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22 Apr 2004 : Column 657W—continued

Listed Buildings

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether ecclesiastical exemption applies to listed buildings in Northern Ireland. [168011]


 
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Angela Smith: Yes, an ecclesiastical building is exempt from the controls over the demolition, alteration or extension of listed buildings, unless it is used or available for use by a minister of religion wholly or mainly as a residence from which to perform the duties of his office.

DEFENCE

Aerospace Employment

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to sustain employment in BAE Air Systems divisions. [167316]

Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence currently has two major programmes with BAE Systems Air Systems, for Typhoon and the Nimrod MRA4, which are supporting many thousands of jobs. Other jobs in the company are likely to be sustained by work for the Department on the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer and the Joint Strike Fighter.

Boscombe Down

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future of Boscombe Down; and what the cost of the establishment has been in each year since 1997. [162147]

Mr. Ingram: Boscombe Down is included in the Long Term Partnering Agreement that has been negotiated with QinetiQ for the delivery of a long-term test and evaluation capability to the Ministry of Defence. The financial information requested is commercially sensitive and I am therefore withholding this under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Bradford University School of Peace Studies

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether other universities were invited to tender for the contract awarded to the Bradford University School of Peace Studies by the Ministry of Defence; [167314]

(2) if he will place in the Library the draft syllabus presented by the Bradford University School of Peace Studies to the Ministry of Defence before the training contract was signed; [167313]

(3) what inquiries were made into the practical military and peacekeeping experience of Bradford University School of Peace Studies staff before the awarding of a Ministry of Defence contract; and what the results were; [167312]

(4) what reason Bradford University's School of Peace Studies has been selected to teach UK soldiers about conflict resolution; whether this decision was taken at ministerial level; and what the overall cost will be. [167311]

Mr. Ingram: Bradford University is one of nine Universities recently awarded contracts todeliver the Armed Forces' University Short Course Programme to Service personnel. Contract advertisements were placed in major bulletins, such as the Ministry of Defence's
 
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Contracts Bulletin and other appropriate media, and fourteen Universities tendered for elements of the programme, which delivers a range of 44 different courses.

Bradford University's Department of Peace Studies successfully tendered for four courses from the programme. All bids for courses were subjected to detailed technical evaluation against key criteria, including the academic experience of the relevant institution. Contracts were awarded on the basis of fair and open competition to the best overall bidder.

The contract award did not require a ministerial decision since these are replacement contracts for existing arrangements. The decision was taken by the three Service sponsors, Training Group Defence Agency for the RAF, Army Training and Recruitment Agency and Naval Recruitment and Training Agency.

The overall cost of the Conflict Resolution course will depend on the actual uptake of the course across the five year period, but will not exceed £125K.

The MOD's prospectus for the University Short Course Programme 2004–05 is currently being prepared and a copy will be placed in the Library of the House once it has been published. This is likely to be in the Summer.

Civilian Deaths

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Government will pay compensation to the dependants of civilians killed by UK military action in (a) Afghanistan and (b) Iraq. [143596]

Mr. Ingram: In Iraq, payments are made in accordance with Section 6 of Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 17. This requires claims to be dealt with by the Parent State of the person whose activities are alleged to have caused the loss, in accordance with the national laws of that Parent State. Hence, each claim is treated on its merit according to English Law.

In Afghanistan, no formal compensation payments have been made.

Correspondence

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he proposes to reply in full to the letters of 10 March and 6 April of the hon. Member for Woking concerning Warrant Officer 2 Grieves reference D/US of S/IC 0928/04/L. [167170]

Mr. Caplin: I replied to the hon. Gentleman on 20 April.

Defence Medical Centre (Birmingham)

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total planned cost of the Defence Medical Centre at Birmingham is; and what savings have been identified from its establishment. [166110]

Mr. Caplin: We are currently exploring, in consultation with industry, a number of options for the development of domestic accommodation and the move of all remaining medical training and other functions to
 
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Birmingham. Planned costs and potential savings remain subject to evaluation of, and final decisions on, the various options.

Equipment Purchases

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of table 2 from the National Audit Office report Operation Telic—United Kingdom Operations in Iraq, annotated to show the management group by which the equipment was acquired. [161119]

Mr. Hoon: A copy of table 2 from the National Audit Office report Operation Telic—United Kingdom Operations in Iraq, annotated with the relevant Integrated Project Teams, has been placed in the Library today.

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which of his Department's management groups purchased equipment under the urgent operational requirements procedure in financial year 2002–03; and what the value was of (a) that equipment and (b) equipment subsequently disposed of. [161120]

Mr. Hoon: The Integrated Project Teams that procured equipment under urgent operational requirement (UOR) arrangements in financial year 2002–03 are shown in the following list. The costs of UORs in 2002–03 totalled some £290 million (of which the capital investment element amounted to around £220 million). Decisions on which UORs will be retained in service are being taken as part of this year's, and subsequent, planning rounds. Data on the value of disposals does not distinguish between equipment purchased routinely and equipment purchased under UOR arrangements.


 
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