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1 Nov 2005 : Column 913W—continued
Lloyd Inquiry
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the right hon. Lord Lloyd of Berwick regarding the evidence submitted by the Department to the Lloyd Inquiry; and if he will make a statement. [22084]
Mr. Touhig: Transcripts of correspondence between this Department and Lord Lloyd's inquiry were included in the inquiry's report, a copy of which can be found at www.lloyd-gwii.com. Following publication of his report no further such discussions have taken place with Lord Lloyd.
Married Quarters
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 on demand for married quarters. [23318]
Mr. Touhig: It is not possible to identify the number of service personnel who will elect to enter into a civil partnership. However, it is assessed that the numbers will be small and any associated requirement for service families accommodation would be absorbed within the existing housing management margin.
Medical Assessment Programme
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress is being made in studies into reproductive problems reported by some service men and women who served in the Gulf in 1990–91. [22085]
Mr. Touhig: The Ministry of Defence has funded an independent study of the reproductive health of UK veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf Conflict through the Medical Research Council (MRC). The findings of the study, which was undertaken by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, have been published in medical/scientific journals and are on our website at: www.mod.uk/issues/gulfwar/research/health.htm
The Military Health Research Advisory Group of the MRC considered the findings. They advised that there is little more to be learnt from reproductive studies on these veterans and that they did not expect to be making any new recommendations for further research in this area. We are guided by that advice.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps the Department has taken to monitor service personnel who have been examined as part of the Medical Assessment Programme. [22086]
Mr. Touhig:
The consultant at the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessment Programme (GVMAP) writes to the referring doctor immediately after the consultation with a copy of the assessment report and then later, usually within six weeks, sends a letter with test results. Patients who wish to see their report and who have
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signed a consent form are automatically sent a copy of the medical assessment report and test results at the same time as both are sent to the referring doctor.
We ask referring doctors to co-operate in taking forward treatment recommendations and in responding to any inquiries about a patient's progress. The GVMAP will send a standard follow up letter to all GPs about ill patients who have been referred, asking for information on the patient's condition and subsequent treatment. This is usually done within six months of the GVMAP appointment.
For those patients referred to our network of specified Post Traumatic Stress Disorder centres there is an automatic follow up at one year. A paper has been published in Military Medicine, May 2005, on the clinical outcomes of such referrals.
Responsibility for the primary care of patients rests with GPs and it is for the GP to decide on what further treatment should be considered. Unless contacted by the GP the GVMAP cannot, nor should, interfere in the GP/patient relationship.
Missing Weapons
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many Army (a) handguns and (b) rifles went missing in the UK during the last year for which figures are available; [20970]
(2) how many missing Army handguns and rifles were recovered in the last year for which figures are available. [20969]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 25 October 2005]: The information requested for the period 26 October 2004 to 15 October 2005 is detailed in the following table:
Operation Telic
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service men and women who have served in Operation Telic have reported illnesses similar to those reported by veterans of the Gulf War. [22473]
Mr. Touhig: Information on all the illnesses reported by members of the armed forces is not held centrally. For serving personnel, medical records are normally held locally by service medical officers. For individuals who have left the services, the normal practice is to offer the records to their GP for permanent retention.
As a result of the lessons learned during the 1990–91 Gulf Conflict, the Ministry of Defence took early action to put in place a large scale and long-term epidemiological study to monitor the physical and psychological health of personnel who served in
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Operation TELIC. This research is being undertaken by King's College, London and the results are expected to be published in 2006. If any unusual patterns of illness are found, they will be addressed as soon as possible.
Personnel Service Files
David Mundell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his plans are for the storage and retention of existing service files of Second World War personnel. [22541]
Mr. Touhig: The Service personnel records of those who served during the Second World War will continue to be retained by the Ministry of Defence. Initial discussions have taken place with staff from The National Archives that are likely to lead to the eventual transfer of the records to the National Archives at Kew.
Royal Irish Regiment
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to respond to representations made to him by a number of hon. Members on 1 September regarding the future of the Home Service Royal Irish Regiment. [22851]
Mr. Ingram: We are grateful for the representations we received in response to our request for views on the future of the personnel of The Royal Irish (Home Service). Work is in progress to develop the details of the settlement for Home Service personnel, but at this stage we are unable to give a firm indication of when we will be able to make a substantive announcement.
We recognise that members of the Home Service are anxious to know the outcome of this work, which is being taken forward as a matter of urgency so that we can inform them at the earliest opportunity.
Territorial Army
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average time period is between an infantry Territorial Army private qualifying on basic training phases 1 and 2 and being called up for a six month tour of operational duty. [22356]
Mr. Touhig: As records are not held centrally, the level of detail sought in the question can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many infantry Territorial Army privates have volunteered to serve a further tour of operational duty since March 2003. [22358]
Mr. Touhig: As records are not held centrally, the level of detail sought in the question can be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, I can confirm that in total, some 1,350 members of the Territorial Army have been mobilized for a second or subsequent tour.
Ann Winterton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many personnel (a) signed up as infantry Territorial Army privates and (b) qualified under phase 1 and 2 of basic training between March 2003 and June 2005; [22360]
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(2) how many infantry Territorial Army privates left the service between March 2003 and June 2005. [22359]
Mr. Touhig: Between 1 March 2003 and 30 June 2005 some 3,800 people were recruited as infantry Territorial Army (TA) privates and some 1,300 private infantry soldiers completed their phase 1 and 2 training. In that same period some 1,960 privates left the service. These figures do not include those joining or serving in the University Officer Training Corps, full time reserve staff and non regular permanent staff.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) infantry Territorial Army (TA) privates, (b) infantry TA non-commissioned officers and (c) officers are serving in the Territorial Army. [22361]
Mr. Touhig: As at 1 September 2005 there were approximately 4,110 privates, 2,300 non-commissioned officers (lance corporals and above), and 780 officers serving in the infantry Territorial Army. These figures do not include non regular permanent staff or those serving in the University Officer Training Corps, or on full time reserve service.
Rounding: Where rounding has been used, totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not appear to be the sum of their parts. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in 5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the (a) peacetime, (b) wartime and (c) estimated actual strength of the Territorial Army (i) as a total and (ii) broken down by individual corps; and what actual strength of the (A) infantry and (B) yeomanry is. [18300]
Mr. Touhig: I assume that the right hon. and learned Member is referring to the peacetime and wartime establishments of the Territorial Army (TA). The TA does not have separate peacetime or wartime establishments. The current establishment of 41,610 remains at all times. The actual strength of the TA as at 1 September 2005 as a total is 35,560 (including some 1,120 mobilised personnel) and can be found broken down by individual corps, including the Infantry and the Yeomanry (known as the Royal Armoured Corps) in the following table:
(30) Zero or rounded to zero.
Notes:
1. Where rounding has been used, totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not appear to be the sum of their parts.
2. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in 5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.
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