House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 24 Jun 2003 (pt 12)

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DEFENCE

Atomic Weapons Establishment

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the recruitment of scientists at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. [120066]

Mr. Caplin: As with every organisation, there is an ongoing need at the Atomic Weapons Establishment to maintain and improve the expertise of its workforce. The recruitment of graduate scientists is vital to the Company if it is to sustain its high technical expertise in the nuclear technology field. The Government attach great importance to ensuring the safety and serviceability of the UK's nuclear weapons. The Strategic Defence Review of 1998 confirmed the need for a robust capability to underwrite the safety and reliability of Trident, in the absence of nuclear testing and to maintain a minimum capability to design and produce a successor to Trident should this prove necessary. To achieve this assurance with great confidence and to meet the SDR remit, AWE must continue to recruit new staff to maintain a viable capability.

Armed Forces

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 16 June, Official Report, column 52W, on armed forces funding, whether it is his policy that allocated funding should be retained by the armed forces if there is a shortfall in numbers of servicemen. [120814]

Mr. Ingram: Ministry of Defence top level budget holders are allowed to reallocate resources within their annual budgetary allocations to best meet agreed outputs, subject to some restrictions on, for example, movements between Capital and Resource Expenditure. Budgetary allocations are revisited on an annual basis to ensure plans match available resources and any surplus funding on personnel costs that might exist would be reallocated to better achieve overall defence objectives.

Foreign Forces Training

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many British Army training teams are employed abroad training the foreign military forces; where they are located; and how many personnel are employed for this purpose; [121091]

Mr. Ingram: I will write to my hon. Friend and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

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Infantry Deployment

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) strength and (b) establishment is of each infantry regiment. [120877]

Mr. Ingram: The overall infantry strength and establishment are 25,460 and 26,200 respectively. Army personnel statistics relating to individual regiments are being updated and a statistical analysis of each infantry regiment is not readily available. Officials are compiling these statistics and a copy of the report will be placed in the Library of the House.

Maintenance Costs

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many contracts the Ministry of Defence and its agencies have with outside contractors for the maintenance of Ministry of Defence equipment; [121252]

(a)

(b)

Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence places on average around 40,000 contracts per year. The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Iraq

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many short or medium range ballistic missiles capable of being fired at ranges (a) no greater than 150km and (b) greater than 150km have been identified as having been launched by Iraqi forces during the recent conflict. [114925]

Mr. Ingram: We currently assess that 20 ballistic missiles were launched by Iraqi forces during the recent conflict. Of these, we assess that three were capable of being fired at ranges no greater that 150km and 13 were capable of being fired at ranges greater than 150km. No firm assessments have yet been made in respect of the potential ranges of four of the ballistic missiles.

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many persons (a) with knowledge of the Iraqi short or medium range missile programmes, (b) who have been involved with such programmes and (c) who were in command positions with units possessing such missiles during the recent conflict have been (i) detained for questioning and (ii) held as prisoners of war by (A) the United Kingdom and (B) other Coalition forces. [114934]

Mr. Ingram: Coalition forces are currently investigating Iraq's programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction, including ballistic missiles with proscribed ranges. These investigations will include debriefing of Iraqi prisoners of war, interviews with senior regime figures and information from other Iraqi military and civilian sources. The breadth of such contacts means that it is not possible to quantify the numbers of interviews on this subject to date. At the appropriate time, we will make the evidence public.

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Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when British WMD inspectors visited the Rashad chemical and biological research facility in Iraq; and what they found. [117625]

Mr. Hoon: British inspectors have not visited the Rashad chemical and biological research facility in Iraq. We assess that this facility was demolished by the Iraqi authorities in the early 1980s when they relocated their research to purpose built facilities.

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the risk that biological weapons formerly possessed by the government of Saddam Hussein may have (a) left Iraq or (b) come into the possession of terrorist groups. [113014]

Mr. Hoon: The potential proliferation of materials and technology related to Iraqi programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction, including biological weapons, remains a matter of concern. Coalition forces continue to take action to secure sites, equipment, and material which may relate to WMD programmes, or which may otherwise contain hazardous substances, within the overall aim of restoring security and stability to Iraq. Our long term aim will be to account for, and eliminate, any WMD capability, including any biological weapons. We are confident that further evidence of Iraq's WMD programmes will be uncovered. At the appropriate time, we will make the evidence public.

Desert Equipment

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what evaluation his Department has made of the quality of the desert boots and uniforms supplied for the war in Iraq; what representations he has received about the quality of desert boots and uniforms; and if he will make a statement. [120866]

Mr. Ingram: The desert boots and uniforms procured under Urgent Operational Requirement procedures for the war in Iraq had been tested, subjected to 'consumer' trials, and procured to a high quality and reliability standard.

I am aware that there have been numerous unofficial and, as yet, unsubstantiated comments about the robustness of desert combat clothing issued to the United Kingdom armed forces serving on operations in Iraq. To date, we have had no reports through the official defect reporting system of any sub-standard items.

RAF Manoeuvres

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 13 June 2003, Official Report, column 114W, on RAF manoeuvres, whether it is his policy to allow RAF aircraft to fly low over South East Essex on a regular basis. [121053]

Mr. Caplin: It is Ministry of Defence policy that, in principle, the whole of the United Kingdom is open to essential military low flying training in order to spread the disturbance it can cause as thinly as possible. South East Essex, however, largely falls within an area known as the Thames Valley Avoidance Area (TVAA). The TVAA is excluded from routine military low flying

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because of the amount of controlled airspace associated with the London Airports, and the proximity of major built-up areas.

Military low flying aircraft may still enter the TVAA on occasion, but these events will usually be limited to: helicopters conducting transit flights, helicopters conducting search and rescue training over water in the area of the Thames Estuary, or flights individually

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cleared by MOD Head Office. A small number of such clearances are granted each year, usually for flypasts in support of major state or ceremonial events.

General information on military low flying is available to the public on the website www.mod.uk/issues/lowflying and in a leaflet entitled "Military Low Flying—An Essential Skill", that may be obtained by telephoning 020 7218 6020.

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