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Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 18 March 2004
DEFENCE
Arctic Campaign Veterans
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will ensure that the Arctic campaign veterans, who do not qualify for the Atlantic Star due to length of service restrictions receive some recognition of their service. [162158]
Mr. Caplin: All armed forces personnel who completed 28 days' operational service were eligible to receive the War Medal 1939–45. This included service on the convoys to Northern Russia. Any service curtailed by death, injury or capture also qualified for the award. There will always be those who fail to meet the qualifying period for a campaign medal for some reason or another. This does not signify that their service is not appreciated nor justify the institution of an alternative award.
AWE Aldermaston
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what initiatives have been taken by AWE Aldermaston to diversify out of nuclear warhead research, development and production. [161756]
Mr. Ingram: AWE plc maintains a regular dialogue with industry and academia to encourage, within security constraints, beneficial exchanges and collaboration aimed at optimising its ability to meet its core mission of nuclear warhead research, development, production, in-service support and disposal. AWE plc's expertise in nuclear weapons inevitably has wider application; and the performance of core work can result in spin-off technology that has utility in industry and society at large. Beyond this, it is not AWE plc's function within its contract with the MOD to diversify out of the core business it is required to undertake.
Correspondence
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 11 February 2004, Official Report, column 1460–61W, on Sea King helicopters, when he will write in reply to the hon. Member for St. Ives. [162219]
Mr. Ingram: It has taken some time to collate the detailed information requested by the hon. Member. The work is now complete and I will write to him shortly and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Drugs
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of each of the armed forces
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tested positive for the use of controlled substances in the calendar year 2003 (a) as a proportion of those tested and (b) broken down by substance. [161305]
Mr. Caplin: The number of personnel who tested positive for use of a controlled substance in the year 2003 expressed as a proportion of those tested, and number of substances detected is as follows (the number of drugs identified is greater than the number of individuals who test positive where an individual tests positive for more than one drug):
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Number tested | 13,803 |
| Number positive | 56 |
| Percentage positive | 0.41 |
| Substance detected: | |
| Heroin | 1 |
| Cocaine | 23 |
| Ecstasy | 15 |
| Cannabis | 23 |
| Amphetamine | 4 |
| Total | 66 |
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Number tested | 93,168 |
| Number positive | 516 |
| Percentage positive | 0.62 |
| Substance detected: | |
| Heroin | 4 |
| Cannabis | 288 |
| Ecstasy | 117 |
| Cocaine | 126 |
| Amphetamines | 41 |
| Others | 4 |
| Total | 580 |
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Number tested | 12,432 |
| Number positive | 20 |
| Percentage positive | 0.16 |
| Substance detected: | |
| Ecstasy | 4 |
| Cannabis | 16 |
| Total | 20 |
Submarine Crew
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when the policy of instructing submarine crews to share rollneck jumpers and foul-weather suits was initiated by staff in his Department; and for what reasons; [161827]
- (2) what estimate he has made of the effect on (a) operational efficiency and (b) morale of instructing submarine crews to share rollneck jumpers and foul-weather suits; [161829]
(3) what the estimated savings are per submarine per month of the policy of sharing rollneck jumpers and foul-weather suits; [161828]
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(4) if he will list those submarines in which crew members have been instructed to share (a) rollneck jumpers and (b) foul-weather suits. [161826]
Mr. Ingram: There is no policy that submarine crews are to share rollneck jumpers and there has been no reduction in the allocation of foul-weather clothing suits. On the contrary, a programme is in place to increase the number of sets of foul-weather clothing suits issued.
We have not estimated the savings that might accrue from adopting a policy of sharing personal clothing.
Websites
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total annual cost of his Department's websites, including those of its agencies, was in the most recent year for which figures are available. [159513]
Mr. Caplin: The Ministry of Defence and armed forces collectively maintain four corporate websites. Direct expenditure on these in the financial year 2003–04 was as follows:
| Organisation | Address | Expenditure(£) |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Defence | www.mod.uk | 111,000 |
| Royal Navy | www.roval-navy.mod.uk | 230,000 |
| British Army | www.army.mod.uk | 160,000 |
| Royal Air Force | www.raf.mod.uk | 108,000 |
| Total | 609,000 |
A number of other, generally small, websites are maintained by subsidiary organisations of the MOD and armed forces. However, information on their expenditure is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
LEADER OF THE HOUSE
Single European Currency (Referendum) Bill
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Leader of the House if he will propose the creation of a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament to examine the draft Single European Currency (Referendum) Bill. [160765]
CABINET OFFICE
Civil Defence Grant
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how much grant allocation for the civil defence grant he retained in each financial year since 1997; [161377]
- (2) if he will list the (a) location and (b) nature of successful project bids for the discretionary grant allocation of the civil defence grant for each financial year since 1997. [161376]
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Mr. Alexander: Since 2002–03, £100,000 has been retained at the start of the financial year specifically to be allocated as Discretionary Grant to support special projects and events related to the local authority emergency planning functions that are of benefit to the wider emergency planning community.
| 2002–03 | |
|---|---|
| Staffordshire and Derbyshire | Project to investigate and make recommendations for the implementation of quality control processes in the work of Emergency Planning Units. |
| Derbyshire | Seminar to promote public safety and good practice in the management of events and production of good practice guide. |
| Greater Manchester | Production of two training videos to assist with emergency planning awareness training . |
| Merseyside | Seminar to examine the lessons learned for emergency planning from the September 11 terrorist attack. |
| Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, Cleveland, County Durham and Darlington | Project to examine and identify improved methods of collaborative working within Regions. |
| Tyne and Wear | Project (PhD) to research GIS system to provide methodology for hazard analysis and risk assessment. |
| Swindon and Wiltshire | Project to provide virtual reality databases for high risk sites for use during training and live incidents. |
| Coventry | Production of revised and updated guidance document 'Guidelines For Faith Communities When Dealing With Disasters'. |
| All local authorities in Wales | Project to further development of 'Wales Benchmarking Club' (performance indicators for emergency planning). |
| Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan | Project to develop mutual aid scheme. |
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