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24 Mar 2005 : Column 1019W—continued
DEFENCE
Accidents
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements for monitoring accidents at work involving members of staff of his Department are in place; and if he will make a statement. [222629]
Mr. Caplin: The Ministry of Defence has a number of arrangements for monitoring accidents at work. The requirements range from the accident book procedures required by the Social Security Act, to Boards of Inquiry required by Queen's Regulations. The arrangements are contained in the MOD health and safety handbook, Joint Service Publication 375. This publication can be found on the www at http: //www.mod.uk/dsef/ohs/jsp375.htm
Armed Forces Act
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the Armed Forces Act 2001 expires; and when he expects to bring forward the next Armed Forces Bill. [223351]
Mr. Caplin: The Armed Forces Act 2001 will not expire. Under this Act, however, the provisions of the Service Discipline Acts (the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 and the Naval Discipline Act 1957) are subject to annual renewal by Order in Council, but cannot be continued in effect by this means beyond 31 December 2006. We aim to introduce an Armed Forces Bill towards the end of 2005.
Army Medal Office
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence by what means he intends to dispose of the Army Medal Office in Droitwich Spa; and whether conditions will apply to the sale to ensure that the site is used only for the purposes allocated to it in Wychavon district council's local plan. [223724]
Mr. Caplin: It is expected that the site will be passed to Defence Estates for disposal before 31 March 2006.
Consideration of future non-defence alternative uses for the site is at an early stage. However, discussions with the Local Planning Authority are in progress. As is our normal practice, the site will be marketed in a way that reflects the final planning decision following the discussions with the Local Planning Authority and sale is generally by open competition to achieve the best price reasonably obtainable.
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Cancer/Leukaemia
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many deaths of (a) serving soldiers and (b) his Department's personnel have been attributable to (i) cancer and (ii) leukaemia in each of the last 20 years. [222019]
Mr. Caplin: Between 1 January 1985 and 31 December 2004, 696 regular service personnel have died of cancer while on service, 71 of which died from leukaemia.
Information on the causes of death of civilian personnel is not collected by the Department.
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the rates of incidence of (a) cancer and (b) leukaemia in (i) serving soldiers and (ii) his Department's personnel in each of the last 20 years. [222021]
Mr. Caplin: The Department does not currently collate any information on the incidence of cancer in serving service personnel and civilian personnel.
Defence Employment (Scotland)
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people worked for the Disposal Services Agency (a) in 2003–04 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available; how many were employed in Scotland in each case; and what the personnel costs of the agency (i) were in 2003–04 and (ii) are expected to be in 2004–05. [215944]
Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the Disposal Service Agency's (DSA) Annual Report and Accounts 2003–04 that was laid before the House on 15 July 2004; less than five DSA staff members were employed in Scotland during this year. For the current Financial Year, 2004–05, the personnel costs for the agency are forecast to be in the region of £3 million. The latest personnel figures, as at March 2005, are 120 employed by the agency, of which again less than five are employed in Scotland. The increase in staff numbers this year resulted from the pre-merger process of the DSA with part of the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) following an End-to-End Business Process Review of the disposal process within the MOD". The additional staff will not be funded by the agency until 1 April 2005, when it transfers ownership to the DLO.
Eurofighter Typhoon
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department's entry into Table B18 of the pre-Budget report includes a contingent amount to cover expenditure connected with the purchase of all or part of Tranche 3 of the Eurofighter Typhoon. [222615]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 21 March 2005]: A decision on Tranche 3 of Eurofighter Typhoon is not required before 2007. Any expenditure associated with Tranche 3 would fall outside the period covered by the December 2004 pre-Budget report.
Freedom of Information Act
Mr. Dalyell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what grounds he has concluded that there is no obligation under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
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to disclose correspondence on behalf of Lord Boyce of Pimlico, dated 12 March 2003, to the Legal Secretary to the Law Officers, and the subsequent response. [217421]
Mr. Hoon [holding answer 23 February 2005]: I am writing today to my hon. Friend and I shall place a copy of that letter in the Library of the House.
Harrier
Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the air availability of the Harrier jet; and if he will make a statement. [222184]
Mr. Ingram: During the current Financial Year, the availability of the Harrier fleet has matched or exceeded the numbers required for our commitments.
In-house Publications
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the titles of the in-house publications and newsletters which are produced for the staff of his Department, including non-departmental public bodies and agencies. [221981]
Mr. Caplin: A comprehensive list of the many in-house publications and newsletters produced for departmental staff, including those for non-departmental public bodies and agencies, is not available and could be produced only by incurring disproportionate cost.
The principal in-house publications are: FOCUS, Paper Clips, Navy News, Soldier Magazine and RAF News. In addition the following publications and newsletters are published on the Department's intranet site:
In addition, the following publication is produced by the Royal Marines museum, one of the Department's non-departmental public bodies:
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