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Departmental Expenditure Limit

The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt): Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, UK Trade & Investment's Resource DEL will be increased by £2,000,000 from £95,048,000 to £97,048,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are set out in the following table:

		New DEL
	Change	Voted	Non-voted	Total
Resource	2,000	97,048	0	97,048
Capital	0	1,248	0	1,248
	Depreciation*0		-187	0	-187
Total	2,000	98,109	0	98,109

* Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.

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The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from a transfer of resources from the Department of Trade and Industry to UK Trade & Investment of £2,000,000 in respect of the Global Partnerships programme.

DEFENCE

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin): The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) will reduce the number of sites on which it operates to three core sites: Fort Halstead in Kent, Porton Down in Wiltshire, and Portsdown West, near Portsmouth in Hampshire. Approximately 1400 Dstl staff, who are currently geographically dispersed, from Farnborough in Hampshire, Malvern in Worcestershire, and Winfrith in Dorset, as well as other minor sites, will relocate to the three core sites over the next few years. The programme is likely to be completed in 2007.

Among the benefits that will accrue to Dstl and MOD are:

increased technical synergy and coherence;


improved operational effectiveness;


better integration of teams;


enhanced development opportunities and career prospects for staff; and,


reduced overhead costs.

MOD has undertaken a regional impact assessment to assess the effect on staff and local communities. This particularly supports the move of staff to Portsmouth, an area of economic deprivation. Of the options open to Dstl, the plans are most consistent with the aims of the review of public sector relocation being undertaken by Sir Michael Lyons on behalf of the Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister, and have been approved the Treasury.

Operation Telic Roulement

The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon): The Multinational Division (South-East) (MND(SE)) in Iraq was successfully instituted on 13 July and the UK now leads a 10-nation contingent in the southern Iraqi provinces of Basra, Maysan, Dhi Qar and Al Muthanna.

As part of our routine management of the UK's land deployment we intend shortly to conduct a roulement of our forces in theatre. This will begin with an incremental replacement of HQ 3 (UK) Division with a composite headquarters for MND(SE), the staff for which will be drawn from across UK Defence and from allies. 1 Mechanised Brigade will begin to replace 20 Armoured Brigade as the foundation for the UK's military commitment inside Iraq in April 2004. We intend that the process will be complete by the end of April 2004. We expect the level of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force presence in theatre to remain broadly stable.

As part of this roulement forces and in line with our policy of employing the reserves as an integral component of the Armed Forces, we shall be mobilising

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a further tranche of around 1,100 Reservists to support operations in Iraq. We expect these personnel to deploy from mid February 2004 onwards. Although a significant mobilisation, this is both in absolute terms a smaller number than have been mobilised for previous tranches, and will constitute a smaller proportion of the service personnel deployed to theatre than previously. These Reservists will be employed in a number of roles: about a third in theatre at any one time will be deployed in the infantry role as force protection, a little under a quarter will provide reinforcement to regular infantry units deployed, about a sixth will be medical personnel and the remainder will provide a variety of specialist capabilities.

We aim to issue the majority of call-out notices around 9 January 2004 and begin mobilisation in mid February 2004. Reservist personnel will receive at least 21 days' notice to mobilise. Mobilisation will be followed by a period of individual training to confirm basic skills, theatre specific pre-deployment training, role-specific collective training, integration into receiving units and then a short period of leave before deployment. For the majority of those called-out their deployed tour will last six months; and for most the total period of mobilisation, including post-tour leave, is expected to last between eight and nine months, though for a very small proportion it may be slightly longer.

We intend to spend the period between now and January identifying for selection as accurately as possible those Reservists who are believed to be fit and available for deployment. As in previous practice, to ensure that we successfully mobilise the required number, we will need to issue a greater number of call-out notices than our actual in-theatre requirement.

We will continue to keep the size and mix of forces in theatre under careful review and we can expect to make further adjustments to our force structures and undertake further mobilisations in order to ensure that we continue to have the appropriate capabilities for the tasks in hand. While we remain determined to maintain appropriate forces deployed in Iraq and the wider Gulf region for as long as is necessary, we are equally determined that no forces should remain deployed for any longer than is necessary.

Departmental Expenditure Limit

The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Ministry of Defence Departmental Expenditure Limits will be increased by £1,550,586,000 from £29,241,795, 000 to £30,792,381,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

£1000s

		New DEL
	Change	Voted	Non-voted	Total
Resource	1,220,784	31,597,524	375,142	31,972,666
Capital	329,802	6,455,352	2,250	6,457,602
	Depreciation*-		-7,537,887	-100,000	-7,637,887
Total	1,550,586	30,514,989	277,392	30,792,381

* Depreciation, which forms part of Resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.

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The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from:

The take up of the Resource end year flexibility of £80,872,000.


An increase in RfR2 of £1,140,000,000 for military operations.


A transfer of £275,000 to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as a share of Ordnance Survey costs under a pan Government agreement.


An increase of £80,000 from the Invest to Save budget for quadrupole resonance detectors.


An increase of £98,000 from the Invest to Save budget to introduce an alert system for pluvial flooding to complement the Environment Agency's flood warning service.


A transfer of £9,000 from the Department of Work and Pensions as a contribution to the Veteran Agency's helpline.


An increase in Resource Appropriations In Aid of £50,300 from an out of court settlement relating to a breach of confidentiality, which will be offset by a donation to charity of the same amount.

The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from:

An increase in RfR2 of £256,000,000 for military operations.


An advance of £73,782,000 for Landing Ship Dock Auxiliary vessels as agreed in SR2000.


An increase of £20,000 from the Invest to Save budget for quadrupole resonance detectors.

Defence Communications Services Agency(Key Targets)

The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): Key Targets have been set for the Chief Executive of the Defence Communications and Services Agency (DCSA) for financial year 2003–04. The targets build on progress already made and are as follows:

KT1 Service Assurance

To meet an average of 99 per cent for measured services against agreed performance targets.

KT2 Service Fulfilment

To commission an average of 95 per cent of new service requests on, or before, dates agreed by Customers with the DCS A.

KT3 Service Restoration

To restore an average 97 per cent. of interrupted services classed as Operationally Urgent within four hours of the fault being reported to the DCSA, or within other specific periods agreed with customers and to restore Business Critical services in accordance with periods as specified in CSAs.

KT4 Service Support

To achieve an average 90 per cent. success rate against standards in response to demands on all DCSA Operator Assistance Centres (OACs) and helpdesks facilities.

KT5 Customer Satisfaction

To achieve a Customer Confidence Index of 54 in Financial Year 2003–04. Key Target measurement has changed from last year and will be achieved by the Agency 's Customer Relationship Management staff undertaking a series of

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face-to-face interviews with DCS A customers. The information obtained from these interviews will be processed and a Customer Confidence Index (CCI) produced. If this measure is delivered it will represent an eight percent increased compared to 2002–03.

KT6 Efficiency Measurement

To achieve an improvement in effectively by reducing the average unit cost of output by 3 per cent.

KT7 Introduction of New Projects and Services

To deliver new projects to time, cost and performance as expressed at the 90 per cent confidence level to a tolerance of 10 per cent.

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