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Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many written questions for his Department were unanswered when Parliament prorogued; and how many of the unanswered questions were tabled in each of the previous months of the 2003–04 Session. [201558]
Mrs. McGuire: None. All the Office's outstanding written questions were answered before prorogation.
DEFENCE
Asset Tracking
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in establishing a system of asset tracking for defence logistics. [199830]
Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence has employed two consignment tracking systems since the first Gulf War; Royal Naval Invoicing and Delivery System (RIDELS) for the Royal Navy and Visibility in Transit Asset Logging (VITAL) for the Army and RAF. VITAL was subsequently enhanced by the acquisition of the US system Total Asset Visibility (-) (TAV (-)) as an Urgent Operational Requirement in January 2003. This has automated much of the process and improved performance. We are now investing additional money on enhancing these systems still further. This will include, for example, the full integration of TAV (-) into existing consignment tracking systems.
Battlefield Digital Information
Mr. Gerald Howarth:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of (a) Major J. A. Kennedy's presentation Real-Time Exchange of Battlefield Digital Information, given at the SMI Conference Joint Battlespace Digitisation on 20 May 2003, (b) Wing Commander Mike Longstaff
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and Squadron Leader R. K. Dyson's presentation Flying Training, given at the SMI Conference Fighter Trainer on 2 June 2003, (c) Sym Taylor's presentation Effective Management of Spares, given at the SMI Conference Military Spares and Inventory Management on 16 June 2003, (d) Lieutenant Colonel Chris Barkes and Wing Commander Chris Otley-Doe's presentation Effective and Efficient Control of Material Flow, given at the SMI Conference Military Spares and Inventory Management on 16 June 2003 and (e) Lieutenant Commander Charles Jewitt's presentation on the Joint Modular Storage Concept, given at the SMI Conference Military Spares and Inventory Management on 17 June 2003. [199827]
Mr. Ingram: The following presentations are held within the Ministry of Defence and will be placed in the Library of the House:
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Barkes and Wing Commander Chris Otley-Doe's presentation on the Effective and Efficient Control of Material Flow.
The other presentations are no longer held in the Ministry of Defence, although they maybe available from SMI Group.
Certain Conventional Weapons Convention
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the UK to ratify Protocol V to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. [200295]
Mr. Ingram: The United Kingdom intends to ratify Protocol V at an early opportunity.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the countries which have ratified Protocol V to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons; what action he has taken to encourage others to sign the protocol; and if he will make a statement. [200299]
Mr. Ingram: Lithuania, Sierra Leone and Sweden have so far ratified Protocol V. The United Kingdom continues to urge all states to ratify Protocol V as soon as possible.
Cooneen Watts and Stone
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which elements of the Department's cut and sew contract with Cooneen Watts and Stone Ltd. have been satisfied to date. [200743]
Mr. Ingram: This contract covers a wide range of deliverables, many of them not due to commence until early 2005. The supplier has achieved delivery obligations agreed to date.
Correspondence
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his target time is in 2004–05 (a) to reply to letters from honourable Members and (b) for the officials in his Office to reply to letters received directly from members of the public. [200806]
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Mr. Caplin: The Ministry of Defence aims to respond to all correspondence within 15 working days of receipt.
Defence Contracts
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the date of contract signature was for the (a) Support Vehicle, (b) Light Forces Anti-Tank Guided Weapon Systems, (c) Next Generation Anti-Armour Weapon and (d) TERRIER projects. [199831]
Mr. Ingram: The Demonstration and Manufacture contract signature dates are as follows:
(a) Support Vehicle—It is anticipated that contractual negotiations with MAN ERF UK Ltd., the Preferred Bidder for the Support Vehicle Project, will be concluded by spring next year.
Departmental Account Codes
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's account codes. [199832]
Departmental Costs
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of refurbishing each Ministerial Private Office was in the last two years. [200802]
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Mr. Caplin: The offices in the Old War Office occupied by Defence Ministers from 2001 to July 2004 to allow the redevelopment of the main building have not been
refurbished in the last two years. The element of the cost of the main building redevelopment which relates directly to ministerial offices is not separately identified in the contract and cannot therefore be established with accuracy.
Departmental Websites
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department's .gov.uk websites comply with the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines adopted by the Government in 2001; and if he will make a statement. [199625]
Mr. Caplin: The Ministry of Defence is undertaking a programme of work to ensure that its internet websites comply with the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. We take seriously our accessibility commitments and are striving to ensure that we deliver fully accessible services to the public on the internet and elsewhere.
EU Military Staff
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many EU Military Staff there are, broken down by (a) rank and (b) nationality. [200382]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 29 November 2004]: On 16 November 2004 the EU Military Staff comprised 147 people. The following table gives a breakdown of this figure in terms of nationality and rank. The UK Army equivalent rank is given in brackets where appropriate.
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