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HMS Trafalgar

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the expected commissioning date is of HMS Trafalgar; where the nuclear reactor Power Range Tests will be carried out prior to commissioning; and if he will make a statement. [136519]

Mr. Ingram: HMS Trafalgar is currently undergoing a Revalidation Assisted Maintenance Period at Devonport. She has not been de-commissioned, and this work will not involve re-fuelling the reactor. There is therefore no requirement for Power Range Testing. HMS Trafalgar is expected to return to service early 2004.

Iraq

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) United Kingdom troops and (b) troops from the Territorial Army are serving in Iraq. [134435]

Mr. Ingram: We currently have around 11,000 United Kingdom service personnel serving in Iraq, of which approximately 1,800 are members of the Territorial Army.

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many packets have been sent to armed forces personnel stationed in the Gulf free of charge since the scheme was launched. [136398]

Mr. Ingram: It is not possible to give the precise number of packets sent to members of Her Majesty's forces and entitled civilians on Operation Telic since the service was instituted on 17 April 2003, as numbers are calculated by sampling rather than counting of

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individual items. However, as at Friday 31 October 2003, we calculate that some 570,000 free packets have been sent.

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 1 September, Official Report, column 905W, on Iraq, what the outcome was of the investigation; and if he will place a copy of the relevant communications log in the Library. [131785]

Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence is determined to do all we can to establish the facts, and to bring to account those responsible for the deaths of the six Royal Military Police soldiers killed so tragically in Iraq on 24 June. It would not be appropriate to comment while the SIB investigation is still ongoing and we cannot put a timeframe on how long the investigation might take. Once it has been completed a full report will be given to the families concerned. The next of kin are being kept informed of the investigation's progress. I will make public as many of its findings as possible, subject to operational and other security constraints.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how often he receives briefings from the Commander of British Forces in Iraq. [132132]

Mr. Hoon: I receive regular briefings on operations in Iraq, which include input from the Commander of British Forces in Iraq. These are supplemented with additional briefings where necessary.

Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of deaths of (a) Iraqi civilians and (b) Iraqi military personnel (i) during the recent conflict and (ii) since the formal cessation of hostilities. [133234]

Mr. Ingram: I refer my hon. Friend to the answers given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 16 June 2003, Official Report, column 55W, to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) and the answer I gave to the hon. Member for East Carmarthen and Dinefwr (Adam Price) on 14 October 2003, Official Report, column 7W.

Kazakhstan

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) other representatives of the Government have had with representatives of the Government of Kazakhstan concerning the (i) storage, (ii) disposal and (iii) security of ex-Soviet (A) biological and (B) chemical weapons located in Kazakhstan; and if he will make a statement. [136308]

Mr. Ingram: We are not aware of any discussions with the Government of Kazakhstan concerning the storage, disposal, or security of possible ex-Soviet biological and chemical weapons located in Kazakhstan.

Under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), a state is obliged to declare any chemical weapons (CW) on their territory. Kazakhstan is a state party to the CWC and has not declared any CW being located in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is not a state party to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.

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Low Flying

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether there was a low-flying field training exercise in October in the Severn Valley area. [136014]

Mr. Caplin: There were no major low-flying training exercises in the Severn Valley area during October. Any military aircraft sighted will probably have been undertaking routine military low-flying training.

Ministry of Defence Police

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the first statutory inspection of the Ministry of Defence Police by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabularies, under the Police Reform Act 2002, will take place; and if he will make a statement. [136392]

Mr. Caplin: The first statutory inspection of the Ministry of Defence Police by her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, under the Police Reform Act 2002, was conducted between June and October 2003. In common with other Home Department police forces, MDP underwent a baseline assessment of its core business areas. The draft assessment is expected in January 2004 and will be followed by a rolling programme of follow-up visits.

North Site (Malvern)

Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his plans are for the future of North Site, Malvern. [136957]

Mr. Caplin: The site was handed to Defence Estates on 27 March this year and is being prepared for disposal on the open market.

Nuclear Warfare

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the United Kingdom (a) withdrew the last nuclear free-fall bomb, (b) reduced the operationally available stockpile of nuclear warheads to below 200, (c) reduced the number of warheads deployed on Trident submarines to 48 warheads and (d) placed fissile material no longer required for defence purposes under international safeguards. [135913]

Mr. Ingram: The United Kingdom withdrew the last nuclear free-fall bomb in March 1998. We have made adjustments to ensure the operationally available stockpile of nuclear warheads has been below 200 since that policy was announced as part of the Strategic Defence Review in July 1998. We reduced the number of warheads deployed on Trident submarines to 48 warheads by December 1998. Since 1990, we have placed fissile material no longer required for defence purposes under international safeguards, with significant volumes of material being brought into safeguards in July and August 1998.

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what further actions his Department will pursue to implement the disarmament measures identified at the end of the 2000 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. [135914]

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Mr. Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 5 November 2003, Official Report, column 662W, to the right hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife (Mr. Campbell).

Purchasing Strategy

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to take into consideration (a) the social issues involving the employment of disabled people, (b) strategic issues regarding product development and (c) response times to crises, when determining his Department's purchasing strategy; and if he will make a statement. [135763]

Mr. Ingram: The decision on the appropriate purchasing strategy for any procurement has to take into account a wide range of factors, underpinned by the need to provide the armed forces with the equipment they require at best value for money for the taxpayer. As set out in the Government's Defence Industrial Policy (published in October 2002), these factors include, amongst others, security of supply and the ability to respond in times of crises, and the implications for key technologies and industrial capabilities.

Most contracts for the procurement of goods and services include an express condition of contract which encourages our prime contractors to give consideration to the placing of sub-contract work with Supported Employment Enterprises.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors underlay the decision to change the purchasing strategy of chemical and biological warfare protection suits by changing the tender from UK only to international sourcing; and if he will make a statement. [135764]

Mr. Ingram: There has been no change in the Ministry of Defence's purchasing strategy for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) warfare protection suits with regard to the tendering process. These items are classed as warlike stores and as such are exempt from the requirement to advertise in the European Journal (OJEC). The Department advertises its requirements for these items in the MOD Contracts Bulletin. Any company may respond and the Department will run a competition to ensure that its requirements are met in the most cost-effective way.

The procurement of CBRN suits is included in the Defence Logistic Organisation's procurement reform strategy, for Supplier Base Optimisation, which is still under review.

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