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DEFENCE

Apprenticeships

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether there will be apprenticeships in the Royal Navy in the future; and if he will make a statement. [172859]

Mr. Caplin: There are no plans to change the training of Royal Naval personnel in respect of apprenticeships in the future. The Royal Navy will continue to encourage personnel to gain external qualifications through accreditation with civilian organisations as this is a positive recruiting initiative and provides a well trained civilian work force for the future.

The training delivered to over 90 per cent. of personnel in the Royal Navy is eligible for the award of an apprenticeship as defined by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). Currently over 3,200 personnel are working towards a Level 2 qualification.

BAE Systems

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the Government's relationship with BAE Systems; and what assessment he has made of the ways in which it can be improved. [171801]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 10 May 2004]: Her Majesty's Government have a professional relationship with all defence contractors, and senior company officials meet regularly with the Ministry of Defence, and other Government departments.

The MOD has set up Key Supplier Management (KSM) programmes to work with all major suppliers to improve performance from both the supplier and customer points of view.

Civilian Staff

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many civilian staff are employed (a) by Ministry of Defence Trading Funds and (b) as Royal Fleet Auxiliaries; how many of his Department's civilian staff are on (i) career breaks, (ii) long-term sick leave and (iii) secondments; and if he will list these numbers (A) for the whole of the UK, (B) for Scotland and (C) for Wales. [170450]

 
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Mr. Caplin: The number of full-time equivalent, permanent, industrial and non-industrial civilian staff employed by the Ministry of Defence Trading Funds and Royal Fleet Auxiliaries in the whole of the United Kingdom, in Scotland and in Wales, as at the latest available date:
1 March 2004

	Trading funds	Royal fleet auxiliaries
Total UK	11,280	2,340
Of which:
Scotland	540	n/a
Wales	2,470	n/a

The number of full-time equivalent, permanent, industrial and non-industrial MOD civilian staff on career breaks and secondments for the whole of the United Kingdom, for Scotland and for Wales, as at the latest available date:
1 March 2004

	Career breaks	Secondments
Total UK	510	220
Of which:
Scotland	10	—
Wales	—	—

Information on the numbers of long-term sick leave for 2003 is not yet available. I will write to the hon. Member when it has been collated and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Defence Medal Offices

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many staff are employed at defence medal offices, broken down by (a) sex and (b) those employed on a (i) permanent, (ii) fixed-term and (iii) casual basis; [172035]

(2) what assessment he has made of the number of experienced staff who are prepared to transfer from Droitwich Spa to RAF Innsworth after the closure of the Army Medal Office. [172038]

Mr. Caplin: As at 10 May 2004, the following staff were employed at the four Defence Medal Offices.

	Sex	Permanent	Fixed term	Casual	Total
Army Medal Office	29 female 26 male	52	2	1	55
RAF Medal Office	6 female 9 male	12	0	3	15
RM Medal Office	6 female 1 male	7	0	0	7
RN Medal Office	11 female 1 male	11	0	1	12
		—	—	—	89

The Investment Appraisal assumed nine staff would transfer from Droitwich to Innsworth to build upon the existing cadre of experienced Innsworth based RAF Medal office staff. Until the current staff preference exercise is completed at the end of May, no further assessment can be made as to the number of experienced staff prepared to transfer from Droitwich to Innsworth.
 
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Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the timetable is for the closure of the Army Medal Office in Droitwich Spa; [172039]

(2) if he will make a statement on his plans to minimise disruption in the issuing of medals normally issued by   the Army Medal Office in Droitwich Spa during the   period of its closure and relocation to RAF Innsworth. [172040]

Mr. Caplin: My written statement on 20 April 2004, Official Report, column 12WS, made clear that this will be a phased operation. The phased closure is part of the risk reduction strategy to counter the temporary disruption in the issuing of medals that may occur during the actual move.
 
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Defence Projects

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list all (a) category A, (b) category B and (c) category C projects of his Department that have achieved their in-service date since 31 March 1997; and when the in-service date was achieved. [170560]

Mr. Ingram: A list of all Category A, Category B and Category C equipment projects procured by the Defence Procurement Agency and achieving in-service date is set out in the following table. Details prior to 1 April 2001 are incomplete as project information before that time is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Project name	ISD
Ocean Survey Vessel (HMS SCOTT)	June-1997
Skynet 4 Stage II	May-1998
PtarmiganMapps (Deployable Trunk Communications System)	December-2000
Medium Support Helicopter Aircrew Training Facility (MSHATF)	April-2001
Verticle Launched Anti-tank Munition (Shielder)	May-2001
COBLU-RN Communications Electronic Surveillance Measures	July-2001
Joint Command System (Logistics)	August-2001
Tractor Wheeled Earthmoving Medium	August-2001
C-17—Strategic Airlift	September-2001
Joint Operations Command System	September-2001
CHUB (Classified project)	November-2001
High Frequency Broadcast Modernisation	December-2001
SCAD 101 (submarine counter-measures acoustic devices)	December-2001
SCAD 200 (submarine counter-measures acoustic devices)	December-2001
ASRAAM (Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile)	January-2002
BOWMAN Personal Role Radio	January-2002
Replacement Precision Approach Radar (RPAR)	March-2002
RAF Command Control and Information System (RAF CCIS)	March-2002
Sea King MK7	March-2002
Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (CATT)	May-2002
Lynx Mk 7/9 Aircrew Training Service	May-2002
Radar Type 996	May-2002
Sea Dart IR Fuze	July-2002
SA80 Modification	August-2002
PSC 504—portable sitcom terminal	September-2002
Tactical Communications Digitisation Programme	November-2002
JTIDS (Joint Tactical Information Distribution System) into the SeaKing (w) Mk 7	December-2002
Area Weapons Effects Simulation (AWES)	January-2003
Tornado GR4 Synthetic Training Service (TSTS)	January-2003
Range Airborne Instrumented Debriefing System (RAIDS)	January-2003
Auxiliary Oiler	March-2003
Attack Helicopter Conversion Training (for aircrew, groundcrew and maintenance technicians)	April-2003
RORO—Strategic Sealift	April-2003
Secure Comms for the RAF	April-2003
Man-Portable Chemical Agent Detector (MCAD)	May-2003
Typhoon (agile combat aircraft)	June-2003
Heavy Equipment Transporter	July-2003
Landing Platform Dock (Replacement)	July-2003
DLH Offboard Active Decoy	September-2003
Survey Vessels (HMS ECHO)	September-2003
AH Crew and Special-to-arm collective training	November-2003
General Key Management	November-2003
Integrated Biological Detection System (IBDS)	November-2003
Directional Infra-Red Counter Measures (DIRCM)	December-2003
Very Low Frequency Received Signal Service	December-2003
Land System Reference Centre—Internet Protocol	January-2004
All Terrain Vehicle (Platform)—Viking	February-2004
BOWMAN—Tactical Communication System	March-2004
Hunt Mid-Life Update—Sonar Type 2193	March-2004
Successor Identification Friend or Foe (SIFF)	March-2004

 
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