| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
20 Dec 2005 : Column 2759W—continued
Defence Export Service Organisation
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2005, Official Report, column 1680W, on the Defence Export Service Organisation (DESO), whether the DESO has kept a record of the requests it has received for lists of agents. [38950]
Mr. Ingram: No central record of such requests is kept.
Defence Industrial Strategy
Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the Defence Industrial Strategy. [36837]
John Reid: I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made to the House on 15 December 2005, Official Report, columns 1462–78.
Departmental Properties
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was paid by his Department in 2004–05 in rent for properties in (a) total, (b) each (i) region and (ii) nation of the UK and (c) London. [35890]
20 Dec 2005 : Column 2760W
Mr. Touhig: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 2 December 2005, Official Report, column 819W, to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone).
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was paid by his Department in rates to each local authority in the UK in 2004–05; and how much was paid in (a) each (i) nation and (ii) region of the UK and (b) London. [35997]
Mr. Touhig: The table detailing amounts paid for non-domestic rates to each billing authority listed alphabetically by local authority for England, Scotland and Wales has been placed in the Library of the House.
Those for Northern Ireland have been collated by district. (It would require disproportionate cost and effort to break down the list to the level of detail requested.)
Deployment Times
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the average time between tours was for (a) Infantry Regiment and (b) the Royal Marines in the last two years; [37252]
(2) what the average deployment time in the Gulf has been since 2003 for (a) Territorial Army and (b) regular personnel. [37264]
Mr. Ingram: The average periods between operational tours for certain elements of the Army, including the Royal Armoured Corps, Royal Artillery and Infantry, are calculated as tour intervals. The average tour interval for Infantry Battalions over the past two years has been 21 months. Other force elements, including the Royal Marines and combat support services of the Army do not calculate periods between operational tours in the same way.
As the hon. Member will be aware, since operations commenced in Iraq in 2003, the Army's deployments have been divided into discreet roulement periods shown in the following table. The average deployment period in Iraq for both the Regular and TA is 5.3 months.
Firing Ranges (Bristol Channel)
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance he has issued on the area of the exclusion zones for building rear firing ranges in the Bristol channel. [37246]
Mr. Touhig:
The Ministry of Defence operates three offshore firing areas in the Bristol channel east of Ilfracombe at Bridgwater Bay, Rogiet Moor and at St. Thomas' Head. At present, the Ministry of Defence
20 Dec 2005 : Column 2761W
does not maintain any statutory safeguarding zones at these firing ranges that would affect property not owned by the Department. As such the Ministry of Defence does not issue any guidance relating to building works on properties located near these firing ranges.
Fleet Tankers
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what armament is to be provided on the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability fleet tankers. [38187]
Mr. Ingram: No decisions have yet been taken on the armament that will be provided on the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability fleet tankers.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the original operating capability was of the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability fleet tanker when first planned; and what the current capability envisaged is. [38202]
Mr. Ingram: The operating capability of the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability fleet tanker is being defined as part of the programme's current assessment phase.
Helicopters
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total spending on battlefield helicopters was in each of the last five years. [33406]
Mr. Ingram: The approximate total costs for the delivery and maintenance of Battlefield Helicopters in the financial years 2000–01 to 2004–05 are contained in the following table:
| Support costs | Capital costs | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 490 | 860 | 1,350 |
| 2001–02 | 570 | 620 | 1,190 |
| 2002–03 | 680 | 400 | 1,080 |
| 2003–04 | 760 | 240 | 1,000 |
| 2004–05 | 820 | 120 | 9,40 |
The high capital costs in the first half of the period shown reflect the procurement of new Apache Attack and Merlin helicopters.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) Sea King and (b) Wessex helicopters are operated by his Department; and what stock of spares is available for each. [36784]
Mr. Ingram: The departmental fleet size of Sea King helicopters which are either available for use, or under going maintenance or upgrade, is 98. The stock of spares held that are specific to Sea King is valued at £389 million. In addition there is a pool of available spares which are common to Sea King and a number of other aircraft types. Information on these is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The last Wessex helicopter was taken out of service in 2003 and the Department is nearing the end of disposal action on spares. The value of the remaining stock of
20 Dec 2005 : Column 2762W
spares is £28.5 million. This includes parts held pending a decision on the role of the helicopter within the Historic Flight.
MARS Project
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been allocated to the integrator assessment phase of the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability project. [36158]
Mr. Ingram: Costs allocated for the integrator assessment element of the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) project Assessment Phase will not be determined until the full scope of the work involved has been finalised. These costs will, however, form part of the overall MARS Assessment Phase budget of £44 million.
Meteorological Office
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how long services were off-line as a result of the fire at the Exeter headquarters of the Meteorological Office on 26 October 2005; and whether during this period Meteorological Office services at Exeter were supplemented by other UK regional offices. [28441]
Mr. Touhig: The loss of power to one computer hall at the Exeter Headquarters of the Met Office on 26 October 2005 lasted from 10.30 to 17.00, full recovery of affected computer systems was completed and all computer services returned to their normal configuration by 22:00 on 26 October 2005. During the period of the incident many services continued un-interrupted from the second computer hall. In the case of those services where there was, or might have been, an impact, the Met Office business continuity plans were invoked. Some services were delivered from the computer hall which continued to operate; other services were moved from Exeter to the Met Office civil centres and the UK Defence Network. Other work was moved between the civil centres to maintain an acceptable level of service.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |