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5 Feb 2004 : Column 1044W—continued

Operation Telic

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection filters were fitted to the FV432 series vehicles in Operation Telic; and how many vehicles had NBC protection. [153045]

Mr. Ingram: The FV 432 vehicle is not fitted with a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) air filtration system. In the event that protection is needed, the crew rely on their individual protection.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will reply to the questions tabled by the hon. Member for Vale of York for answer on 12 January regarding a breach of security at RAF Leeming, refs 147075–7. [152074]

Mr. Ingram: I replied to the hon. Member on 4 February 2004, Official Report, columns 889–90W.

Private Kitulagoda

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether Private Kitulagoda of the Rifle Volunteers was a member of the Civil Contingencies Reaction Force; [153051]

(2) how many members of the Rifle Volunteers who are currently deployed to Afghanistan are members of the Civil Contingencies Reaction Force. [153052]

Mr. Ingram: Private Kitulagoda, of the Rifle Volunteers, who was sadly killed on 28 January 2004 while on duty in Afghanistan, was a member of the Civil Contingency Reaction Force.

All members of the Rifle Volunteers are part of the 43 (Wessex) Brigade Civil Contingency Reaction Force, and 46 members of the unit are currently deployed in Afghanistan.

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Despite the absence of these individuals on operations we retain the necessary capability for the CCRFs to meet any role required of them.

RAF Marham

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence at what hours of the day the bird-scarer at RAF Marham operates; and whether those hours have changed in the last five years. [152457]

Mr. Ingram: The Bird Control Unit (ECU) at RAF Marham operates within standard Station flying hours 0800–0000 Monday to Thursday, 0800–1800 on Fridays. These hours have not changed in the last five years. Additionally the BCU operates to meet any operational requirements outside standard hours.

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many incidents of bird-strike occurred at RAF Marham in each of the last seven years. [152458]

Mr. Ingram: In the past seven years the following number of bird-strikes have been recorded at RAF Marham:

	Number
1997	1
1998	3
1999	2
2000	5
2001	6
2002	2
2003	6

Work Strands

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many work strands have been established by his Department; what subject areas each strand will cover; what savings have to be identified in each work strand; and if he will make a statement. [152926]

Mr. Ingram: As part of the Ministry of Defence's annual planning round, 16 work strands have been established to conduct a thorough examination of defence costs and capabilities. Each work strand will explore aspects of military capability and/or associated overheads with a view to identifying options for re- balancing the Defence Programme. This work will take place within the policy context set out in the Defence White Paper: Delivering Security in a Changing World. Financial savings targets have not been set for individual work strands.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Iran

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance his Department is offering for the reconstruction effort in Bam, Iran, in the aftermath of the earthquake. [152529]

Hilary Benn: Following our immediate support to the emergency phase of the Bam earthquake response, we have committed a further £2 million towards the rehabilitation effort.

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This additional support is focused on the restoration of primary health care services in partnership with the World Health Organisation (£0.5 million); the implementation of a mid-term sanitation programme in partnership with the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF (£0.5 million); the restoration of agricultural based livelihoods, focusing on the rehabilitation of wells and procurement of pumps, livestock restocking and the replacement of agricultural tools in a joint United Nations Development Programme—Food and Agricultural Organisation partnership (£0.25 million) and also through the non-governmental organisation Action Contre La Faim (£0.3 million); and further support to the International Federation of the Red Cross's appeal (£0.45 million), including the re-stocking of relief items, continued provision of emergency medical services and capacity building of the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

The UK's overall support since the earthquake is £2.95 million, including the UK share of European Community commitments. The European Commission is expected to shortly announce a package of support to the rehabilitation effort. The UK share of this additional commitment would increase our overall support to around £3.7 million.

Iraq

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to his answer of 21 January 2004, Official Report, column 1297W, on Iraq, if he will break down the expenditure by (a) secondment, (b) consultant and (c) security measure. [153133]

Hilary Benn: The breakdowns are as follows:

	£
(a) CPA Director of Infrastructure and support staff	150,000
Deployments to the region by DFID's Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Dept (CHAD)	1,287,000
Secondments to UN	536,000
DFID staff secondments to Iraq	80,000
Total	2,053,000
(b) DFID consultants (on-going programme)	1,360,000
Consultants for Essential Services in Southern Iraq	46,000
Recovery and Infrastructure Group	2,500,000
Governorate Offices	1,895,000
Emergency Infrastructure Programme	500,000
Total	6,301,000
(c) Close protection services to CPA(S)	4,384,000
Close protection/security equipment for consultancy teams	1,614,000
Security equipment (incl. Armoured Vehicles)	5,445,000
Total	11,443,000

Nigeria

Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid his Department will give Nigeria in (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05. [152850]

Hilary Benn: DFID's development assistance to Nigeria for 2003–04 is £35 million and for 2004–05 will be £43 million. In addition, I recently announced an extra £15 million for Nigeria's programme of civil service reform.

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CABINET OFFICE

Civil Service Jobs (Relocation)

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many Civil Service jobs have been relocated to Dumfries and Galloway since 1997. [145680]

Mr. Alexander: The information is not available in the form requested. Data are available on the number of Civil Service jobs in Scotland as a whole, although it is not possible to separate changes resulting from the relocation of existing work from changes due to new work arising and old jobs disappearing.

Detailed civil service Statistics for UK Departments are available at www.civil-service.for.uk/statistics.

I understand that the Scottish Executive is committed to the dispersal of public sector jobs and that as a result of this policy around 1,250 posts have been and plan to be located out with Edinburgh and that further 1,950 are covered by planned location reviews.

Government Vehicles

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of official Government vehicles are fitted to run on liquid petroleum gas. [151292]

Mr. Alexander: The responsibility for the provision of ministerial cars and drivers has been delegated under the terms of the Framework Document to the Government and Car Despatch Agency. I have asked its Chief Executive Mr. Nick Matheson to write to the hon. Member. Copies of his letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Information Technology

Mr. Allan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what audit mechanisms are in place to determine whether information technology (a) hardware and (b) software products are being used properly in his Department. [150929]

Mr. Alexander: The Cabinet Office and its agencies (the Central Office of Information and the Government Car and Despatch Agency), use formal processes and procedures to ensure that all official IT hardware and software is used properly.

The Department maintains asset registers and service statistics, and undertake regular checks on these using both electronic and manual methods. We have controls in place to guarantee that approved software and hardware products only are used on official systems, and that they are sourced and supported through approved channels. The Department also use systems to manage and monitor access to Internet services, to secure the effective day-to-day operation of IT, and for other lawful purposes.

The Cabinet Office Management Code informs staff on the rules and guidelines covering the use of electronic communications facilities, and highlights the consequences of non-compliance.

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