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LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Parliamentary Pensions

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Leader of the House if the Parliamentary Pension scheme will participate in the Pension Protection Fund. [206870]

Mr. Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Work and Pensions on 21 December 2004, Official Report, columns 1639–40W.

Statutory Instruments

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Leader of the House how many statutory instruments were introduced in the past 12 months; how many were debated on the Floor of the House; how many were made under the provisions of legislation originating in the European Communities; and if he will make a statement. [207096]

Mr. Hain: 1,032 made statutory instruments and 200 draft statutory instruments were laid before Parliament during 2004. 172 of the made instruments were made under powers contained in section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972. How many instruments were made under the provisions of other legislation which may have originated in the European Communities is not recorded.

Six affirmative instruments were debated on the Floor of the House during 2004. Two of these were not statutory instruments but were agreed by the House to be treated as such.

TREASURY

IT Projects

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list his Department's IT projects for each year since 1997, broken down by (a) amount spent, (b) purpose, (c) cost of over-run and (d) time of over-run. [205792]

Mr. Timms: The information in respect of the Treasury is in the following table.

The costs shown for each of the IT projects cover externally-provided hardware, software and implementation costs and may, in addition, cover other costs such as training where this will be part of the initial contract to be placed with the external contractor. The costs of in-house project development are not included. Support and on-going maintenance costs are excluded.
 
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Only IT projects with estimated costs of over £250,000, on the basis described above, are included in the table.

The information is presented in a form which is consistent with previous replies.

Year of project start	IT project	Actual or current estimate spend (£000)	Cost or time overrun (£000 months)
1998	Replacement of Treasury Financial Information System (FIS)	559	—
1999	Replacement of central HR/personnel system for HMT	337	Time: 1
2000	Replacement of the computer system which supports the operational accounting and cashflow forecasting work of the Treasury Exchequer Funds and Accounts team. (TRiP)	1,000	Cost: 60 Time: 21
2000	Provision of a search engine to enhance the document management repository, internet and intranet in HMT	250	—
2000	Upgrading the Treasury PC desktop to Windows and Office 2000	2,500	—
2000	Replacement of Treasury's domestic accounting system	900	—
2001	Implementation of the GOLD system for the Consolidation of Central Government Accounts	622	—
2001	Redevelopment of Treasury's public website	250	—
2001	Provision of IT services in support of HMT Business Continuity Plan	1,455	—
2002	Move and provision of new IT facilities in new HMT building, 1 Horse Guards Road	1,717	—
2002	Conversion of HMT PCs from Token Ring networking to Ethernet networking	260	—
2002	Improvements to the capacity, reliability, performance and ease-of-use of secure remote working facilities in HMT	500	—
2003	Combining three separate Treasury financial data collection and reporting systems into one Single Data System	2,400	—
2003	Enhancing Document and Records Management capability in HM Treasury	1,800	—

DEFENCE

Anti-armour Weapons

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the features of the Brimstone anti-armour weapon, the New Light anti-armour weapon and the LF anti-tank guided weapon system distinguish them from each other. [206604]

Mr. Ingram: These three complementary anti-armour weapons have fundamentally different characteristics.

Brimstone is an air launched anti-armour missile system with a range of over 10,000 m. It will be carried by fast jet aircraft and operates autonomously after firing to search a given area for vehicles. In contrast, both the Next Generation Light And Armour Weapon
 
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(NLAW) and Light Forces Anti-Tank Guided Weapon (LF ATGW) are man-portable ground based systems. NLAW is a short-range lightweight unguided weapon that will have broad applications across the services with a simple, but highly capable and versatile anti-armour capability. The LF ATGW, based on the US Javelin system, is a more sophisticated guided weapon with a range of some 2,500 m. Javelin will equip Light Forces, Mechanised and Armoured Infantry, and Formation Reconnaissance units.

European Combined Forces

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the relationship is between the new European peacekeeping force in Bosnia and the European Union; what command and control structures operate; what the relationship is between the new force and NATO; and if he will make a statement. [207711]

Mr. Hoon: The European Union peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Operation ALTHEA, operates under the political control and strategic direction of the European Union. This is implemented through the Political and Security Committee and the EU Military Committee to the EU Operation Commander, General Sir John Reith, who also holds the NATO position of Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

The EU is able to draw on many NATO assets and capabilities in support of Operation ALTHEA in accordance with the Berlin Plus arrangements. There is a close working relationship between the EU and NATO in relation to operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, supported by the collocation of personnel at all levels of command. In Bosnia, there is a very close working relationship between the Commander of the EU Force and the Senior Military Representative in NATO HQ Sarajevo.
 
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Procurement Budget

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effects on the procurement budget of the spreading of the overheads of the defence exports industry across exports and UK requirements; and if he will make a statement. [207194]

Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence estimates that some £300 million annually is saved to its procurement budget through the spreading of its suppliers' overheads across export output in addition to UK requirements.

TRANSPORT

A3 (Road Safety)

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the accident statistics were for the A3 (a) in each of the five years before and (b) in each year after the 50 mph speed limit was introduced. [206903]

Mr. Jamieson: There is more than one 50 mph section on the A3 between Portsmouth and London.

The section of the A3 inside London forms part of the Greater London Authority Road Network—now known as the Transport for London Road Network—and is the responsibility of the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL). Further information concerning the accident statistics of that part of the A3 should be obtained from:

Chris Lines

Head of London Road Safety Unit

Transport for London

Windsor House

42–50 Victoria Street

London SW1H 0TL

The accident statistics for the A3 from Central London to Portsmouth in each of the last five years were as follows:
Number of accidents on the A3: GB 1999–2003

Severity	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Fatal	5	11	9	7	14
Serious	99	119	112	95	103
Slight	815	725	770	773	653
All	919	855	891	875	770

Number of casualties on the A3: GB 1999–2003

Severity	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Killed	5	12	9	7	17
Serious	116	131	129	106	120
Slight	1,070	977	1,000	1,016	906
All	1,191	1,120	1,138	1,129	1,043

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