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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 7 December 2004
DEFENCE
Astute Class Submarines
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which submarines are to be replaced by the three Astute class submarines on order; and what their planned dates for decommissioning are. [201633]
Mr. Ingram: We are not directly replacing our existing nuclear attack submarines platform by platform. The capability currently provided by the Swiftsure and Trafalgar classes will in future be met by the Astute Class.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date he expects HMS Astute to become fully operational. [201632]
Mr. Ingram: HMS Astute is expected to become fully operational in 2009 after a period of extensive weapon system proving trials. The Submarine will be available to the Fleet for limited operations before these trials complete.
Budget Reductions
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what effect the proposed reductions in budgets of (a) Commander-in-Chief Fleet, (b) Commander-in-Chief Land Command, (c) Commander-in-Chief Strike Command and (d) Chief of Defence Logistics will have on frontline capability; and if he will make a statement. [203281]
Mr. Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 December 2004, Official Report, columns 338–39W.
Departmental Costs
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost has been of criminal damage to his Department's buildings in each of the last two years. [200798]
Mr. Caplin: The information required to answer this question is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Future Rapid Effects System
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what time scale has been written into the contract with Atkins for the systems house role for the Future Rapid Effects System. [200016]
Mr. Ingram:
The Systems House, under the strategic direction of the Ministry of Defence, will be leading the programme of studies during the Assessment Phase designed to inform MOD's future investment decisions
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on Future Rapid Effect System. The Assessment Phase is scheduled to last for two years and will complete in November 2006. The contract with Atkins reflects this time line.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the new family of medium vehicles will be operational. [200019]
Mr. Ingram: The Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) is now in its initial Assessment Phase. A contract has now been awarded to Atkins who, under the strategic direction of the Ministry of Defence, will be leading a number of key activities designed to inform MOD's major programme decisions. Part of this Assessment Phase work will be to identify and reduce risk in the programme to enable us to define an appropriate In-Service Date (ISD) in both capability and programme terms for endorsement at Main Gate. The ISD will not be formally endorsed until then, but our initial planning assumption is to introduce the early variants of FRES around the end of the decade, with a phased approach to achieving full operational capability thereafter.
Iraq
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what training Army units deploying to Iraq receive (a) before deployment and (b) in-theatre in Iraq. [199568]
Mr. Ingram: British armed forces deploying to Iraq receive one of two comprehensive pre-deployment training packages, covering a wide variety of mandatory briefings, skills training and theatre acclimatisation, dependent upon whether they are deployed on an individual basis or as part of a group deployment. Once in theatre they receive refresher and specific-to-theatre training designed to prepare them for their respective jobs, and allow them to be deployed acclimatised, and trained in the tasks that they are to perform.
Military Operations (EU)
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what large scale co-operative exercises organised by EU Military Staff he expects will take place in the next five years; and from what budgets UK participation will be funded. [200380]
Mr. Hoon: The EU Military Staff currently have no plans for a large-scale co-operative exercise involving the field deployment of troops. However, EU and/or joint EU-NATO crisis management exercises, involving command structures and headquarters, are envisaged in each of the years 2006 to 2009, and will involve exercising arrangements for the augmentation of the relevant HQ. They will focus on how the EU responds to crises using both civilian and military instruments in an EU-led operation.
The majority of costs for EU exercises are funded on a "costs lie where they fall" basis. In practice, therefore, the cost to the UK of hosting an exercise would be met by the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ), as it was for this year's exercise; and the cost of providing staff for an exercise hosted by another member state would be met by the Top Level Budget Holder providing the staff.
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There are also a few additional costs, such as costs incurred by EU recourse to NATO common assets, that are shared by member states on a Gross National Income key. This is the same approach as for other exercises involving comparable international institutions.
Type 45 Destroyers
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many type-45s will be capable of deploying simultaneously when they are all in-service. [201641]
Mr. Ingram: With eight Type 45 destroyers in service, a minimum of five units would be available to the Fleet, at various states of readiness, for deployment.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Bees
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what consultation she (a) has had and (b) proposes to have with the Harrogate and Ripon Beekeepers Association regarding the Bee Health Programme. [200428]
Alun Michael: My officials are consulting the national beekeeping associations in England about our future plans for the bee health programme. These associations include the British Beekeepers' Association, of which the Harrogate and Ripon Beekeepers' Association is a member.
Civil Servants
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many civil servants worked for her Department in each of the last five years. [201129]
Alun Michael: Defra was created in June 2001 and the figures shown in the following table relate to the period since then.
| Defra | Executive agencies | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 October 2001 | 7,970 | 2,520 | 10,490 |
| 1 April 2002 | 6,980 | 5,580 | 12,560 |
| 1 April 2003 | 6,690 | 5,630 | 12,320 |
| 1 April 2004 | 6,910 | 6,070 | 12,980 |
Numbers shown are permanent staff in full-time equivalents.
These changes were mainly due to the creation of the Rural Payments Agency on 16 October 2001. RPA took over all 1,080 staff from the Intervention Board Executive Agency (which has not been included in Defra staff in post statistics) and around 1,860 staff from the core Department.
Correspondence
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her target time is in 2004–05 (a) to reply to letters from hon.
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Members and (b) for the officials in her Department to reply to letters received directly from members of the public. [202359]
Alun Michael: The Department's target time for answering such letters is 15 working days.
Deer Management Options Report
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the report Current and Future Deer Management Options, published in December 2003. [202034]
Mr. Bradshaw: I asked my officials to assess the report and they found it to be excellent.
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