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1 Jul 2004 : Column 419W—continued

Diego Garcia

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) Royal Navy and (b) Royal Air Force personnel worked on Diego Garcia in each of the last five years. [180692]

Mr. Ingram: No RAF personnel have worked on Diego Garcia in the last five years. There are currently 38 Royal Navy personnel, as there were last year, and there were 40 Royal Navy personnel from 2000–02.

Iraq

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what action coalition authorities are taking to compensate victims of mistreatment at the hands of UK or US forces; and if he will make a statement. [177618]

Mr. Ingram: Claims made by Iraqis for losses that do not arise in connection with combat operations are handled in accordance with the direction of the Coalition Provisional Authority—specifically Section 18 of CPA order number 17.

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Geneva conventions will apply in full to all foreign forces in Iraq after 30 June; and if he will make a statement. [178225]

Mr. Hoon [holding answer 16 June 2004]: The first, second and third Geneva conventions apply only during times of armed conflict. As at 28 June there is no ongoing armed conflict in Iraq so those conventions will have no application unless and until this situation changes. The fourth Geneva convention applies during an armed conflict or a belligerent occupation. Since the occupation of Iraq ceased with the handover of authority to the Iraqi Interim Government on 28 June, that convention has no further application. The conduct of British forces in Iraq after 28 June is governed by domestic Iraqi law (including CPA regulations, orders and memoranda carried forward in accordance with article 26(c) of the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period and CPA Order No. 100); by the terms of the UN Resolutions setting out its mandate and by English criminal law which applies to the Her Majesty's Armed Forces wherever they are in the world.

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the arrangements are regarding charges for post and parcels sent by relatives in Northern Ireland to serving soldiers on active duty in Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [170431]

Mr. Ingram: Relatives of servicemen and women serving in Iraq who live in Northern Ireland enjoy the same mail service as the rest of the United Kingdom.

Through civilian post offices relatives can despatch letters and packets up to a maximum of 2kg at a concessionary rate. This concession is equivalent to the UK inland letter rate. As an example it would cost £6.89 to send a 2kg packet to Iraq.

In addition to this concessionary service, relatives can also send, free of charge, the forces free air letter, more popularly known as the "bluey". Blueys are obtainable free of charge from civilian post offices. In addition, those with access to the internet can send an electronic
 
1 Jul 2004 : Column 420W
 
bluey, the e-bluey, which is also free. This is the system pioneered by the British Forces Post Office (BFPO) whereby an e-mail is converted to a physical letter in Iraq, and delivered to the serviceman or woman in his unit.

For logistic and operational reasons there is no mail service for items weighing more than 2kg.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 23 June 2004, Official Report, column 1446W on Iraq, what the origin was of the foreign technology and technical assistance critical to the progress of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. [181399]

Mr. Hoon: I have already confirmed that Iraq was holding discussions with North Korea, and Her Majesty's Government 2002 dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction mentions an Indian chemical engineering company.

I am withholding further information under exemption 1 (Defence, Security and International Relations) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Royal Anglian Regiment

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the future form of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of The Royal Anglian Regiment. [181768]

Mr. Ingram: I have no plans to change the form of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of The Royal Anglian Regiment.

UN Operations

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes he plans to make to the command structure of British forces serving in Iraq after the handover of power on 30 June 2004. [169382]

Mr. Hoon: The command structure remains the same: the British General Officer Commanding in Multinational Division South East reports to the United States Multinational Force Commander in Baghdad. However, his forces remain under United Kingdom command at all times and are ultimately answerable to the Government.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Attendance Allowance

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the (a) average and (b) maximum time taken by his Department to assess claimants for attendance allowance in the last year for which figures are available. [181054]

Maria Eagle: Information on the Actual Average Clearance Time (AACT) for a claim to Attendance Allowance (AA) for the year ending April 2004, together with a comparison with the figures for the year ending April 2003, is set out in the following tables.
 
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days

AA	AACT for year ended April 2004	Target
Normal rules	20.8	26
Special rules	4.9	8

days

AA	AACT for year ended April 2003	Target
Normal rules	24.2	27
Special rules	5.6	8

Notes:
Information on the maximum time taken to clear cases is not available.
All figures are in days.
Source:
National MIP, New PIEXT listings.

Benefit Payments

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) individuals, (b) men and (c) women have claimed (i) housing benefit, (ii) disability living allowance, (iii) income support and (iv) council tax benefit in (A) Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, (B) the Scottish Borders region and (C) Scotland in each year since 1997, or the introduction of the benefit, whichever is the most recent. [180957]

 
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Mr. Pond: The available information is in the tables.
Housing benefit and council tax benefit recipients in the areas shown as at February each year Thousand

	Scotland		Scottish Borders Council
February	Housing benefit	Council tax benefit	Housing benefit	Council tax benefit
1997	537.4	579.1	7.8	9.0
1998	529.6	596.3	8.0	9.3
1999	518.1	597.1	7.6	8.7
2000	486.6	568.1	7.2	8.3
2001	466.9	537.4	7.0	8.1
2002	453.0	530.3	7.1	8.3
2003	447.0	526.4	7.0	8.3
2004	438.2	528.2	6.8	8.4

Notes:
1. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
2. The figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and expressed in thousands.
3. Housing benefit and council tax benefit data is not available at parliamentary constituency level, and a gender split is not collected.
4. Council tax benefit totals exclude any second adult rebate cases.
5. Housing benefit totals exclude extended payments cases.
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count.




Disability living allowance recipients in the areas shown as at February each year Thousand

	Scotland			Scottish Borders Council			Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale parliamentary constituency
February	All	Male	Female	All	Male	Female	All	Male	Female
1997	208.7	102.7	106.0	2.2	1.0	1.2	1.3	0.6	0.7
1998	222.6	109.5	113.2	2.4	1.2	1.3	1.5	0.7	0.8
1999	229.0	112.6	116.4	2.6	1.4	1.3	1.6	0.8	0.7
2000	235.0	115.5	119.5	2.9	1.4	1.4	1.7	0.9	0.9
2001	246.2	121.2	124.9	3.3	1.7	1.6	1.9	1.0	0.9
2002	258.6	126.4	132.2	3.6	1.9	1.7	2.0	1.1	0.9
2003	273.8	133.3	140.5	3.9	2.0	1.9	2.3	1.1	1.2
2004	285.9	139.6	146.3	4.1	2.1	2.0	2.3	1.1	1.2

Income support recipients in the areas shown as at February each year Thousand

	Scotland			Scottish Borders Council			Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale parliamentary constituency
February	All	Male	Female	All	Male	Female	All	Male	Female
1997	406.1	132.5	273.6	5.1	1.4	3.7	2.7	0.7	2.0
1998	407.7	136.9	270.8	5.4	1.5	3.9	2.8	0.8	2.0
1999	401.2	135.0	266.2	5.3	1.4	3.8	2.7	0.9	1.8
2000	395.8	134.4	261.4	5.4	1.5	3.9	2.9	0.9	1.9
2001	412.4	142.4	270.0	5.8	1.9	3.8	2.8	1.1	1.7
2002	418.0	147.7	270.3	6.3	2.3	4.1	3.1	1.3	1.8
2003	426.4	154.0	272.4	6.2	2.2	4.0	3.1	1.1	2.0
2004	239.4	94.0	145.3	2.8	1.2	1.6	1.2	*0.5	0.7

Notes:
1. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
2. The figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
3. The gender refers to the claimant only.
4. Disability living allowance and income support data are based on a 5 per cent. sample subject to a degree of sampling variation.
5. Local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics (ONS) postcode directory.
6. Numbers marked "*" are based on very few sample cases. They are subject to a high degree of sampling variation and should be used as a guide to the current situation only.
7. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory and are based on May 1997 boundaries.
8. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
9. From October 2003, pension credit replaced income support for pensioners.
Source: IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample





 
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John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are in receipt of housing benefit in Scotland, broken down by local authority. [181259]

Mr. Pond: The information is in the table.
Housing benefit recipients in Scotland as at February 2004 Thousand

Local authority	Housing benefit claimants
Scotland	438.2
Aberdeen	15.5
Aberdeenshire	9.7
Angus	7.1
Argyll and Bute	5.9
Clackmannanshire	4.5
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	1.3
Dumfries and Galloway	10.1
Dundee	18.2
East Ayrshire	12.0
East Dunbartonshire	3.8
East Lothian	5.9
East Renfrewshire	3.4
Edinburgh	27.6
Falkirk	12.7
Fife	27.9
Glasgow	97.7
Highland	13.1
Inverclyde	9.2
Midlothian	5.1
Moray	4.5
North Ayrshire	13.6
North Lanarkshire	32.3
Orkney	0.8
Perth and Kinross	7.2
Renfrewshire	15.9
Scottish Borders	6.8
Shetland	0.9
South Ayrshire	8.6
South Lanarkshire	26.6
Stirling	5.3
West Dunbartonshire	11.8
West Lothian	12.9

Notes:
1. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
2. The figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and expressed in thousands.
3. Housing benefit totals exclude extended payments cases.
4. Figures for any non-responding local authorities have been estimated.
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken in February 2004.

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