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12 Dec 2005 : Column 1680W—continued
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
21. Shona McIsaac : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make a statement on the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. [36116]
Mr. Touhig: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission continues its important work worldwide in maintaining around one and three quarter million war graves and memorial commemorations to Commonwealth Service men and women who died in the two world wars.
War Memorials (Redevelopment)
22. Mr. Crausby : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to protect war memorials in buildings being redeveloped. [36117]
Mr. Touhig: Where a building is to be redeveloped, any war memorial is considered as part of the planning process.
We work closely with regimental associations and other interested parties to ensure that memorials in buildings being redeveloped are either incorporated within the refurbished building or moved to a suitable new location.
If the memorial is within a listed building, or is itself listed, the local authority must be approached for listed building consent prior to removal and appropriate re-siting.
Defence Export Service Organisation
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Defence Export Service Organisation maintains records in its (a) UK offices and (b) overseas offices of the occasions on which it has provided lists of agents to customers. [36844]
Mr. Ingram: The Defence Export Services Organisation occasionally receives requests for lists of agents. When received, such requests are treated in the same way as other routine requests for information, responses to which are not, in general, put on the record.
Investment Appraisals Board
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how decisions of the Investment Appraisals Board are (a) recorded and (b) implemented; and if he will make a statement. [36159]
Mr. Ingram:
The Investment Approvals Board considers proposals for major investments in equipment, estates, support and business change projects and, where appropriate, makes recommendations to Ministers as to whether such investments should be approved. Recommendations take the form of submissions to Ministers or, for lower value projects, advice within their delegated powers to project owners to proceed or otherwise. There is no Investment Appraisals Board.
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Landing Ships Dock Project
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the Landing Ships Dock (Auxiliary) Project. [36099]
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the Landing Ships Dock (Auxiliary) Project. [36104]
Mr. Ingram: The Landing Ships Dock (Auxiliary) project continues to make progress towards the completion of the four Bay Class vessels. Mounts Bay, the first ship built by BAE Systems in Glasgow, has begun her final sea trials prior to The Ministry of Defence acceptance. Build and testing continues on the remaining three ships.
Territorial Army
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Territorial Army personnel qualified for their 10 years' continuous service medal in each of the past 10 years. [33578]
Mr. Touhig: The Volunteer Reserves Service Medal, instituted on 31 March 1999, is awarded for 10 years reckonable continuous service. The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Total | |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 1,375 |
| 2000 | 1,001 |
| 2001 | 917 |
| 2002 | 810 |
| 2003 | 593 |
| 2004 | 319 |
| 2005 | 46 |
| Total | 5,061 |
Relief Effort (Pakistan)
Mr. Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how the UK armed forces have assisted the relief effort in Pakistan. [36105]
Mr. Ingram:
UK armed forces have provided significant and wide-ranging assistance to the Pakistan earthquake relief effort. This has included three heavy lift Chinook helicopters, a specialist 86-man light
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engineering team, a four-person mobile medical team, four logistics planners, three C-130 transport aircraft as part of the NATO air-bridge, and 24,000 vegetarian and halal ration packs.
White Phosphorus
Mr. Kenneth Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions white phosphorus weapons have been used by British forces during the invasion and occupation of Iraq; and at what level of command their use was authorised. [33282]
John Reid: British armed forces have used white phosphorus on Operation Telic in Iraq primarily as a smoke screen to provide cover and thus protection for our soldiers, or for target illumination. Its use in Iraq is a tactical decision authorised by commanders on the ground. Although white phosphorus does have a recognised anti-personnel effect, our armed forces go to great lengths to ensure that civilian and non-combatants are not harmed during operations; guidelines issued to British military personnel on its use emphasise that it should not be deployed as an anti-personnel weapon. Information on the number of occasions it has been used by British armed forces in Iraq is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
CABINET OFFICE
Departmental Expenditure
Martin Horwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much the Cabinet Office and its agencies have spent on (a) the design and production of new logos and (b) employing external (i) public relations and (ii) graphic design agencies in each year since 2000, broken down by project. [33200]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The following table details the projects and the amount the Cabinet Office has spent on the design and production of new logos, employing external public relations agencies and employing external graphic design agencies since 1 April 2004. The figures are exclusive of VAT.
The Cabinet Office does not hold central records for this activity before 1 April 2004 and to provide the information requested before that date would incur disproportionate costs.
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