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12 Jan 2006 : Column 755W—continued

Joint Strike Fighter

Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the two different engines proposed to power the F35 Joint Strike Fighter are still to be produced. [40958]

Mr. Ingram: Work continues on developing both the F135 and F136 engines for the Joint Strike Fighter.

Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the three variants of the F35 Joint Strike Fighter with the different wings, power systems and weapons are still to be produced. [40959]

Mr. Ingram: Work on the development of the three Joint Strike Fighter variants continues.
 
12 Jan 2006 : Column 756W
 

Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the F35B version of the Joint Strike Fighter is the only aircraft that could operate from the proposed two new aircraft carriers. [41388]

Mr. Ingram: It remains our plan to operate the F-35B (Short Take-Off Vertical Landing variant) Joint Strike Fighter aircraft from the future carrier. We also retain the option to deploy Harrier GR9 initially. However, the design has the flexibility to be adapted to operate conventional take-off and landing aircraft if we decide to do so in the future. In addition a range of helicopters will operate from the ships.

Officer Training Corps

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether members of the Officer Training Corps are eligible for mobilised service. [41662]

Mr. Touhig: Members of the Officer Training Corps may be called out for mobilised service under Section 52 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996. No call-out Order has been made under that section.

PR Companies

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the public relations companies that have hadcontracts with (a) his Department, (b) his non-departmental public bodies, (c) his Department's Executive agencies and (d) other bodies funded by his Department and for which he is responsible since May 1997; and what work was undertaken by each. [39190]

Mr. Touhig: Ministry of Defence expenditure on external assistance, of which consultants employed to manage PR is part, is available in the Library of the House for years 1995–96 to 2004–05 contained in the documents Expenditure On External Assistance for the MOD by TLB/Agency", and Expenditure On External Assistance for the MOD by Category". Although this is broken down by various categories, my Department does not centrally record expenditure on external PR or other related agencies.

RAF Tristars

Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of RAF Tristars are fitted with (a) the defensive aid system and (b) cockpit armour. [40402]

Mr. Ingram: 33 per cent. of the RAF's Tristar fleet are currently fitted with a defensive aid suite and 78 per cent. are fitted with flight deck armour.

Sub-munitions (Kosovo)

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many BL755 sub-munitions were destroyed by (a) 33 Engineer Regiment and (b) other UK forces in Kosovo between June 1999 and July 2000. [40422]

Mr. Ingram: Information about the number and types of sub-munitions destroyed by United Kingdom forces is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Nonetheless, I can confirm that 212 sub-munitions tasks were conducted in Kosovo between 12 June 1999 and 30 June 2000; however, this figure relates to all sub-munitions tasks.
 
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TRANSPORT

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much was spent on advertising by (a) his Department and previous Departments with his Department's responsibilities, (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) Executive agency for which his Department is responsible and (c) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by his Department in each year since May 1997; [39113]

(2) if he will list the public relations companies that have had contracts with (a) his Department and previous Departments with his Department's responsibilities, (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) Executive agency for which his Department is responsible and (c) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by his Department since May 1997. [39114]

Ms Buck: The requested figures for advertising are set out as follows. However, records of costs from 1997–98 until 2001–02 are not readily available due to departmental re-organisations and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.

The majority of advertising investment by my central Department is in support of the THINK! Road Safety campaign. DVLA's main advertising expenditure has been to support the introduction of continuous registration.

	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
DfT (Central)	10,446,000	10,427,000	9,021,724
DVLA	8,066,000	10,177,000	9,370,000
DSA	0	0	0
HA	232,135	137,703	388,024
VOSA	0	4,800	13,500
MCA	52,292	33,619	49,495
VCA	4,641	5,640	8,865
SRA	95,000	505,000	25,000

 
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Listing the public relations companies that have had contracts with (a) the Department and previous Departments with the Department's responsibilities, (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii)Executive agency for which the Department is responsible and (c) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by the Department since May 1997 could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the annual expenditure on training and development by (a) his Department and (b) each (i)non-departmental public body, (ii) Executive agency and (iii) other public body for which he is responsible in (A) Scotland, (B) Wales, (C) each of the English regions and (D) Northern Ireland was in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 2005–06. [40007]

Ms Buck: The Department is committed to developing and improving the way it works to better achieve its business objectives. In order to do this it encourages all of its staff to take part in development activities that will improve their skills. In addition, certain staff may be required to carry out mandatory training for particular duties.

The information is as follows:
£

	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06 (planned)
Department for Transport (Central)	2,206,518	2,627,595	2,845,353	2,937,748
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency	—	1,071,251	714,289	869,879
Highways Agency	2,500,359	3,140,799	3,185,269	3,053,454
Driving Standards Agency	3,034,500	3,164,087	3,866,527	2,938,602
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency	1,418,000	1,684,000	2,140,000	3,843,000
Maritime and Coastguard Agency	1,313,902	1,260,144	1,502,734	1,061,500
Vehicle Certification Agency	111,000	146,000	127,000	150,000
Government Car and Despatch Agency	60,409	80,393	56,237	51,645
Railway Heritage Committee	—	—	—	0
Northern Lighthouse Board	182,270	222,851	159,978	185,000
Trinity House Lighthouse Service	332,000	252,000	300,000	400,000
Rail Passengers Council	—	—	—	80,000
Commission for Integrated Transport	5,952	8,481	9,610	7,500
Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee	—	2,036	6,183	1,985
Traffic Commissioners and Deputies	0	0	0	0
Strategic Rail Authority	407,435	650,603	919,024	973,634
Standing Advisory Committee for Trunk Road Assessment	0	0	0	0

Financial records are not kept in a form which allows the Department to distinguish between country or region.

The Rail Passenger Council was launched on 25 July 2005.

The Railway Heritage Committee transferred to the Department for Transport on 21 November 2005.

There are no records for the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee prior to 2003–04.
 
12 Jan 2006 : Column 759W
 

The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency was set up on 1 April 2003.

Department for Transport (Central) was set up in May 2002 and the 2002–03 expenditure reflects that.

There is no current Standing Advisory Committee for Trunk Road Assessment set up.

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