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6 May 2003 : Column 571W—continued

Joint Rapid Reaction Force

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans the Government has to undergo a Joint Rapid Reaction Force exercise where participants do not have prior notice; and if he will make a statement. [110554]

Mr. Ingram: The Joint Rapid Reaction Forces are exercised on a regular basis but we currently have no plans for an exercise in which the participants would

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have no prior notice. We do, however, arrange at least one Command Post Exercise each year for the Commander Joint Force Operations and his staff, in which they participate without any prior notice. The purpose of these is to exercise the Commander and staff in the planning and execution of a short notice deployment.

Joint Services Group

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many covert human intelligence sources are handled by the Joint Services Group. [110864]

Mr. Ingram: I am withholding information on covert human intelligence sources under section 1a of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who the head is of the Joint Services Group; and who provides its secretariat. [111640]

Mr. Ingram: I am withholding the requested information under Exemption 1a (national security) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

OCCAR

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much money Britain contributes to each of the OCCAR projects; what proportion this represents of the total costs of each of the projects; and what proportion this represents of the total OCCAR budget. [109085]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 1 May 2003]: The Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation (OCCAR) currently manages seven collaborative defence equipment programmes. Of these, the UK participates in the COBRA (Counter Battery Radar) and BOXER (Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle) programmes. The UK does not participate in, nor contribute towards, the other OCCAR programmes, which include the TIGER helicopter, and FSAF, ROLAND and HOT/MILAN missile systems programmes.

OCCAR's budgeting and accounting is in cash terms. On this basis, the UK's expected monetary contribution to OCCAR for the current phases of the BOXER and COBRA programmes, and our share of these costs is:

Programme	UK contribution	UK share (percentage)
BOXER	40	32
COBRA	99	23

These figures relate only to contracts that are currently in place, and cover the UK's expected contribution towards both acquisition costs and OCCAR running costs for the relevant contract phase. OCCAR budgets for subsequent contract phases have still to be established.

OCCAR programme equipment budgets are calculated individually involving only OCCAR and the national participants concerned. The UK does not therefore have, nor do we need, visibility of all

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OCCAR's budgets. However, it is intended that OCCAR will produce annual total cost figures that will quantify the overall scale of its operations each year.

RAF Standardisation Exercise

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the result was of the RAF NAR team Standardisation Exercise in Suffolk; and what recommendations have been put forward as a result of this exercise. [110888]

Mr. Ingram: The RAF NAR team Standardisation Exercise in Suffolk was assessed as satisfactory. A number of recommendations have been made which include aspects of the Public Relations response and the liaison with the emergency services.

Reservists

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Prime Minister's statement of 24 March 2003, Official Report, column 29, which United Kingdom armed forces are being held in reserve and prepared for deployment to the Gulf. [105640]

Dr. Moonie: I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence's two written ministerial statements on Iraq Force Level Adjustments 11 April 2003, Official Report, columns 38–39WS and 30 April 2003, Official Report, columns 15–16WS.

SA80 A2 Rifle

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the performance of the SA80 A2 used by British troops in the recent Iraq conflict. [111656]

Mr. Ingram: Post operational reporting will provide analysis and an assessment of the performance of equipment deployed on operations in Iraq. It would, therefore, be premature for me to provide a detailed assessment of the performance at this stage. Early indications are, however, that SA80 A2 performed well overall.

Submarines

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the submarines which are not available for deployment, together with the reasons for non-availability in each case. [111338]

Mr. Ingram: The following submarines are currently not available for deployment:

Submarine	Reasons for non-availability
HMS Talent	Upkeep maintenance in dry dock
HMS Trenchant	Upkeep maintenance in dry dock
HMS Spartan	Conducting post upkeep sea trials
HMS Sceptre	Conducting post upkeep sea trials
HMS Superb	Undergoing maintenance
HMS Trafalgar	Undergoing maintenance
HMS Vanguard	Upkeep maintenance in dry dock
HMS Vigilant	Undergoing maintenance

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BBC Broadcasts (Gulf)

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the showing of BBC News coverage to HM forces deployed in the Persian Gulf. [110590]

Mr. Ingram: The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) is produced by the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC) under contract to the Ministry of Defence and provides radio and television services to most locations overseas where significant numbers of British forces are permanently stationed and, subject to practicality, to operational theatres.

The television channels available to British land-based forces deployed in the Gulf have included two 24-hour BFBS channels, one of which includes: BBC 'Breakfast', BBC 6 o'clock News and, until 26 April, BBC News at 10 o'clock. SSVC also re-broadcasts BBC 'News 24' and 'Sky News' as additional 24-hour news channels. To receive these channels, SSVC has installed a large number of stand alone satellite television systems, initially in Kuwait and more recently in Southern Iraq.

For the British forces onboard ships equipped with stabilised receiver dishes (eg HMS Ark Royal and HMS Ocean) the fall range of television channels has been available, however many ships do not have this capability and therefore for those with connectivity to the Skynet satellites a single television channel capability has been developed. The programme content is specified by the Royal Navy and has during the past two months included BBC News 24, Sky News and some news programmes from the BFBS channels. RN and RFA ships and submarines without access to the Skynet satellites have not been capable of receiving live television but have been provided with a taped SSVC television service that specifically excludes news programmes due to its non-live nature.

SSVC is providing two radio channels for the Gulf area: BFBS Radio 1 includes Independent Radio News (IRN) on the hour, plus each weekday the re-broadcast of several BBC Radio 4 and 5 programmes including PM, '6 o'clock News' and 'The World Tonight'. BFBS Radio 2 also re-broadcasts, each weekday, the BBC Radio 4 'Today' programme in addition to the BBC News programmes included within the BFBS Radio 1 schedule.

Warships

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels (a) are and (b) are scheduled to become non-operational because of manpower shortages. [111314]

Mr. Ingram: There are no Royal Navy or Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels non-operational or scheduled to become non-operational because of manpower shortages. However, a number of vessels are pursuing limited programmes due to the commitment of personnel to fire-fighting duties and training under Operation Fresco.

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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Democratic Republic of Congo

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [110730]

Clare Short: Reporting by the UN and other relief agencies continues to show the very serious humanitarian consequences for the civilian population of nearly five years of conflict in DRC and previous mismanagement. DFID is providing substantial help to efforts directed at reducing the suffering of civilians with urgent humanitarian needs in Congo. In the last financial year DFID provided over £11.5 million through the UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (in response to their emergency appeals) and through international NGOs in the areas of health, nutrition, and refugees.

We stand ready to provide further humanitarian assistance to those most in need: so far this financial year we have already committed £1 million for nutrition and health care projects through international NGOs.

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