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11 Jan 2005 : Column 376W—continued
Legal Expenditure
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much the Department spent on lawyers in each year since 1997; how many (a) actions, (b) settlements and (c) court cases there were in each year; and what the costs of each settlement were. [206456]
Mr. Ingram: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Ministerial Visits
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what occasions he has flown to and from Basra; what type of aircraft was used on each occasion; how his entourage was comprised on each occasion; how many vacant spaces were available on each flight home; and if he will make a statement. [207134]
Mr. Ingram: My right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary (Mr. Hoon) has flown to Basra on four occasions; April 2003, October 2003, June 2004 and December 2004. On each occasion, for security reasons, he has used military aircraft to fly in to and out of Basra. He was accompanied by a member of his outer office and appropriate MOD military and civilian officials.
Each military flight out of Basra was subject to a formal operational tasking and any vacant seats were made available to other MOD or military personnel.
Naval Munitions
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Principal Warfare Officers have not fired naval munitions since 1 January. [206928]
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Mr. Ingram: All Principal Warfare Officers (PWO) in training and serving in PWO billets at sea will have conducted live firings since 1 January 2004 as part of their requirement to remain at Operational Performance Standard.
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Royal Navy has met its target for the firing of shells and missiles in 2004. [206929]
Mr. Ingram: The Royal Navy met its mandated targets for firing shells and missiles in 2004, except when operational priorities/tasking dictated a change in programme.
Parachute Regiment
Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) establishment and (b) current strength is of each of the three battalions of the Parachute Regiment. [200998]
Mr. Ingram: As at 1 November 2004, the establishment and strength of each of the three battalions of the Parachute Regiment was as follows:
| Battalion | Establishment | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment | 580 | 570 |
| 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment | 580 | 540 |
| 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment | 580 | 540 |
The establishment figures include only the infantry posts (officers and soldiers) and exclude attached personnel of other Arms and Services such as chefs, clerks, etc. The figures are rounded to the nearest five.
The strength numbers were collected on 1 November and have been rounded to the nearest five. They do not include officers and soldiers in the Parachute Regiment that are serving outside the battalion, or personnel from other cap-badges who are attached to the battalion. We cannot be precise about the strength in each battalion as the means by which this data is collected does not allow for separate attribution. The split is therefore derived from an estimate based on strength by Unit Identity Number.
Radiation Exposure
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information his Department places in the public domain on the extent to which those working at defence establishments that use nuclear materials are exposed to radiation; what independent assessment is made of the dosimetry statistics; and what research is being conducted to reduce radiation exposure. [206273]
Mr. Ingram:
Since 1990 the Ministry of Defence has placed in the Library of the House copies of the annual dosimetry statistics for workers who receive exposures from radiation sources and radioactive materials used by the Ministry of Defence and its contractors. These
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annual dosimetry statistics include all personnel monitored by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Radiological Protection Services (DRPS) Approved Dosimetry Service.
AWE employs its own dosimetry laboratory which is subject to regulation and scrutiny by the HSE. AWE dosimetry statistics are published in AWE plc annual reports, a copy of which is also available in the Library of the House, and on the AWE plc website. The doses reported in the DRPS statistics are very low when compared with the regulatory dose limits. The annual dose limit for workers aged 18 and over is 20 mSv. The average dose in 2003 for all personnel monitored by the DRPS Approved Dosimetry Service was 0.35 mSv and the maximum dose to any individual in 2003 was below 5 mSv. The DRPS report includes dosimetry information based on all DRPS customers and this includes an element of commercial work for organisations such as NHS trusts and HM Customs and Excise.
The Ministry of Defence provides radiation dosimetry information to the National Radiological Protection Board for inclusion in the National Registry of Radiation Workers (NRRW). The NRRW is used to support independent epidemiological analysis of workers exposed to radiation during the course of their work.
The Ministry of Defence is bound by Regulation 8 of the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999 that places a duty on employers, in relation to any work with ionising radiation that they undertake, to take all necessary steps to restrict, so far as is reasonably practicable, the extent to which their employees and other persons are exposed to ionising radiation. Compliance with this duty is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive and HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate together with the Ministry of Defence's internal Regulators.
The Ministry of Defence and its contractors carefully consider the need to reduce worker doses when designing, operating, maintaining and decommissioning plant and equipment that involves exposure to radiation.
Spectrum
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the spectrum price paid by his Department for the bands which it managed was in financial years (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01, (c) 2001–02, (d) 2002–03 and (e) 2003–04; what his estimate is for 2004–05; and what estimate he has made for financial years (i) 2005–06, (ii) 2006–07 and (iii) 2007–08. [203929]
Mr. Ingram: The price paid by financial year was as follows:
(5507190001) Approx.
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Thereafter the pricing is expected to be reviewed by HM Treasury.
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list mobile and fixed linked bands that (a) were and (b) were not subject to spectrum pricing in financial years (i) 1999–2000, (ii) 2000–01, (iii) 2001–02, (iv) 2002–03 and (v) 2003–04. [203930]
Mr. Ingram: The application of pricing to Ministry of Defence managed bands by the Radiocommunications Agency up to December 2004 and thereafter by Ofcom is given in the following table:
Except as indicated in the remarks there has been no change in the application of pricing in the financial years 1999–2000 to 2003–04.
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department paid for use of spectrum for ground-based radar in financial years (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01, (c) 2001–02, (d) 2002–03 and (e) 2003–04. [203931]
Mr. Ingram: The fees paid by the Ministry of Defence for radar frequency bands are as follows:
| Financial year | Fees (£ million) |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 1.554 |
| 2000–01 | 3.109 |
| 2001–02 | 6.218 |
| 2002–03 | 6.218 |
| 2003–04 | 6.218 |
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It should be noted that these Radiolocation bands are not exclusively allocated to ground use.
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list mobile and fixed linked bands that have been released for civil use in financial years (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000, (d) 2000–01, (e) 2001–02, (f) 2002–03 and (g) 2003–04; and what plans he has to release spectrum for civil use in (i) 2005–06, (ii) 2006–07 and (iii) 2007–08. [203932]
Mr. Ingram: Records with the necessary detail to ascribe the release of spectrum to particular financial years are not held centrally by Ministry of Defence or Ofcom. However, significant cases of release of spectrum by MOD in the period from 1997 for civilian use are listed. Both spectrum that has been released for civilian use and spectrum that has been shared between military and civilian users has been included in the following list.
This list indicates the results of close co-operation between the MOD and the Radiocommunications Agency/Ofcom and does not include all cases of sharing arrangements.
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of the information that his Department has released to commercial operators about its prospective spectrum utilisation. [203933]
Mr. Ingram: The MOD has released no information to commercial operators in respect of its prospective spectrum utilisation. Such information is only discussed with companies bidding to supply MOD with equipment on a Commercial in Confidence basis and with Ofcom to shape future policy.
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