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7 Apr 2005 : Column 1725W—continued
Chinook
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the airworthiness review of the Chinook HC2 helicopter was conducted; and if he will place a copy of the review in the Library. [206979]
Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to the right hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place copies of the 14 annexes and nine enclosures listed on Page 52 of the Chinook HC1 Airworthiness Review Report in the Library. [206982]
Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to the right hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when each of the source software codes necessary for testing the airworthiness of the HC2 and HC2a Chinook helicopters were provided by the manufacturers in the USA to his Department. [223781]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 24 March 2005]: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the complete RAF Board of Inquiry into the crash of a RAF Chinook HC1 helicopter ZA672 on 6 May 1988. [218779]
Mr. Ingram: I will place a copy of the Board of Inquiry into the crash of Chinook ZA672 in the Library. This has been redacted in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the legal advice provided to the reviewing officers in relation to the crash of RAF Chinook ZD576. [218776]
Mr. Ingram: I am withholding the document requested as it is subject to legal professional privilege.
Conferences
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many conferences were (a) attended by officials from his Department, (b) cancelled by and (c) facilitated by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the (i) cost to the Department and (ii)location was in each case. [205754]
Mr. Caplin:
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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Correspondence
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to reply to the question tabled by the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr for answer on 21 February concerning the British Deputy Senior Judge Advocate in Iraq; and what the reason is for the delay in answering. [224891]
Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Cost Recovery (DFID)
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the costs recovered by his Department from the Department for International Development in the most recent year for which figures are available. [214419]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 9 February 2005]: Costs recovered by the Ministry of Defence from the Department for International Development (DfID) for the 12 month period from 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 are set out as follows:
Databases
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the fields of the (a) Force Structure database, (b) Procurement Plans database and (c) Defence Bills Authority databases. [199833]
Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Dean May
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the recommendations made by the judge following the conviction of Staff Sergeant Dean May for manslaughter at Winchester Crown court in July 2002; and what measures were taken to act upon these recommendations. [220494]
Mr. Ingram:
Although the Judge made a number of comments in his summing up of the case against Staff Sergeant Dean May he did not make any recommendations for further action. However, a number of measures were taken by the Ministry of Defence as a result of this incident.
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Following the court case, a Board of Inquiry investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Pierre Bolangi. While the Board noted that actions to prevent a recurrence had already been taken locally and within the chain of command, it made a number of wider recommendations related to the policy and conduct of income generation activity. The Board also recommended revised procedures for dealing with the media and families after such an incident. The Defence Wider Markets Policy Group was tasked to look at the wider issues raised by the Board of Inquiry report on income generation. This led to the publication of a further guidance note clarifying the framework for conducting income generation activities and the constraints that govern them.
Deaths in Service
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many deaths in combat of (a) Iraqis and (b) British Forces occurred (i) during formal hostilities in Iraq and (ii) since the conclusion of formal hostilities in Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [224549]
Mr. Hoon: Hostilities in Iraq concluded on 1 May 2003. Prior to that, 27 UK service personnel were killed in action. Since then, 22 UK service personnel have been killed in action. This does not include 10 UK service personnel missing believed killed following the C130 crash on 30 January 2005. The cause of that crash is still being investigated.
There are no wholly reliable and comprehensive figures for Iraqis killed during or since military operations began in March 2003. The Iraqi Minister of Health's most recently released figures, based on records from some 180 hospitals, show that between
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5 April 2004, when figures began to be collated, and 1 March 2005,6,265 Iraqis were killed. The Ministry of Health points out that this figure includes all Iraqis, including civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and insurgents, killed as a result of violence.
The Ministry of Defence does not produce estimates of Iraqi military or civilian casualties. This is because UK military reporting is limited to the UK area of operations. But even within the UK area of operations reporting is limited to what troops see on the ground. So military reporting is incomplete and cannot provide the basis of Iraqi civilian or military casualty estimates.
Defence Employment (Scotland)
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people work for the MOD Police; how many are employed in Scotland; what the figures were in each case in January 2004; what the personnel costs of the Agency are in 2004–05; and what they were in 2003–04. [212156]
Mr. Caplin [pursuant to the reply, 7 February 2005, Official Report, c. 1253]: I have to correct that information.
The current Agency was formed in April 2004 by merging the Ministry of Defence Police and the Ministry of Defence Guard Service. The personnel in the Ministry of Defence Guard Service were dispersed across the Department and their number and personnel costs are not available prior to the merger. The full overall budget for the Agency in 2004–05 is £158.6 million.
The number of people working in the Agency is shown in the following table:
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