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11 Sept 2003 : Column 417W—continued
Suez Medal
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the proposal to introduce a medal for service in the Suez Canal Zone has received Royal Assent; and when he expects issue of medals to commence. [128946]
Mr. Caplin: Her Majesty The Queen has agreed in principle to the institution of a new medal for service in the Suez Canal Zone, as announced in the House by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 11 June. Final agreement to the detailed qualifying criteria for the medal is still awaited. It is hoped that the first medals will be issued shortly after receiving the Royal Assent.
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the qualifying criteria for the Suez Canal Zone medal will be. [128947]
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Mr. Caplin: Proposals for the detailed qualifying criteria for the Naval General Service Medal 1915–62 and General Service Medal 1918–62, for service in the Suez Canal Zone between 1951 and 1954, have been passed to the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals for their consideration. They will be published in a White Paper when The Queen has agreed them.
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the application process for a Suez Canal Zone medal will be. [128948]
Mr. Caplin: Veterans of the Canal Zone, or the next-of-kin of those who have died, will need to apply in writing to the appropriate medal office, giving full name, date of birth and Service number. The addresses of the medal offices are as follows:
- Royal Naval Medal Office, Room 1068, Centurion Building, Grange Road, Gosport, Hampshire PO13 9XA
- Royal Marines Medal Office, Room 038, Centurion Building, Grange Road, Gosport, Hampshire PO13 9XA
- Army Medal Office, Government Buildings, Worcester Road, Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire WR9 8AU
- Royal Air Force Medal Office, Room 6, Building 248A, RAF PMA,
- RAF Innsworth, Gloucester, Gloucestershire GL3 1EZ.
All applications will be acknowledged on receipt and will be dealt with strictly in the order they are received. The Ministry of Defence will arrange for the individual Service files of those who apply to be recalled from the archives and will assess entitlement from these detailed records.
SCOTLAND
Annual Report
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many copies of the Scotland Office Annual Report 2002–03 have been printed; at what cost; and how it was distributed. [128007]
Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office had 150 copies of the Departmental Report produced at a total cost of £4,036. Copies of the report were provided to the Scottish Affairs Committee, other Government Departments and for use within the Department. The report is also available on the department's website.
The Stationery Office determines the number of copies it requires for retail sale and meets the costs of printing and publication.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) special advisers, (b) press officers, (c) civil servants, (d) advisers to civil servants and (e) permanent staff were working for the Scotland Office in each year since 1996. [126474]
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Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999.
Details of staff numbers which cover permanent staff, including press officers, are given in Table C of the annual publication, "Civil Service Statistics". Copies of this publication are available from the Libraries of both Houses.
The Department employed three special advisers in 1999–2000 and 2000–01, one of whom was unpaid; and two special advisers in 2001–02 and 2002–03.
The Department does not employ any staff as advisers to civil servants.
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff in his Department have been transferred to new responsibilities within the Department for Constitutional Affairs. [127847]
Mrs. McGuire: The staff of the Scotland Office transferred to the Department for Constitutional Affairs on 12 June. They have retained their existing responsibilities.
Friends of Scotland
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff in his Department were allocated to the Friends of Scotland project, expressed as full-time equivalents in the last year for which figures are available. [127846]
Mrs. McGuire: In 2002–03, five staff were allocated to the Friends of Scotland project.
IT Contracts
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many outsourced IT contracts have been signed by his Department in each year since 1997; how much each of these contracts is worth; with whom they are signed; how many have been renegotiated; how many are still in place; and if he will make a statement. [126194]
Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. The Department's IT systems and support are provided through the Scottish Executive. The Scotland Office has no outsourced IT contracts.
Private Sector Secondees
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his Department's policy is on employing secondees from the private sector; how many secondees from the (a) private and (b) public sectors his Department employed in each year since 1997; from which companies and organisations they were seconded; at what level they were employed; and if he will make a statement. [127062]
Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since then the department has employed two individuals from the private sector (Bank of Scotland) at Grade 7 and SEO levels in 2002 and two individuals from the public sector (House of Lords) at Grade 7 and SCS level, one in 2001 and one in 2002.
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HOME DEPARTMENT
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children of asylum seekers were being held in custody at each removal centre on 1 July 2003; and if he intends to end the practice. [124066]
Beverley Hughes: The latest published information on the number of children of asylum seekers held in removal centres is for 2 April 2003.
At this date an exercise was carried out to access the number of children under the age of 18 who were detained in Dungavel, Harmondsworth, Oakington and Tinsley House Immigration Service Removal Centres. These centres are the only ones that deal with family cases. The results of the exercise are contained in the following table.
| Immigration serviceremoval centre | Children under 18 years of age in detention at 2 April 2003 |
|---|---|
| Dungavel | 21 |
| Harmondsworth | 18 |
| Oakington | 14 |
| Tinsley | 3 |
| Total | 56 |
Children under 18 years are detained only in two limited circumstances: first, as part of a family group whose detention is considered appropriate; second, when unaccompanied, while alternative care arrangements are made and normally just overnight.
While the detention of families with children is very regrettable, it nevertheless remains necessary in appropriate cases in order to maintain an effective immigration control and to tackle abuses of the asylum system.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Iraq
Mr. Page: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development if he will place the Department's pre-conflict plans for the reconstruction of Iraq and their estimated costs in the Library. [128943]
Hilary Benn: Details of the Department for International Development's pre-conflict planning for Iraq are contained in the Memoranda submitted to the International Development Committee by the Department in February and June this year.
Malaria
John Barrett: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what plans there are to expand the use of the RTSS/AS02A malaria vaccine following its trial in Mozambique. [127935]
Hilary Benn: The RTSS/AS02A vaccine (a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals' product) is a new product for malaria which has yet to undergo the full approval process.
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An international partnership involving GSK, Mozambique's Ministry of Health (MOH), and Centro de Investigacio em Saude de Manhica (CISM), the Hospital Clinic of the University of Barcelona, and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH)'s Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) has now conducted phase 2 paediatric clinical trials.
The UK Government welcome the apparent success of the vaccine to date, but will wait to see the final outcome of the trials before planning any expansion of its use.
WALES
Public Appointments
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what public appointments have been made by holders of his office since June 1999 (a) individually and (b) jointly with other Ministers. [103813]
Mr. Hain: Information about ministerial appointments to public bodies is included in the Cabinet Office's annual report "Public Bodies", copies of which are placed in the Library of the House and which is published on the Cabinet Office website.
- (a) Since June 1999, holders of the office of Secretary of State for Wales have made one appointment to the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for Wales. In addition the Secretary of State for Wales offers advice to Her Majesty about a number of Crown Appointments.
(b) Appointments to the Audit Commission are made jointly with my right hon. Friends the Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health.
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