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22 Apr 2004 : Column 661W—continued
Eurofighter Typhoon
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to conclude his discussions with BAE Systems about the price and quantity of Eurofighter Typhoons that will form Tranche II of the Project. [167315]
Mr. Ingram: Discussions with BAE Systems regarding the order for Tranche II Typhoons are ongoing. The quantity that will form Tranche II of the project remains 236, of which 89 will be for the Royal Air Force; this is not under discussion.
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what issues prevent him from ordering Tranche II of the Eurofighter Typhoon Contract. [167317]
Mr. Ingram:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 February 2004, (Official Report, column 1634W), to my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice). The negotiations are still ongoing and must be concluded before Tranche II can be ordered.
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Ferries
Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many roll-on roll-off ferries his Department has commissioned since 1997; and how many are in service. [166855]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 21 April 2004]: The Ministry of Defence has commissioned six Roll-On/Roll-Off vessels since 1997 and all these vessels are currently in service.
Harrier GR7
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how much longer he expects to retain the Harrier GR7 in service. [167181]
Mr. Ingram: The GR7 Harrier is being upgraded to GR9 standard over the next five years. Current assumptions are that the Harrier GR9 will remain in operational service with the Royal Air Force until the middle of the next decade.
Jaguar
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future of the RAF Jaguar Aircraft. [167184]
Mr. Ingram: Based on current plans the Jaguar fleet will be withdrawn from Royal Air Force service by 2009.
Land Releases (Hampshire)
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his Department's current programme for land releases in Hampshire. [166916]
Mr. Caplin: Sites currently scheduled for release in Hampshire include:
DM Dean Hill Main Site and adjacent land
Site A Monxton Road, Andover
Daedalus Conservation Area in Broom Way
Property at frontage of DM Gosport in Fareham Road
Aldershot—Burger King Site
Aldershot—Ski slope site
Farnborough—Queensgate site
Farnborough—Former Officers Mess
Farnborough—Civil enclave
Farnborough—Garages at Lancaster Way
Farnborough—Woodland at Norris Bridge
Farham—Woodland at Old Park Lane
In addition, as I announced on 23 March 2004, the Ministry of Defence is undertaking further work to examine where estate rationalisation might be possible, with the aim of consolidating defence activity at a smaller number of more densely utilised locations in order to achieve the optimum use of land and facilities. This on-going work covers the whole of our estate in Great Britain, and takes into account existing relocation studies that have already been announced.
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The Department is currently at an early stage of this wider review and each proposal that emerges from this work will be subject to full consultation in the normal way. No decisions have yet been reached on any further sites in Hampshire.
Qinetiq
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what provisions were included in the transfer of Defence Evaluation and Research Agency assets to QinetiQ for clawback in respect of development land sales; and what sums are expected to be clawed back in respect of the sale by QinetiQ of the former MoD Longcross site at Chertsey. [165869]
Mr. Caplin: All of the freehold sites transferred to QinetiQ at Vesting of the Company were subject to a clawback agreement.
The total receipts from the disposal of the Chertsey site, of which the Longcross test track site forms a part, are unlikely to be fully realised for several years and it is therefore difficult to anticipate what sums, if any, will accrue to MOD from the clawback provisions.
Approximately the first £50 million of receipts from this site secures a loan made by MOD to QinetiQ, and this sum will therefore be paid back to MOD as QinetiQ receives the sums from the purchaser.
RAF Bases
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future of (a) RAF Coltishall and (b) RAF Wittering. [167182]
Mr. Ingram: On current plans the Royal Air Force will have no continuing requirement for RAF Coltishall once the Jaguar aircraft goes out of service.
RAF Wittering is one of the stations under consideration as part of the review into the future basing of Air Combat Service Support Units and minor units. I will be making a written statement on this review shortly.
Suez Medal
Peter Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how long on average it has taken from a claim to an award of the Canal Zone Medal. [165484]
Mr. Caplin: It is not possible to calculate the average time taken from a claim to an award of a Canal Zone Medal. However, as at 16 April the four single Service medal offices had received 37,512 applications. Many arrived following the Prime Minister's announcement on 11 June 2003 that a medal would be instituted and a large backlog had built up by 23 October 2003 when I announced that medals would now be available. 6,700 medals and/or clasps have been despatched to veterans or their families. The medal offices are currently assessing applications received on the following dates.
| Service Medal Office | Applications received |
|---|---|
| Royal Navy | 8 July 2003 |
| Royal Marines | 6 February 2004 |
| Army | 31 August 2003 |
| RAF | 4 November 2003 |
22 Apr 2004 : Column 664W
Wind Farms
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many objections were made by his Department against pre-applications to build onshore wind farms in each of the last five years; and how many pre-applications for onshore wind farms were made in each of these years. [159735]
Mr. Caplin: In the period 1999 to 2003 the Ministry of Defence objected to a total of 796 pre-planning applications for onshore wind power projects.
| Proposals | Objections | |
|---|---|---|
| 1999(36) | 65 | 39 |
| 2000(36) | 158 | 51 |
| 2001 | 333 | 141 |
| 2000 | 985 | 398 |
| 2001 | 685 | (37)167 |
(36) There was no formal wind farm safeguarding team within the Department prior to August 2000, and statistics for 1999 and part of 2000 are, therefore, based on the best data currently available.
(37) 260 awaiting resolution.
Many pre-applications are made by developers purely speculatively, and there is no data currently available to show how many pre-applications to which the Department does not state an objection are actually followed through. Where the Department does raise an objection MOD officials are always willing to work with the developer in order to determine whether a mutually acceptable solution can be found to enable a development to go ahead.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Disabled Workers
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the measures introduced to improve the working conditions of disabled workers in Crosby over the last seven years. [160526]
Maria Eagle: We have a number of measures in place nationally to help improve conditions for disabled people at work, as well as measures to improve their access to services generally. None of these are specific to Crosby, but all are available to disabled people who live and work there.
From 1996, the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act required most employers of 20 or more staff not to discriminate against, and to make reasonable adjustments for, disabled job applicants or employees; in December 1998, we reduced this threshold to 15 employees. From October this year, the small employer exemption will be removed and most currently excluded occupations, such as police officers, fire-fighters, and partners in business partnerships will be brought within the scope of the Disability Discrimination Act employment provisions.
Jobcentre Plus runs a number of specialist programmes providing help for disabled people, including New Deal for Disabled People, Workstep, Access to Work, the Job Introduction Scheme, and Work Preparation. All these programmes provide
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practical advice and support to disabled people and their employers to help overcome work related obstacles resulting from disability. Since 1997–98 there have been year on year increases in both numbers helped and programme spend.
To help people access appropriate help, Jobcentre Plus has established a network of Disability Service Teams. The teams are made up of Disability Employment Advisors, Access to Work Advisers and Occupational Psychologists; their services are accessed through local Jobcentres.
Since April 2003, disabled people in work have been receiving financial support through the Working Tax Credit. This is available if a person is working an average of at least 16 hours per week (self-employed or for an employer); and have a disability which puts them at a disadvantage in getting a job. 70,000 families
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(including over 32,000 adults without children) are benefiting from the disability element within the Working Tax Credit, compared to 38,000 who benefited from the old Disabled Person's Tax Credit.
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