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Nuclear Weapons
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the tritium recovery plant at AWE Aldermaston will provide tritium for United Kingdom nuclear weapons following the decision to close Calder Hall. [182365]
Mr. Ingram: The closure of BNFL's Magnox power station at Calder Hall in Cumbria has no impact on the UK nuclear warhead programme. We have sufficient stocks of tritium to meet all of the foreseeable needs of the UK nuclear weapons programme. This position is kept under review.
Prisons
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints have been made by (a) men and (b) women held in British-run military and civilian prisons in Iraq as to their treatment while in prison during the last 12 months; how many of these complaints have been heard; how many remain to be heard; how many of these complaints he has seen; and if he will make a statement. [177250]
Mr. Ingram: There is one case under investigation by the Royal Military Police Special Investigations Branch into the treatment of Iraqi civilians held in the British run Divisional Temporary Detention Facility. No women are involved. There are no British run civilian prisons in Iraq.
RAF Cottesmore
Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel from Forward Support Fixed Wing (Repair Support Squadron) have been permanently posted into RAF Cottesmore to undertake repair tasks now being carried out on Harriers; and what estimate he has made of the cost incurred. [180650]
Mr. Ingram:
No personnel from the Forward Support Fixed Wing Detachment have been permanently posted to RAF Cottesmore and no additional costs have been
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incurred. However, at any one time there will be a number of personnel from this Detachment engaged in the repair and maintenance of Harrier aircraft at Cottesmore.
Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the targets were for turn round times set for aircraft repair at RAF Cottesmore for the financial year 2003–04. [181267]
Mr. Ingram: There are no targets set for repair turn round times at RAF Cottesmore. Repair times are agreed on an individual basis according to the extent of the damage and operational requirements. However, within the pulse line any repairs must be assessed, a solution obtained or designed and the repair implemented within an allocated 25-day window. The repair window has been achieved consistently since the formation of the pulse line.
Targets are set for the turn round time of aircraft undergoing scheduled maintenance.
Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the turn round times were for aircraft repair at RAF Cottesmore in the financial year 2003–04. [181268]
Mr. Ingram: To collect the information necessary to give an accurate assessment of the turn round times would involve manually checking the records of every individual aircraft. This work would be very time consuming and at disproportionate cost.
However, within the pulse line any repairs must be assessed, a solution obtained or designed and the repair implemented within an allocated 25-day window. This repair window has been achieved consistently since the formation of the pulse line.
Royal Navy Chefs
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many vacancies there are for chefs in the Royal Navy. [181749]
Mr. Caplin: There are 901 chef posts in the Royal Navy at Able Rate and Leading Chef level and during the first quarter of 2004, a net figure of 39 vacancies was recorded.
Trident
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in which countries the (a) arming, fusing and firing system components, (b) neutron generators and (c) gas reservoirs of Trident nuclear warheads are manufactured; and if he will make a statement. [179688]
Mr. Ingram: I am withholding the information requested under Exemption 1 (defence, security and international relations) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in which country the gas reservoirs for Trident nuclear warheads are filled with tritium; and if he will make a statement. [179689]
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Mr. Ingram: I am withholding the information requested under Exemption 1 (defence, security and international relations) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Troop Deployments (Afghanistan)
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British troops are deployed in Afghanistan. [182926]
Mr. Ingram: There are around 580 British troops currently deployed in Afghanistan.
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many additional British troops will be deployed to Afghanistan to extend the use of provincial reconstruction teams; [182928]
(2) how many British troops are to be deployed in Afghanistan to (a) provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) and (b) the forward base support for PRTs. [182927]
Mr. Ingram: As part of our commitment to the expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) across Northern Afghanistan, the United Kingdom deployed an additional 40 personnel to the UK-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Mazar-e Sharif and Meymaneh, which brought the total number of British troops serving in these Teams to around 130. A Forward Support Base was also established in Mazar to support the PRTs in Northern Afghanistan, requiring the deployment of around a further 130 British troops. As part of our long-term commitment to the sustained expansion of ISAF across Afghanistan, the Prime Minister has also offered to deploy the HQ Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (HQ ARRC) to command the Force probably in 2006.
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Postal Voting (Coventry, South)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many people are registered for a permanent postal vote in Coventry, South. [181884]
Mr. Leslie: The Electoral Registration Officer for Coventry City Council has advised that as at June 2004 there were 7,146 registered permanent postal voters in Coventry South constituency.
Salisbury Convention
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what consideration he has given to the Salisbury Convention as part of the review of the powers and functions of the second chamber. [182706]
Mr. Leslie:
The Salisbury convention, which sets out the circumstances in which the House of Lords will refrain from using its powers over legislation, is clearly an extremely important element in the relationship between the two Houses. As such, it will play a central part in any consideration of the powers and functions of the second chamber.
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WORK AND PENSIONS
Agency Staffing
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the staff-customer ratio is for those contacting or receiving services from (a) the Pension Service and (b) Jobcentre Plus, broken down by (i) all staff, (ii) staff dealing with customers face-to-face, (iii) call centre staff and (iv) staff processing claims without customer contact. [182531]
Maria Eagle: The information is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Benefit Claimants (Suffolk)
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed (a) incapacity benefit and (b) jobseeker's allowance in (i) the West Suffolk parliamentary constituency and (ii) the county of Suffolk in each year since 1997. [181797]
Maria Eagle: The information is in the table.
Notes:
1. Those numbers based on a 5 per cent. sample are subject to a degree of sampling variation and have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
(7) Totals may not sum due to rounding.
(8) Local authorities (LAs) are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant postcode directory.
(9) County of Suffolk is made up of the following LAs: Babergh, Forest Heath, Ipswich, Mid Suffolk, St. Edmundsbury, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney.
(10) Incapacity benefits include incapacity benefit (IB), severe disablement allowance, and IB credits only cases. Unemployment-related benefits include all Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claims and JSA credit only cases.
Source:
(11) DWP Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample
(12) 100 per cent. Count of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer systems
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