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Northern Ireland

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the number of Her Majesty's armed services personnel that have served in Northern Ireland since August 1969. [131961]

Mr. Ingram: Since August 1969, the total number of soldiers who have served at least one day in Northern Ireland is 322,120 while the number of officers who have served at least one day in Northern Ireland is 24,120. The figure for Officers is lower than that given in the answer to my hon. Friend on 5 March 2001, Official Report, columns 17–18. The inaccuracy has only come to light when we sought an update of those figures to answer this question. (These figures include regular soldiers, full and part-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Regiment. It also includes members of the TA who do not play any part in security operations in Northern Ireland, but it is not possible to extract these figures from the overall totals.)

In the case of the Royal Air Force 2,380 Officers and 26,010 Airmen/Airwomen are recorded as having received pay while serving in Northern Ireland and will,

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therefore, have served at least one month in Province. Comparable information for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines is not available.

Organophosphates

Mr. Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if adequate protective equipment is available to British military units using organophosphate pesticides; and if he will make a statement. [94734]

Mr. Caplin [holding answer 3 February 2003]: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for use by United Kingdom armed forces is available through the normal supply chain. The Ministry of Defence has procedures in place to enable requirements for PPE to be met within the specified timescales.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average time taken to answer written parliamentary questions has been in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [119160]

Mr. Caplin: Defence Ministers aim to answer Named Day written questions on the day specified and Ordinary written questions within five working days. The average time taken to answer written parliamentary questions could be calculated only at disproportionate cost.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many questions directed to him remain unanswered. [130756]

Mr. Caplin: In the current session, up to and including 15 September, some 4,575 parliamentary questions were tabled to the Secretary of State for Defence. As of 14 October, 88 (1.9 per cent.) of these questions remained unanswered.

Private Peter Watson

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what duties have been allocated to Private Peter Watson while on bail at Palace Barracks Holywood; what assurances were given to enable his release from custody; and what rank of officer made representations. [132479]

Mr. Ingram: In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998,1 am unable to make public any personal data relating to Private Watson unless the relevant conditions are met.

Bail conditions are a matter for the civil courts. No assurances were sought from, or given by, the Ministry of Defence in connection with Private Watson's release from custody.

Recruitment

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people from Fiji have been recruited into Her Majesty's armed forces in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [132806]

Mr. Caplin: The number of Fijian recruits to the Army for the last five years is shown in the table.

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Financial Year	Number
1998–99	20
1999–2000	315
2000–01	265
2001–02	490
2002–03	470

Figures for the Naval Service and Royal Air Force are not available, as this information is not held centrally.

Reserve Forces

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the outcome was of his review of reservists' pay on mobilisation. [132933]

Mr. Caplin: There has been no review of mobilised reservists' pay. When called out for mobilised service, reservists receive the same rates of pay and are generally entitled to the same allowances as their regular counter-parts. In addition to receiving their military salary; reservists may claim financial assistance if their civilian earnings are greater than their military pay. The regulations governing the latter are currently under review.

Service Accommodation

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of housing accommodation on RAF operational UK bases has been identified as below tolerable standards. [133174]

Mr. Caplin: The Defence Housing Executive (DHE) manages and maintains Service family housing in Great Britain. As these properties are managed on a tri-Service basis, statistical information on the individual Services is not available.

DHE is working towards upgrading its entire core housing stock (around 41,000 properties) to Standard 1 for condition, the best standard of Service housing. Currently some 90 per cent. of Service families are in houses at either Standard 1 or Standard 2 for condition and only 63 core properties are still at Standard 4 for Condition, the lowest standard of Service housing.

In the last financial year DHE exceeded its Key Target of 1,200 upgrades, bringing 1,440 properties up to Standard 1. Partial upgrades are also undertaken, with plans for improvements to over 4,600 homes this financial year.

All properties are inspected before families move in to ensure that they are fit for occupation, and DHE has teams of technically qualified staff at regional and local level to deal with problems that occur during occupation.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the cross-departmental drug strategy to help Afghanistan achieve the target of eliminating poppy

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production within the next 10 years; and what plans he has to fulfil the role of international lead on counter-narcotics co-ordination in Afghanistan. [131772]

Mr. Rammell: The UK is the lead nation on Counter Narcotics (CN) in Afghanistan and has a Public Service Agreement (PSA) target to contribute to a reduction in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan by 70 per cent. in five years and by 100 per cent. in 10 years. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UK have worked with the Afghan Transitional Administration to help them produce their National Drug Control Strategy.

The UK has developed a plan of activities to support the Afghan authorities in implementing their Strategy, including law enforcement, institution building, drugs demand reduction and alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers. Progress is monitored by stakeholders across Government.

As the lead nation, the UK is contributing £70 million over three years and posting additional personnel to Afghanistan to lead this work. It is also planned to hold a counter-narcotics conference in January 2004 in Kabul, involving Afghan and international representation, to encourage further support for the delivery of this project.

Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the timetable is for elections in Afghanistan. [127138]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Under the Bonn Agreement, national elections are due to be held by June 2004. On 24 September in New York, President Karzai announced that the presidential elections will be held in June, in keeping with the Bonn Agreement, but that the parliamentary election will have to come later. However a firm timetable has yet to be agreed.

Voter registration has already started under the auspices of the United Nations, with priority being given to remote areas that will be inaccessible during winter months. Registration is scheduled to conclude in May 2004. An Interim Electoral Commission and a Joint Electoral Management Body were appointed on 26 July to begin preparations for the 2004 ballot. The Interim Electoral Commission will hand over to an independent Electoral Commission before the ballot next year.

Embassy Staff

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 17 September, 2003 ref.130397, on security clearance levels, for what reason locally-engaged personal assistants recruited by British embassies are subject to a lower vetting classification than the developed vetting required for UK-based personal assistants recruited for the same posts. [131695]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The appropriate level of security clearance for locally engaged personal assistants is determined, in accordance with HM Government's statement of vetting policy, as announced to the House on 15 December 1994 (Official Report, columns 764–66). The levels required for staff both locally engaged and UK based, are based on the need for them to have access to classified material. The requirement

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for such access for locally engaged personal assistants is usually different than for UK based personnel. In most cases locally recruited staff will not normally have access to classified material.

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