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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
ChangeVotedNon-votedTotal
Resource2,00097,048097,048
Capital01,24801,248
Depreciation*0-1870-187
Total2,00098,109098,109

* 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:


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
ChangeVotedNon-votedTotal
Resource1,220,78431,597,524375,14231,972,666
Capital329,8026,455,3522,2506,457,602
Depreciation*--7,537,887-100,000-7,637,887
Total1,550,58630,514,989277,39230,792,381

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


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


KT2 Service Fulfilment


KT3 Service Restoration


KT4 Service Support


KT5 Customer Satisfaction


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KT6 Efficiency Measurement


KT7 Introduction of New Projects and Services



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