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22 Feb 2005 : Column 597W—continued
Guantanamo Bay
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of flying the released British detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United Kingdom was. [216529]
Mr. Ingram: Costs arising from the use of RAF aircraft to return released British detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United Kingdom on two occasions amounts to some £170,000 in total.
Harriers GR7
Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the conversions and repairs of Harrier GR7 at BAE Warton are on schedule. [217163]
Mr. Ingram: The overall programme remains on schedule for completion by the end of 2005.
Heroes Return Programme
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many individuals have participated in the Heroes Return programme in Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber; and at what cost. [216578]
Mr. Caplin: The Big Lottery Fund has made a total of 12 grants with a combined value of £17,755. This funding has enabled 30 people from the Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber constituency to participate in the Heroes Return scheme.
Iraq
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the incidents that have led to compensation being paid to Iraqi people in the sector occupied by British forces for (a) death, (b) injury and (c) destruction of property. [216503]
Mr. Ingram: As at 4 February 2005, the Ministry of Defence had paid 245 claims for compensation made by Iraqi civilians as follows:
The papers relating to these claims are not held centrally and therefore it has not been possible to list individual incidents.
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Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement on the circumstances surrounding the Hercules crash in Iraq; [217158]
(2) when the air accident investigators will complete their work on the Hercules crash in Iraq; and when he will publish it. [217156]
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to be in a position to make a full statement on the crash of the RAF C-130 Hercules in Iraq on 30 January. [217104]
Mr. Hoon [holding answer 15 February 2005]: It would be inappropriate to speculate on the cause of the tragic crash of the Hercules C130K in Iraq on 30 January. The investigation is under way and will consider all the evidence before coming to any conclusion. It is impossible to say how long the investigation will take at this stage; the emphasis must be on exploring every possible avenue to help determine the cause of this crash.
Japan
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the (a) level and (b) nature of military contacts with Japan. [217034]
Mr. Ingram: The UK has an important, and developing, bilateral defence relationship with Japan. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received the Director General (Defence Minister equivalent) of the Japanese Defence Agency for talks in London and has in turn visited Japan. Exchanges take place at Chief of Staff level across all the services. Pol-mil Defence Staff talks are established on a regular cycle, as are single service staff talks. Given the constraints in the Japanese constitution there have been no joint military exercises. However, we have given advice and assistance to Japan in the context of her peace support mission in southern Iraq, where the Japanese contingent works within the framework of MND(SE).
Military Clothing
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2004, Official Report, column 1372, on military clothing, for what reason the prime contractor has decided to withhold sub-contractor information. [216607]
Mr. Ingram: In the early stages of establishing its supply chain, the prime contractor wishes to maintain the competitive advantage it has achieved and it considers this information to be commercial in confidence.
The terms of the contract prohibit the Ministry of Defence from disclosing this information without the consent of the prime contractor.
Morson
Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel Morson have employed at (a) RAF Cottesmore and (b) RAF Marham; and what work they are undertaking. [217263]
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Mr. Ingram: No Morson International staff are employed by the Ministry of Defence at either RAF Cottesmore or RAF Marham.
Mutual Defence Agreement
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the Joint Working Groups established under the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement in which personnel from the Atomic Weapons Establishment participate. [216674]
Mr. Ingram: Personnel from the Atomic Weapons Establishment participate in the following Joint Working Groups (JOWOGs) under the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement:
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when and where in the UK the next Stocktake review meeting under the 1958 UK/US Mutual Defence Agreement is scheduled to take place. [216680]
Mr. Ingram: The date and venue for the next Stocktake meeting has yet to be arranged.
QinetiQ
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what actions his Department is taking to maximise the return to public funds from the Department's shareholding in QinetiQ. [216879]
Mr. Ingram: A key feature of the original Defence Evaluation and Research Agency Public Private Partnership was to bring in a strategic partner to improve the management of QinetiQ and help grow the business in preparation for its transfer to the private sector. Although the Ministry of Defence continues to hold a majority equity stake in QinetiQ, operational control of the company is exercised by The Carlyle Group as the Government's strategic partner. This injection of private sector resource and expertise is contributing to the growth of the company and hence to the value of the Government's shareholding.
RAF Defensive Aid Suites
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what requests he has had from the Royal Air Force to upgrade defensive aid suites. [217261]
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Mr. Ingram: We have well-tried and effective arrangements for addressing urgent operational requirements identified by the front line commands. For example, for operations in Iraq advanced counter-measures have been fitted to the RAF's Tristar passenger aircraft and to the C-17 fleet.
RAFT Project
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what environmental assessments (a) were carried out before and (b) have been carried out during the lifetime of the RAFT project; [216505]
(2) how much had been spent on the RAFT project at the date of its cancellation; and if he will make a statement. [216506]
Mr. Ingram: At the time of the suspension of Remote Ammunitioning Facility Tamar in 2002, £15 million had been spent on works (covering design, ammunition clearance, dredging and site preparation). Subsequent cancellation and project management costs have increased expenditure to a total of £25 million and this has been highlighted as a potential constructive loss in the departmental annual accounts for financial year 2003–04.
A number of environmental assessments were carried out prior to the commencement of the RAFT project. The first in 1996, was carried out by Babtie, the Ministry of Defence's Project Manager. In 1998, the Babtie Group carried out a desktop archaeological study to review the potential effect of RAFT on existing scheduled monuments at Bullpoint. This was followed by a supplementary report on the effects of RAFT dredging on potential buried archaeological artefacts in peat deposits in the riverbed. An Ecological Study, also in 1998 and carried out by Panscape Consultancy, considered the potential impact of RAFT on the key habitats and species in Plymouth Sound and its estuaries. In addition, a Baseline Environmental Survey of Estuarine Sediment and Benthic Macrofauna, carried out by Zeneca and which supplemented the Ecological Study, assessed the potential environmental impact of dredging on surface sediments and resident worms. In 1999, an extensive hydraulic modelling study was undertaken by Hydraulics Research Wallingford, which covered the potential effects of dredging on the River Tamar (in particular on the salmon), the inter-tidal habitats of the Tamar and the salt marshes in the Upper Tamar estuary. A detailed sedimentation study was carried out of the whole tidal extent of the Tamar rather than just the local area of RAFT. The conclusions and results were overseen by an independent expert appointed by English Nature.
In 2000, during the lifetime of the RAFT project and following award of the construction contract, a Conservation Management Plan was jointly produced with English Nature and the Environment Agency. In support of this plan, extensive mitigation measures were applied, including noise pollution monitoring of the surrounding areas and water quality monitoring in the River Tamar, during the dredging. The Environment Agency has recently confirmed that, as a result of this mitigation, there have been no permanent effects on fish stocks in the river.
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