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21 May 2004 : Column 1253W—continued

King's Regiment

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the postings were of the 1st Battalion, The King's Regiment for the last two years; and what postings are planned in the next year. [174740]

Mr. Ingram: 1st Battalion, The King's Regiment has been based at Catterick since March 2001. The Regiment deployed to Iraq from June to October 2003. One Company has since deployed to Kosovo, where they remain. During the period the unit has exercised in
 
21 May 2004 : Column 1254W
 
Canada (in the summer of 2002) and was involved in Operation Fresco (towards the end of 2002 and the start of 2003).

It is currently planned that a Company from the unit will deploy to the Falkland Islands later this year. The remainder of the unit is scheduled to undertake a number of routine tasks in support of the training of other units.

Missiles

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what armaments are to be fitted to the Future Surface Combatant. [171862]

Mr. Ingram: The Future Surface Combatant is currently in its concept stage. As such, no decisions have yet been taken on specific armaments. However, it is envisaged that its roles will include Anti-Surface Warfare, Anti-Submarine Warfare, Anti-Air Warfare and Land Attack, and the ships will be equipped accordingly.

Overseas Bribery

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many allegations of overseas bribery involving UK companies his Department has received from the US Administration since February 1999; on what dates these allegations were received; and what action his Department took on each allegation. [151401]

Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe on 3 February 2004, Official Report, column 844W.

Procurement

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the long-term costings for the equipment programme. [172741]

Mr. Ingram: The detailed financial data and planning assumptions about the proposed content and timing of the future equipment programme form part of internal advice to Ministers on the overall affordability of the defence programme and of individual projects at the time they come forward for approval. This information therefore anticipates decisions still to be taken by Ministers. In parts it also contains information which is commercially sensitive. I am therefore withholding such information under Exemptions 2 and 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Information is, however, routinely made available on a range of major equipment projects, which together form the substantial part of the Department's forward equipment programme, for example in support of the PAC's annual Major Projects Report and the HCDC's annual inquiry into defence procurement. This detail is set in broader context by the publication every two years of the Department's overarching Defence Investment Strategy.
 
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Refuelling Tanker Aircraft

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Government plan to work jointly with the French Government in the CVF programme; and if he will make a statement. [170352]

Mr. Ingram: We are continuing to explore opportunities with the French for potential Carrier co-operation. We believe there could be potential political, military and economic benefits to be gained through such co-operation, but we must ensure that the United Kingdom's CVF programme is not disrupted.

Type 45 Destroyer

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on progress on the Type 45 destroyer programme. [174251]

Mr. Ingram: The Type 45 will be the biggest and most capable class of air defence destroyers ever built for the Royal Navy, and will be equipped to carry out a range of tasks. Six ships are on order with the prime contractor BAE Systems, providing stability for the shipbuilding work force on the Clyde, and at the new VT facility at Portsmouth, for the remainder of the decade. The programme is in full production against a mature design, a first for a UK warship project at this stage of its development.

UN Operations

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library transcripts of the media interviews he gave on 10 May 2004 on the situation in Iraq and investigations into alleged abuse of detainees in British custody in Iraq. [173344]

Mr. Hoon: The Ministry of Defence does not routinely hold full transcripts of interviews given by Ministers on radio or television programmes.

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many vehicles have been transported to Iraq for use by British armed forces, broken down by type. [173860]

Mr. Ingram: This information would require extensive manual retrieval and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what length of deployment UK military personnel are required to serve in Iraq. [174353]

Mr. Ingram: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 19 April 2004, Official Report, column 11W, to the hon. Member for Romford (Mr. Rosindell).

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of each of the (a) Blu-97B, (b) 20 mm Phalanx Sea-to-Air, (c) 25 mm M791, (d) 30 mm PGU-14/B, (e) 120 mm MV Charm, (f) Tow 2 A/B A/tank, (g) AGM-65 G Maverick, (h) Hellfire II/Brimstone, (i) AGM-84 SLAM-ER, (j) AGM-154C JSOW, (k) AGM-158 JASSM, (l) BGM-109 Tactical Tomahawk, (m) Storm Shadow/Scalper, (n) GBU-15, (o) GBU-24, (p) GBU-27, (q) GBU-28B/B, (r) GBU-31JDAM, (s) GBU-37 B/B, (t) GBU-118/B and (u) SSB weapon types were used in Iraq; and which were used against targets in urban areas. [174375]

 
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Mr. Ingram: The numbers of each weapon type used by British forces during Op. Telic are as follows:

Weapon type	Total used
20 mm Phalanx	0
120 mm CHARM	850
TOW (I and FI variants)	83
AGM-65 G Maverick	38
Storm Shadow	27
GBU-27	9

In respect to the numbers of (l) BGM-109 Tactical Tomahawk, and; in relation to the breakdown of numbers used against urban targets, I am withholding this information in accordance with Exemption la of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information which relates to defence, security and international relations.

With the exception of the Tactical Tomahawk, those weapon types included in the question but not listed in the table above are not in UK service.

Vaccination

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when the practice of informed consent for   the administering of vaccines became standard practice; [174191]

(2) pursuant to the letter from the Under-Secretary of State of 1 December 2003, under what guidelines vaccines were administered that did not have a product licence at that time. [174197]

Mr. Caplin: We are currently assembling the information but it is taking time. I will therefore write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

HEALTH

Chronic Disease

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what expenditure has been allocated by his Department to projects to improve chronic disease management over the next three years. [171233]

Mr. Hutton: The management of chronic conditions and the provision of treatment and support to people with such conditions consume substantial national health service resources within primary care trusts' existing allocations. Our recently announced initiative, improving chronic disease management, is intended to make better use of those resources and offer better care to people with chronic conditions. The Department of Health has, however, allocated a total of £5 million in funding to nine primary care trusts participating in the Evercare pilot scheme to test potential ways in which these improvements might be achieved.

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