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Iraq

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which provisions of the Geneva Conventions will cease to apply in Iraq following the handover of sovereignty on 30 June. [177584]

Mr. Hoon: Those parts of the Geneva Convention that set out the rights and responsibilities of an Occupying Power will no longer be relevant when the Iraqi Interim Government assumes authority on 1 July.

Military Personnel (Afghanistan)

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what reports he has received on the incidence of (a) rape and (b) other sexual abuse of Afghan women by international military personnel serving in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement. [176056]

Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence has not received any such reports, although I am aware of the concerns expressed in a March 2004 Human Rights Watch report regarding the use of "culturally insensitive" methods during coalition operations in South and South-East Afghanistan. While I cannot speak for the forces of other nations, I understand no United Kingdom military personnel have been accused of committing any form of sexual offence in Afghanistan. Were any to be so, they would be dealt with under the relevant British military discipline procedures and, depending on the offence, the criminal law.

Osama Bin Laden

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether UK forces in Afghanistan have been given the authority to kill Osama bin Laden. [176827]

Mr. Hoon: The Rules of Engagement for United Kingdom forces in Afghanistan ensure that they remain within international law, which requires that the use of force is limited to that which is necessary and proportionate, depending on the circumstances in which they find themselves.
 
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Recruitment (Army)

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many new recruits have applied to join the Army in the past year; and how many of those have been (a) judged suitable, (b) accepted for training and (c) deferred. [177145]

Mr. Caplin: The number of new recruits who have applied to join the Army in the past year (training year 2003–2004), have been judged suitable, accepted for training and deferred are detailed as follows.
Training year—2003–04

	Number of new recruits
Applicants	35,224
Judged suitable/job offer	18,133
Accepted for training	13,783
Deferred(10)	10,099

⁽¹⁰⁾ Deferrals include those who are deferred for medical reasons, for fitness and as a result of the Principal Selection officer interview held at the end of attendance at a Recruit Selection Centre

It should be noted that those deferred will normally reapply at a later stage, hence the figures for those deferred and accepted for training will not equate to the job offer figure in year.

Road Traffic Accidents (Service Personnel)

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the circumstances were of the death of Major James Stenner and Sergeant Norman Patterson in a road traffic accident in Baghdad on 1 January; what rank of officer was responsible for their travel arrangements; who was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash; and what the investigation concluded about levels of alcohol in the blood of the deceased. [176333]

Mr. Ingram: These questions will be examined as part of the Board of Inquiry process and at the forthcoming Coroner's Inquests. It would not therefore be appropriate for me to comment at this stage.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total (a) capital and (b) running costs to the department of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary are in 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [176746]

Mr. Ingram: CINC FLEET does not manage costs on the basis of platform types but on functions. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary does not therefore have a distinct, identifiable budget. We do however, maintain the following indicative figures for planning purposes for the costs to FLEET and the Warship Support Agency (WSA).

Direct Running Costs to MOD	£ million
FLEET	125
WSA	73
Capital Charges
FLEET (depreciation and cost of Capital)	116
WSA (depreciation, cost of Capital and stock disposal)	11

 
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Service Personnel (Suicides)

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel in each of the three Services have committed suicide in each of the last three years; how many of those who died served in Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [176110]

Mr. Caplin [holding answer 9 June 2004]: In the period 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2003, there were 39 suicide and open verdict deaths recorded by a coroner (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or the Procurator Fiscal (Scotland) among UK armed forces personnel. Three of these deaths were among personnel who had served on Operation Telic during the period 10 January 2003 and 20 December 2003 (the latest date for which fully validated Operation Telic deployment data are available). During the period 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2003, there were a further 21 deaths for which we are awaiting a verdict, of which three are for personnel who have served on Operation Telic.

A breakdown of the suicides and open verdict deaths by year of occurrence is given in the following table:
Suicides and open verdict deaths in UK armed forces, 2001–03

Year of death	Number	Number who had served on Operation Telic
2001	11	n/a
2002	15	n/a
2003	13	3
Total	39	3

n/a = not applicable.

Shipbuilding

Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will ensure that the current naval shipbuilding programme is phased to allow stable levels of employment particularly in the key design engineering sector. [175574]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 7 June 2004]: MOD and DTI officials and representatives from the shipbuilding industry meet on a monthly basis to discuss the future naval shipbuilding programme. These meetings are being taken forward in a positive and constructive manner.

The recent Defence White Paper (Essay 7—Making Defence Industrial Policy Work for the Armed Forces and UK Industry) sets out that the long-term solution to skills shortages in the defence industry involves a stable equipment programme against which future resource requirements can be planned.

We are making particular progress in this sector, where we have commissioned one of the largest programmes of military shipbuilding for many years. In partnership with industry we are comparing our resource requirements against capacity and evaluating the options to reprofile our demand for resources. In this way we can look at ways of avoiding unhelpful peaks and troughs.

UN Operations

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance he has given to British forces in Iraq to
 
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ensure that they (a) fully abide by international law enforcement standards and (b) only use force in line with the principles of necessity and proportionality. [166935]

Mr. Ingram: Training on those aspects of international humanitarian law relevant to law enforcement activities undertaken during operations is provided to personnel on entering the armed forces and refined as appropriate during courses given subsequently in the course of their careers. There are no agreed international law enforcement standards applicable to military forces, but the practices adopted by UK military personnel in Iraq are consistent with the UN Basic Principles for the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

All use of force is governed by UK Forces' Rules Of Engagement (ROE). The ROE take into account the UK's obligations under national and international law of which necessity and proportionality are fundamental principles.

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