

Mr. Kevin McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) numerical and (b) percentage breakdown by perceived community origin are of his civilian staff employed in Northern Ireland. [97692]

Dr. Moonie: The numerical and percentage breakdown of the civilian staff employed by the Ministry of Defence in Northern Ireland as at 1 January 2003 is set out in the table below.

		Male			Female			Total
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Protestant	1,462	42.8	992	29.1	2,454	71.9
Roman Catholic	254	7.4	192	5.6	446	13.1
Others	344	10.1	170	5.0	514	15.0
Total	2,060	60.3	1,354	39.7	3,414

Laptops

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many laptop computers were used by (a) Ministers and special advisers and (b) officials in his Department in each year since 1995; how many were (i) lost and (ii) stolen; what their cost was; and if he will make a statement. [97503]

Dr. Moonie: Information regarding the number of laptop computers used within the Ministry of Defence in any given year is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The same applies to information regarding any items recorded as lost. With regard to the number of laptop computers suspected of being stolen, reported cases are recorded centrally on a summary basis only. Those records relate to items suspected of being stolen and so it cannot be assumed that theft actually applies in every case. Information regarding stolen laptop computers is only readily available from 1997–98 and is here related to cases where the value of suspected loss exceeds £1,000.

Year	Total	(£)
1997–98	18	38,010
1998–99	3	6,885
1999–00
2000–01	4	7,748
2001–02	12	31,530

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many cases of computer (a) hacking, (b) fraud and (c) theft his Department recorded in 2001–02; and on how many occasions computer systems have been illegally accessed by computer hackers (i) within and (ii) outside his Department. [97556]

Dr. Moonie: The number of incidents affecting computer systems for the years 2001 and 2002 are summarised in the following table:

Incident Type	2001	2002
Computer Hacking Totals: of which:
Public website defacements
Internal incursions	12
2
10	7
1
6
Computer Fraud	4	0
Computer Theft	118	155

None of the instances of hacking had any operational impact, and despite widespread and frequent probes of Ministry of Defence firewalls connected to the Internet, there is no evidence of any successful incursion from an external source to any Departmental computer system.

In the case of computer fraud, all instances are cases where MOD computers have been used in support of fraudulent activities, rather than fraudulent use of a computer—based system.

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Departmental Assets

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the total revenues from the disposal of defence assets from April 2001 to December 2002; and if he will make a statement. [95793]

Mr. Ingram: The total revenues from the disposal of defence assets from April 2001 to December 2002 is about £400 million. Information on asset disposals is published annually in the Consolidated Departmental Resource Accounts. The latest information (that for financial year 2001–02) is contained in HC 47 of 21 November 2002, copies of which are available in the Library of the House and on the Ministry of Defence website.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the value of the land and building assets of his Department in each year from 1990–91 to 2001–02; and if he will make a statement. [95796]

Dr. Moonie: We publish information on the value of Ministry of Defence land and building assets annually, and have done this since 1999–2000, in MOD's Consolidated Departmental Resource Accounts. These values are mainly based on the operational value of the

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estate to MOD and do not represent the market or sale value of the properties in question. For ease of reference, the figures are:

	£ billion
1999–2000	14.1
2000–01	14.4
2001–02	14.3

These are audited figures, which reflect the impact of indexation, additions, disposals and depreciation arising each year. Copies of the accounts have been placed in the Library of the House.

We also have (unaudited) estimates for:

	£ billion
1997–98(35)	13.4
1998–99	13.7

⁽³⁵⁾ The first year for which MOD-wide valuation information is available.

Departmental Consultations

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list consultations his Department has conducted since 1997; and when each consultation (a) opened and (b) closed. [97428]

Dr. Moonie: The Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultation applies to all formal national public consultation documents issued by Departments from 1 January 2001 and the information requested is not available before that date.

Since 1 January 2001, the following formal national public consultation documents have been issued by the Ministry of Defence:

	Consultation Period
Formal National Public Consultation	Date opened	Date closed
Future of the Defence Diversification Agency	1 February 2001	23 March 2001
Proposed introduction of the voluntary screening programme following health concerns in respect of depleted uranium	13 February 2001	9 March 2001
The Military Maritime Graves and the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986	14 February 2001	14 May 2001
Armed Forces pension scheme review	1 March 2001	31 July 2001
Joint compensation review	1 March 2001	31 July 2001
The 2nd consultation document on the introduction of a voluntary screening programme for depleted uranium	11 April 2001	4 July 2001
Ministry of Defence police quinquennial review	26 April 2001	18 December 2001

Further information on these public consultations can be found on the internet under http: //www .mod.uk/consultations.

Domestic Violence

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to (a) increase awareness of domestic violence and (b) provide services and support for the victims of domestic violence within the families of members of the military services. [97746]

Dr. Moonie: Domestic violence is a significant social issue and we recognise the need to ensure that it is dealt with effectively within the Armed Forces' community. Domestic violence by Service personnel is not tolerated under any circumstances, not least because of the detrimental impact that such incidents can have on morale, discipline and operational efficiency.

A tri-Service policy on domestic violence was issued in February 2002. The policy, which has now been implemented by the Services, sets out the roles and responsibilities of the chain of command and the welfare agencies in detecting and dealing with incidents of domestic violence and in providing confidential advice and support. The Services are proactive in increasing awareness about domestic violence to those in command and in publicising (via leaflets, posters and

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web sites) the services available to possible victims. There are many agencies, both military and civilian, that exist to provide support to victims. The confidential support lines that are operated by the three Services are able to signpost callers to these support agencies. In cases where immediate or imminent harm is suspected the incident is reported to the most readily available police force; primacy rests with the local Home Department Police Force in United Kingdom whereas cases arising overseas are dealt with by the Service police.

E-mail Addresses

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence by what e-mail address members of the public may contact (a) him and (b) each of the Ministers in his Department; and for each e-mail address if he will state (i) the date it became active and (ii) the number of e-mails received in each month since activation. [97448]

Dr. Moonie: Members of the public can contact all Defence Ministers via [e-mail]. This email address has been active since 1998.

The table below details the number of emails recorded as received via this address since July 2000, from when these statistics have been collected:

2000	Number
July	311
August	2,872
September	1,409
October	594
November	427
December	350
Total	6,477

2001	Number
January	241
February	585
March	394
April	209
May	476
June	533
July	148
August	202
September	1,374
October	891
November	627
December	384
Total:	6,064

2002	Number
January	764
February	322
March	480
April	2,280
May	873
June	700
July	1,891
August	1,506
September	562
October	474
November	539
December	140
Total:	10,801

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2003	Number
January	675

Of the total number of e-mails set out above, over 85 per cent. are categorised as 'spam'; that is, offensive, or circulars, or otherwise not worthy of a response.

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