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21 Jan 2004 : Column 1243W—continued
Local Government Finance
12. Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary about the Barnett formula. [148362]
Mr. Hain: I have regular meetings with the First Minister to discuss funding arrangements for Wales. The Barnett formula is a means of calculating changes to the Welsh Block from its historic base.
NHS Funding
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the National Assembly for Wales Government on the funding of the NHS in Wales. [148357]
Mr. Hain: I have met the First Minister and the Assembly Health Minister in recent weeks to discuss the NHS and health provision in Wales.
Since 1997, funding for the NHS across the UK has increased; in Wales the 2004–05 budget for health will be almost 95 per cent. more than in 1996–97.
In Wales, as in the rest of the UK, this has resulted in greater numbers of doctors and nurses, improved services and more patients being treated.
DEFENCE
Airfield Support Service Project
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated aggregate costs incurred by the three bidding consortia for the Airfield Support Service Project are. [149057]
Mr. Ingram: Actual costs incurred by the three bidding consortia are not known to the Department and are a matter for the consortia themselves.
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Al Yamamah
Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the 1992 National Audit Office report about the Al Yamamah programme. [149510]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 20 January 2004]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 February 2003, Official Report, column 735W.
Armed Forces Pension Scheme
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements he intends to make in relation to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme and compensation to ensure that (a) a beneficiary is guaranteed five years' worth of payments notwithstanding earlier death and (b) lump sum payments to give effect to such guarantee are not taxed at a 35 per cent. rate. [149152]
Mr. Caplin: The decision of the new Armed Forces Pension Scheme includes a provision to allow a lump sum payment to a spouse or partner of up to five years' pension payments, less the lump sum received on retirement and pension payments up to the date of death, if a member dies after retirement but within five years of the pension coming into payment. The Government propose in "Simplifying the taxation of pensions: the Government's proposals", published on 10 December 2003, that such payments should be taxed at 35 per cent. The Ministry of Defence will be considering the benefit proposal further in the light of the taxation arrangements.
Army
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the budget for army combat arms training was in each month since January 2001. [148870]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 19 January 2004]: Army combat arms training has been taken to encompass individual training for all personnel at Phase 1 (initial) training (which will include individuals who go on to serve in non-combat arms), and individual training at phase 2 (specialist) and phase 3 (career and development) training for personnel serving in the Royal Armoured Corps, the Royal Artillery, the Infantry, and the School of Army Aviation. LAND Command undertakes collective training for the whole Army but cannot identify specific costs associated with such training for combat arms. The sums shown include an element for HQ Admin costs etc., which cannot easily be separated out, but exclude all salary costs of trainees, which are accounted for separately. The figures are as follows:
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Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many army musicians were obliged to down-rank on transferring to the Guards regiments from other regiments; and what effect this down ranking will have on these soldiers' pensions. [148963]
Mr. Caplin: Transfer to bands of the Guards Division is voluntary. Seventeen army musicians who volunteered to transfer and are still serving accepted reversion to the rank of Musician as a condition of transfer. Reversion in rank has not been a condition of transfer since April 2003.
Reversion in rank may affect an individual's pension award. Rank for the purpose of assessing pension entitlement is calculated by taking the highest paid rank held for an aggregate of two years or more during the last five years reckonable service.
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what financial restrictions have been placed on army recruiting. [148869]
Mr. Caplin [holding answer 19 January 2004]: None.
Correspondence
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will provide a substantive reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Totnes of 24 November 2003 about Mrs. Iris Griffiths of Kingsbridge and the Defence Export Services Organisation, which was acknowledged by his Department on 2 December 2003. [148721]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 19 January 2004]: My noble Friend Lord Bach wrote to the hon. Member on 15 January 2004.
Departmental Posts (Gibraltar)
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) civilian and (b) service posts in his Department in Gibraltar will be (i) transferred to the private sector and (ii) removed. [148458]
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Mr. Ingram: Headquarters British Forces Gibraltar is currently evaluating the most cost-effective method of delivering janitorial, catering and transportation services. Although under review, at this stage no decisions have been made to transfer posts to the private sector.
Routine local resource management plans are to make a reduction of 23 civilian and one service posts, over the next four years. We envisage that this will be achieved by a combination of natural wastage and voluntary early retirement.
Forces Personnel
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what statistical data his Department collates on the rate of marital break-up among forces personnel. [148150]
Mr. Caplin: Each service records, on individual pay and personnel documents, the marital status of its personnel using different marital categories. Analysis of marital break-ups and divorce rates is carried out on an ad hoc basis by analysing changes to the marital status of personnel.
Iraq
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the application of standards in the UN Basic Principles on the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials for law enforcement duties conducted by UK military personnel in Iraq. [141686]
Mr. Ingram: The practices adopted by United Kingdom military personnel in Iraq are consistent with the UN Basic Principles for the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials, despite the fact that we are operating in circumstances rather different from those in which it was intended to be applied.
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what mechanisms are in place to ensure the (a) impartiality and (b) independence of investigations into non-combatant deaths in Iraq. [141687]
Mr. Ingram: In exercising their constabulary powers the Royal Military Police (RMP) are independent of the Army's chain of command. At the conclusion of any RMP investigation, a report together with supporting evidence is submitted to the appropriate commanding officer and to the Army Legal Services—ALS. ALS will then advise the commanding officer whether there is a prima facie case for disciplinary action. In serious cases, ALS will advise the commanding officer on the procedure for referral to a higher authority and, if appropriate, on to the Army Prosecuting Authority—APA. The APA is statutorily independent of the chain of command. The independence of the APA was confirmed in the European Court of Human Rights in the Cooper Case last December.
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the soldier's card issued to forces serving in Iraq. [147676]
Mr. Ingram: The soldier's card contains information about the Rules of Engagement. It is not our practice to comment on Rules of Engagement and I am
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withholding information regarding their contents under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the contracts let to private contractors for the supply and support of UK troops in Iraq, stating in each case the nature and value of the contract; and if he will make a statement. [148004]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 19 January 2004]: I am withholding the information requested in accordance with Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information as it is commercial in confidence.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 8 January, Official Report, column 453W, on Iraq, when the Iraq Survey Group is to make its final recommendations. [148035]
Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 January 2004, .Official Report, column 538W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Glenda Jackson).
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his strategy is for ensuring that children in Iraq do not come into contact with depleted uranium. [148055]
Mr. Ingram: British forces are taking the following actions to minimise the risk posed to civilians by Depleted Uranium (DU):
- DU fragments on the surface are being removed from the battlefield as they are discovered.
- Local people have been warned through signs and leaflets that they should not go near, or touch, any debris they find on the battlefield.
Military vehicles known to have been hit by DU munitions within the southern sector of Iraq under British military control have been clearly marked.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people are employed in the Iraq Survey Group. [148064]
Mr. Hoon: On 16 January 2004, there were 1,272 people employed in the Iraq Survey Group.
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the 9,100 ISO containers used for Operation TELIC are missing and unaccounted for by his Department. [148868]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 19 January 2004]: To date 9,595 ISO containers have been supplied in support of Operation TELIC. Of this number 5,793 currently remain in use on the operation.
The balance of 3,802 have either been returned, re-tasked or are awaiting return to either the MOD or to the leasing companies as appropriate.
At present we have 73 containers, 0.76 per cent. of the original amount, unaccounted for. It is expected that the next information update from theatre will identify the locations of the majority of these containers and that they will either be in transit or have been re-tasked.
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It is stressed that it is unusual to lose a container totally. It is far more likely that it would have been re-tasked or returned and that a delay has occurred in getting the relevant information back to the Defence Container Management Service.
Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what number and percentage of Army Medical Service reserve personnel have left the service following Operation Telic. [149350]
Mr. Caplin: Although we do not hold figures for the number of people leaving the Army Medical Services Territorial Army (AMS TA) overall, I can confirm that 240 Professionally Qualified Officers, from Role 3 reserve medical units (field hospitals) have left the TA over the last 12 months. This represents approximately 13 per cent. of these units. Very few of these individuals gave Operation Telic, or the risk of mobilisation, as their primary reason for leaving. Over the same period, approximately 300 people joined the same units.
Mrs. Liddell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list the other national contingents under the command of 3 (UK) Division; [143729]
- (2) if he will list the countries involved in the Multinational Division (South-East) (MND(SE) in the South Iraq provinces of Basra, Maysen, Dhi Qar and Al Muthanna. [143730]
Mr. Ingram: 3 (UK) Division formally handed over headquarters duties to the Multinational Division (South East) on 28 December 2003.
In addition to United Kingdom forces the following nations currently contribute a combined total of around 5,200 personnel to the Multinational Division: Italy; Denmark; Norway; Netherlands; Czech Republic; Portugal; Romania; New Zealand; Lithuania; Japan and Iceland.
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of the failure rate of the bomblets in the cluster munitions his Department purchased from BAe Systems in 2003; whether the use of these munitions in Iraq has contributed to the assessment; and if he will make a statement. [146431]
Mr. Ingram: No cluster artillery shells purchased from BAe Systems in 2003 were used in Iraq during Operation Telic. The ammunition used during Operation Telic was from a procurement made in 1996. No assessment of cluster artillery shells was carried out in Iraq.
However, each batch of these munitions procured is subject to acceptance proof firing. This requires a statistically viable sample of each batch to be fired and monitored. The area is then searched by the manufacturer's Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel to identify and report any bomblet failures. All ammunition lots we have procured have met the requirements. Other testing involves a random sample of the Self Destruct Fuze being independently tested by the manufacturer prior to assembly. Again, all these fuzes have met the requirements.
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