Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the defence estates the Department has overseas. [215175]
Mr. Caplin:
The MOD overseas estate comprises airfields, ports, warehousing, barracks, schools, technical facilities and supporting infrastructure (power, water, wastewater, communications, etc.), Service Family Accommodation (SFA), commercial facilities and training areas. Details are as follows.
21 Feb 2005 : Column 122W
All of the estate in Germany is owned by the German government and occupied by MOD under SOFA and its supplementary agreements. The German estate is located within five main garrison areas:
Additionally there are major training areas located at Senne and Haltern and smaller training areas in Paderborn, Gütersloh, Osnabrück and Rhine Garrisons.
In addition, a small numbers of leased properties are occupied in:
Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of (a) an in role parachute battalion and (b) a parachute battalion not in role was in the last year for which figures are available. [201002]
Mr. Ingram: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many car parking spaces are provided for those (a) working in and (b) visiting his Department. [208929]
Mr. Caplin:
Provision of car parking space on defence establishments worldwide is determined locally, taking into account availability of public transport links, space on the establishments, and operational requirements.
21 Feb 2005 : Column 124W
Centrally held records of defence estate assets do not identify provision of car parking space, and would require disproportionate cost to collect this information.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the munitions recovered on Pendle Hill, Lancashire, in the last four years. [213914]
Mr. Caplin: Since 1 January 2001, a total of 95 live items and 5478 expended items have been cleared from Pendle Hill, Lancashire. This data is correct as at 1 Febuary 2005.
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel in each service have opted to move to the new pension arrangements; and what proportion of serving personnel that represents in each case. [215501]
Mr. Caplin: These details will not be available until April 2006. Individual Offers to Transfer packs will be sent to members of the current scheme between mid July 2005 and the end of October 2005, for a Transfer Date of 6 April 2006.
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has received from his United States counterpart in respect of Pentagon plans to build earth-penetrating nuclear weapons designed to destroy hardened underground targets. [214640]
Mr. Hoon: None. Although US policy is a matter for that Government, I understand that to date it has only sought to conduct studies into the concept of such weapons and has no plans to build any.
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent on postage by the Department in each year since 1997. [215021]
Mr. Caplin: The cost of postage is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to procure equipment to improve the rapid deployability of the British armed forces. [213368]
Mr. Ingram: The 'Future Capabilities' White Paper published in July 2003 explains how we plan to make the armed forces more flexible and deployable. At sea, deployability has already been improved through six new Roll-On-Roll-Off ships. A robust and modern amphibious capability, based around two new ships, HMS Alibon and Bulwark, supported by the Bay Class landing ships, will provide a step change in our ability to launch and support forces ashore. For the Army, there will be a shift in emphasis towards light and medium weight forces. These will be supported by a number of new equipment programmes, including the Future Rapid Effects System family of vehicles and the Light Mobile Artillery Weapon System. In the air, aswell as introducing 25 A400M aircraft from 2011, wenow intend to buy our current fleet of four leased C-17 aircraft together with one additional aircraft, significantly increasing our strategic lift capability.
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on recruitment levels to the armed forces in the past three months from applicants in Scotland. [213338]
Mr. Caplin: The number of personnel recruited into the armed forces other ranks from applications registered in Scotland from 1 October to 31 December 2004 was 322. Information for officers is not available on a regional basis.
Next Section | Index | Home Page |