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Military Gifts

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the decision-making process is for granting military gifts under the global conflict prevention fund. [164908]

Mr. Ingram: The gifting of military equipment is permissible under the Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP) where it is considered essential to the success of an agreed strategy and endorsed by Pool officials on the relevant strategy Steering Team or Ministers. Gifts over £100,000 require a Departmental Minute to be laid before both Houses, under the normal 14 working days rule, before a final decision is taken. An export licence, or export licence waiver, is sought as appropriate. Potentially lethal military equipment (such as weapons and ammunition) can only be gifted through the GCPP with the approval of Ministers.

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Mines

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether a decision has been made on the disposal of (a) Mk 7 and (b) L3A1 anti-vehicle mines. [163207]

Mr. Ingram: The total stock of Mk 7 and L3A1 anti-vehicle mines was earmarked for disposal on 10 January 2003. These mines are being disposed of through a contract with QinetiQ. There are still stocks awaiting physical disposal.

MOD Properties

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many residential properties owned by his Department are currently empty in the Greater Portsmouth area. [164623]

Mr. Caplin: In the Greater Portsmouth area nearly all the family housing used by the Ministry of Defence is owned by Annington Homes. Some 389 quarters are currently empty and within this figure 46 are in the course of disposal, 57 await modernisation, some 131 are held for future unit deployments and 94 are pre-allocated for Service families. The remainder are available to let.

NAAFI Shops

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the price of goods available to British forces in NAAFI shops overseas, with particular reference to Iraq, compared with NAAFI shops in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [164179]

Mr. Ingram: NAAFI pricing policy is routinely reviewed by the Ministry of Defence in the forum of the NAAFI Council, which is the body that provides strategic direction to NAAFI under the chairmanship of the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, Personnel.

NAAFI prices in Iraq are set at a level that, depending on the products involved, match either local competition (e.g. in the stores serving American and Dutch troops), prices charged by NAAFI in Germany, (which are in the main substantially cheaper than in the United Kingdom), or at the same prices as in Spar shops in the UK.

Personnel Outflow

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people have left (a) the Highlanders, (b) the Black Watch, (c) the Royal Scots, (d) the Royal Highland Fusiliers, (e) the King's Own Scottish Borderers, (f) the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, (g) the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, (h) Scots Guards and (i) F Company Scots Guards in each of the last five years owing to exit codes (i) 9.398, (ii) 9.403, (iii) 9.404, (iv) 9.405, (v) 9.411, (vi) 9.413, (vii) 9.414 and (viii) PVR. [164717]

Mr. Ingram: It will take some time to collate data about the outflow of personnel under the Queen's Regulations listed for all the requested Regiments. I will therefore write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

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Postal Services

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his policy towards postal services for forces on operations overseas. [164197]

Mr. Ingram: Postal services for HM Forces on overseas operations form part of the overall Operational Welfare Package (OWP). The postal element of this consists of free Forces Air Letters ("Blueys") and their electronic equivalent, the "e-Bluey", and airmail letters and packets up to 2kg at a subsidised rate equivalent to UK inland first class postage. When operational circumstances permit, a surface parcel service is also made available at a subsidised rate.

In addition to these comprehensive arrangements, an exceptional extension to the service for Iraq only was provided from 17 April 2003 to enable families of deployed personnel to post airmail letters and packets up to 2kg free of charge. The free packet service was introduced in recognition of the particularly austere conditions faced by personnel in Iraq and of the fact that parts of the OWP were not available to them. Since the entire OWP will be available from April, I advised the House in my Written Statement of 27 February 2004, Official Report, columns 69–70WS, that this temporary free postal service would be discontinued with effect from 8 April 2004, to bring provisions in Iraq into line with those for other operational theatres.

RAF Strike Command

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will assess the advantages of moving RAF Strike Command from High Wycombe to Gloucestershire; and if he will make a statement. [164304]

Mr. Ingram: The study into the possible collocation of the RAF Headquarters is still at an early stage. The study team will consider the relative merits of all the options and will report their findings in due course.

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost savings of moving RAF Strike Command from High Wycombe to Gloucestershire; and if he will make a statement. [164305]

Mr. Ingram: The study into the possible collocation of the RAF Headquarters is still at an early stage, therefore no estimate of potential cost savings has yet been made for any of the options under consideration.

Sanctuary Magazine

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the target audience is of Sanctuary magazine; and what its circulation is. [163545]

Mr. Caplin: Sanctuary Magazine exists to communicate and promote the Ministry of Defence's conservation policy, with the target audience being MOD staff who need to be aware of the broad conservation agenda (including MOD Conservation Groups); external bodies with a need to know about MOD's conservation efforts; and targeted to members of the general public who may wish to be made aware of our conservation challenges and the work MOD does to address them.

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25,000 copies of the 2003 edition of Sanctuary were printed. 50 per cent. were distributed internally within MOD and 50 per cent. were distributed to a range of external stakeholders (including members of both Houses) and members of the general public.

Search and Rescue Radar Equipment

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many aircraft available to his Department are fitted with synthetic aperture radar equipment for use in search and rescue operations, broken down by type; and if he will make a statement. [164296]

Mr. Ingram: None. Synthetic aperture radar will be fitted to the Nimrod MRA4,18 of which are currently due to enter service in 2009. This capability is, however, unlikely to be used in search and rescue operations, as MOD platforms engaged in such operations are already equipped with other, more appropriate, technologies.

Site Decontamination/Stores Write-offs

Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent in each year since 1997 on (a) site decontamination and (b) stores write-offs. [164218]

Mr. Caplin: It will take some time to collate this information. I will therefore write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Staff Relocation Costs

Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent in each year since 1997 on re-location of Ministry of Defence staff. [164219]

Mr. Caplin: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Swan Hunter

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will bring forward the building of (a) the Joint Casualty Treatment Ship and (b) the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability project to fill the workload gap at Swan Hunter Wallsend. [156559]

Mr. Ingram: The Joint Casualty Treatment Ship project is currently in its Assessment phase and the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability project is in its Concept phase. A range of options for meeting these two requirements is still therefore under consideration. As part of that work, in line with Defence Industrial Policy, the Department considers a wide range of issues including loading in the UK's shipyards. On current plans, it is not, however, expected that any build contracts for these projects will be placed before the middle of the second half of this decade.

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