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19 Apr 2004 : Column 13W—continued

Royal Air Force

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many non-civilians are on the payroll of the RAF. [165609]

 
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Mr. Caplin: Information on RAF Regular and Full Time Reserve personnel is given in the Tri-Service Publication 3 (TSP3), a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects RAF Leeming to be equipped with the Typhoon. [165089]

Mr. Ingram: The position remains as I set out in the Adjournment debate of 12 November 2003, Official Report, column 140WH.

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many front-line aircraft were in use by the RAF in (a) 1992, (b) 1997 and (c) 2001; and how many are in use now. [165060]

Mr. Ingram: I assume the hon. Member is referring to   RAF fast-jet front-line aircraft. The numbers in question as at 5 March for each year are:

1992—366

1997—358

2001—294

2004—310.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF bases there were in the UK in 2002–03; what the costs were of maintaining each of them; and how many uniformed military personnel were based at each. [165306]

Mr. Ingram: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Royal Navy

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the operational status of the Royal Navy. [165546]

Mr. Ingram: The Royal Navy is fully capable of meeting its current operational commitments.

Salaries

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of the armed forces budget has been spent on salaries during the last seven years for which figures are available. [165552]

Mr. Ingram: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Science Strategy

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he has taken to enhance science in his Department since the publication of the Government's science strategy, "Investing in Innovation". [162253]

Mr. Ingram: Science and technology has a key role to play in the UK's transition to smaller, but technically advanced, network enabled forces and the UK's war on terror. The Ministry of Defence remains committed to ensuring science feeds into both its policy-making work on future capabilities and also into the defence equipment programme. The MOD has historically
 
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invested considerable sums in technological research for defence purposes and the science and technology budget has remained stable over the last three years.

The MOD science and technology programme has been aligned with defence policy and the capability strategies that flow from it for some considerable time. The MOD is now managing its research programme by outputs to ensure science and technology is focussed on meeting policy and its high level customer needs. Major customers for science and technology in the MOD outline their requirements, which align with MOD's priorities and high level needs, and a detailed research programme is designed to deliver these strategies. This approach is designed to draw together Government, industrial and university sectors in new partnerships, such as Defence Technology Centres, while at the same   time maximising the opportunities for wider commercial exploitation from MOD investments.

Service Deployments

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British service personnel are (a) deployed and (b) stationed in (i) Germany, (ii) Northern Ireland, (iii) Bosnia-Herzegovina, (iv) Croatia, (v) Kosovo, (vi)   Albania, (vii) the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, (viii) Sierra Leone, (ix) the Gulf Region, (x)   Turkey, (xi) Gibraltar, (xii) Belize, (xiii) Kenya, (xiv) Canada and (xv) The Falkland Islands. [165596]

Mr. Ingram: The approximate numbers of British service personnel deployed or stationed in the locations specified are shown below:

Location	Deployed	Stationed
Germany	0	17,900
Northern Ireland	0	13,000
Bosnia-Herzegovina	990	0
Croatia	0	0
Kosovo	1,000	0
Albania	0	0
FYR of Macedonia	20	0
Sierra Leone	20	0
The Gulf Region	8,700	0
Turkey	0	0
Gibraltar	0	500
Belize	0	30
Kenya (training team only)	0	10
Canada (training team only)	0	200
The Falkland Islands	1,150	50

The above figures do not include personnel serving in loan/diplomatic posts, on temporary training or small detachments. However, significant numbers of personnel are also currently serving in the three following locations:

Location	Deployed	Stationed
Afghanistan	480	Nil
Cyprus	400	3,000
Brunei	Nil	1,100

All figures have been rounded.

Royal Military Police

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the last independent quality audit of the
 
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work of the Special Investigation Branch of the Royal Military Police was completed; when the next one is scheduled; what the main recommendations were; which recommendations have yet to be implemented; and if he will make a statement. [165762]

Mr. Ingram: The Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch (SIB) are subject to inspection in accordance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The Surveillance Commissioner undertook an inspection in 2003 and made no substantive comments. The Interception Commissioner is expected to undertake an inspection later this year. In addition, all major SIB investigations are reviewed by external civilian police forces in accordance with Home Office guidelines.

Surplus Land

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department will receive the full proceeds of the land recently agreed to be sold to Taylor Woodrow as building land surplus to that required for the renovation of the rest of the Colchester garrison site. [165697]

Mr. Caplin: The proceeds from the sale of surplus land at Colchester (net of costs incurred) will be received by RMPA (the PFI contractor), and used to reduce the cost of the unitary payments made by the Department under the PFI contract.

Tanks

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many main battle tanks are held by the Army; and how many are deployed in operational units. [165385]

Mr. Ingram: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many tanks are battlefield ready in the British armed forces; [165549]

(2) how many Challenger series (a) 1 and (b) 2 tanks are operational in the armed forces; [165551]

(3) what the cost in 2003–04 was of maintaining the fleet of tanks. [165550]

Mr. Ingram: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Warships

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 25 March, to the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Mr. Soames), Official Report, column 948, on warships, what the expiry date for the reactor certificate of HMS Triumph is. [165793]

Mr. Ingram: The authorisation to operate HMS Triumph's reactor expired on 7 March 2004.

Wind Farms

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael) of 16 March
 
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2004, Official Report, column 204W, on wind farms, if he will list the reasons for objection in each case; and how many formal applications were not objected to in each year. [165781]

Mr. Caplin: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House giving the details of the nine formal objections from my previous answer where this information is publicly available.

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