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9 Sept 2003 : Column 343W—continued

Mental Health

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact of the draft Mental Health Bill on the services his Department provides for people with mental health needs. [126004]

Maria Eagle: The draft Mental Health Bill will break the automatic link between compulsory treatment and detention, allowing patients to be treated in the setting most appropriate to them. Treatment in the community will provide a positive alternative for the many patients who do not want or need to be detained in hospital and an opportunity to minimise the disruption to their lives.

Jobcentre Plus services are designed to meet the needs of disabled people, including those with mental health problems. The reform will allow more people with complex mental health problems to access Jobcentre Plus services. Officials are considering the implications for the training of front line Jobcentre Plus staff.

Pensions

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of pensioners received an income from (a) state and (b) private pension schemes in each year between 1992 and 2002; and if he will make a statement. [128549]

Malcolm Wicks: Information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is given in Table 8 (state pension) and Table 14 (private pensions) of The Pensioners' Incomes Series 2001/2 a copy of which is available in the Library.

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the number of low income earners to have taken up stakeholder pensions since their inception. [128555]

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is not available. Such information as is available is as follows. The 2001/02 Family Resources Survey showed that some 20 per cent. of stakeholder pension sales were to working individuals earning less than £10,000 a year, and that the majority of sales (55 per cent.) were to people earning between £10,000 and £29,999 a year.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the size of the garrison in Afghanistan. [127161]

Mr. Ingram: We shall continue to deploy around 400 troops in Afghanistan.

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 17 July 2003, Official Report, column 477W whether the United Kingdom has further plans to contribute to the payment of Afghan National Army salaries. [128526]

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Mr. Ingram: The £5 million made available through the United Nations' Trust Fund for Afghanistan to pay the salaries of the Afghan National Army is intended for use over the current financial year. We are considering whether to make any further contributions.

Aircraft Carriers

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to increase the number of escorts when the new supercarriers are commissioned. [127253]

Mr. Ingram: There are no plans to increase the number of Royal Navy destroyers and frigates when the new aircraft carriers are brought into service.

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated cost of the new aircraft carriers is; what the estimated cost was in 1998; and if he will make a statement on the procurement status of the carriers. [128074]

Mr. Ingram: The method by which the Department estimates the costs for equipment projects has changed since 1998 as a result of the adoption of resource accounting and budgeting in 1999. In 1998, the estimated cost based on a STOVL design was around £2 billion, based on 1998–99 constant prices (which excluded inflation). The estimated procurement cost of the future aircraft carriers using the innovative, adaptable design is around £3 billion at resource outturn prices (which includes compound inflation). The CVF Programme is still in the Assessment Phase and we expect to award the Demonstration and Manufacture contract in Spring 2004 as planned.

C17

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many flying hours have been accumulated by RAF C17 aircraft; and how many were expected. [127117]

Mr. Ingram: From June 2001, when the C17 was first available for tasking, to 31 July 2003, 11,540 hours have been flown. The original planned flying task for the aircraft was 3,000 hours per year for the seven years of the lease. From 1 April 2003, this was increased to 4,000 hours per year.

Coastal Training Craft

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the annual running cost is of P2000 class coastal training craft. [127119]

Mr. Ingram: The annual running cost of the 16 P2000 class craft in financial year 2002–03 was £5.835 million. These figures include the cost of capital and depreciation. In addition the annual average maintenance cost for the P2000 fleet is £1.873 million.

Deepcut Barracks

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 11 July 2003, Official Report, column 1030W how many cases of self-harm overdoses there were at each Army barracks in each year since 1995. [127070]

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Mr. Caplin: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 11 July 2003, Official Report, column 1030W what assessment he has made of the reasons for self-harm incidents at Deepcut barracks since 1995; what measures are being taken to prevent further incidents; and if he will make a statement. [127071]

Mr. Caplin: There are no discernible trends to the number of self-harm overdose incidents at Deepcut, although in most cases the decision to overdose appears to have been taken on the spur of the moment. Causes identified include homesickness, depression and boredom.

A number of measures are in place in an effort to prevent self-harm incidents. As in all Army training establishments, the permanent staff at Deepcut are trained to be on the alert for signs of depression, altered behaviour and other possible indicators of self-harm; new recruits receive education on substance misuse and are encouraged to focus on themes such as looking out for each other and team cohesion. Details of helplines for a number of welfare organisations, including the Samaritans; the Army Welfare Service; and a Confidential Support Line, provided by the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association Forces Help, are promulgated widely throughout the barracks.

Defence Staff

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) service personnel of officer rank, (b) service personnel of other ranks, (c) industrial civilian personnel and (d) non-industrial civilian personnel were employed by (i) the United Kingdom Defence Standardisation team in each year since its inception and (ii) the Directorate of Standardisation in each year from its inception to its re-organisation in 1999; how many of these were employed in Scotland; what the total manning costs were for each category in each year; what the manning costs were for Scotland in each year; and if he will make a statement. [128037]

Mr. Caplin: The Directorate of Standardisation (DStan) was formed in the mid 1960s and since then has gone through a number of reorganisations and change of location. As a consequence many of the historical records no longer exist.

What is known is that in 1978 the complement was 121 Civilian non-industrial staff and 2 Service personnel of officer rank, all working in London. Since then there has not been any industrial or non-officer service personnel within the organisation.

In August 1983 the majority of DStan staff (83) were dispersed to Glasgow (Montrose House) with 8 posts remaining in London. In late 1986 DStan moved to the newly opened Kentigern House in Glasgow and a further three posts were transferred to Glasgow. In the years from 1996 to 2003, the total number of Dstan staff has varied between 35 and 40, between 30 and 33 of whom have worked in Scotland. More detailed, though not exhaustive, records are available from 1989 and are summarised in the following table.

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Year	Total Staff	Scotland	Elsewhere	Non Industrial	Service	Approximate Costs(£ million)Scotland/Total
1989	78	73	5	77	1	Not known
1990	78	73	5	77	1	Not known
1991	76	73	3	75	1	Not known
1992	57	54	3	56	1	Not known
1993	52	51	1	52	0	Not known
1994	50	48	2	50	0	Not known
1995	51	49	2	51	0	Not known
1996	35	33	2	35	0	Not known
1997	35	30	5	35	0	0.70/0.82
1998	36	31	5	36	0	0.85/0.99
1999	36	31	5	36	0	0.90/1.04
2000	38	31	7	38	0	0.89/1.09
2001	38	31	7	38	0	0.95/1.16
2002	38	32	6	38	0	0.99/1.18
2003	40	33	7	39	1	1.13/1.37

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