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19 Jan 2006 : Column 1527W—continued
Prescription Charges
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will estimate the cost to her Department of including all patients who are terminally ill within the exempt category for the purposes of prescription charges. [42755]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 16 January 2006]: The estimated cost to the Department would be in the region of £2 million per annum in lost prescription charge revenue.
Private Members' Bills
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 28 October, Official Report, column 588, on Private Members' Bills, when the information ceased to be collected; and if she will make a statement. [32753]
Jane Kennedy: The information requested has never been collected.
Smoking and Blindness
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to cite the links between smoking and blindness in public health campaigns on smoking cessation. [34196]
Caroline Flint: We currently do not have any plans to cite the links between smoking and blindness in our public health campaigns on smoking cessation. We are in the process of developing our future strategy on public health campaigns on smoking. However, it is widely recognised that smoking is linked to many serious and chronic conditions.
PRIME MINISTER
Telephone Tapping
Mr. Evans: To ask the Prime Minister (1) what decision has been made on requests for the tapping of hon. Members' telephone lines; [43854]
(2) what representations he has received (a) in favour of and (b) against tapping right hon. and hon. Members' telephone lines; [43855]
(3) what recent discussions he has had on the tapping of hon. Members' telephone lines; [43856]
(4) if he will make a statement on the Wilson doctrine on tapping hon. Members' telephones. [44186]
The Prime Minister:
I refer the hon. Members to the written ministerial statement I made on 15 December 2005, Official Report, column 173WS.
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1528W
DEFENCE
C-130 Hercules
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he is having with manufacturers of the Hercules C130J and K about retrospectively fitting foam flame retardants to the fuel tank. [43371]
Mr. Ingram: The Hercules Integrated project team is discussing with Marshalls Aerospace the possible fitting of explosive suppressant foam to our C-130 aircraft.
Correspondence
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether the letter of 10 April 2001 from Alan Burnham, acting chief executive of the War Pensions Agency, to Nick Gibbons of the Cabinet Office was seen by the responsible Minister when it was received; [41146]
(2) whether the advice from the War Pensions Agency on the defensibility of the proposed restriction on compensation to civilian detainees of the Japanese to British citizens with a blood link with the UK was made known to Ministers when the decision was made to restrict payments. [41142]
Mr. Touhig: There is no evidence to suggest that the letter of 10 April 2001 or other advice from the Agency on the defensibility of the birthlink criterion were seen by Ministers at the time; however, Ministers were made aware of the concern, that had been expressed by the chief executive, that substantial numbers of claims would be rejected as a result of adopting the birthlink" criterion before this was made public by the Veterans Minister on 11 July 2001.
The Ministry of Defence's current review of the consistency of eligibility criteria will consider the genesis of the birthlink criterion, in which the agency had been closely involved. It will also consider the nature and handling of the concerns that the agency's chief executive raised in the light of early experience of operating of the birthlink criterion.
Departmental Estate (Castle Point)
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) land and (b) property is owned by his Department in Castle Point. [42898]
Mr. Touhig: The Ministry of Defence does not own or lease any land or property in the Castle Point constituency. However the following freehold properties are used by the Reserve Forces and Cadets Association which is funded by this Department:
Departmental Land
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) land and (b) property his Department owns in the Southend, West constituency. [41757]
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1529W
Mr. Touhig: The Ministry of Defence does not own or lease any land or property in the Southend, West constituency. However the following properties are used by reserve forces and Cadets Association, which is funded by the Department:
Eurofighter Typhoon
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 11 January 2006, Official Report, column 667W, in what ways the estimated cost of the Eurofighter Typhoon is commercially sensitive. [42967]
Mr. Ingram: The Eurofighter Typhoon financial figures concerned will remain commercially confidential until their release will no longer be prejudicial to the UK's interests.
Iraq
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what resources he has made available to the Oxfordshire coroner to ensure that he is able to proceed with inquests into the deaths of UK personnel in Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [32360]
Ms Harman: I have been asked to reply.
Additional funding has been made available to assist the coroner on an exceptional basis. This has allowed Thames Valley police and Oxfordshire county council to provide additional staff dedicated to the preparation of inquest cases relating to those British personnel and others who have met their deaths in Iraq since March 2003. Further funds will be made available in the next financial year. In all £80,000 will be paid.
ISAF (Afghanistan)
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many helicopters are available to NATO in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan; and to which members of NATO they belong. [42628]
Mr. Ingram: As of 14 January, there are 15 helicopters dedicated to NATO in Afghanistan. These have been provided to ISAF by Germany, Spain and Italy. Other NATO members, such as the United States, have helicopters in Afghanistan which can be made available to ISAF depending on operational task and priority.
Mercian Regiment
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether Catterick is being considered as a possible location of the headquarters of the new Mercian Regiment. [42462]
Mr. Ingram:
As the hon. Member will be aware, there is an ongoing study into the future of Infantry Regimental Headquarters (RHQ). It is too early to speculate on what the outcomes of this review will be, but it is anticipated that a final decision will be announced by the spring.
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1530W
Military Complaints Procedures (Independent Assessor)
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 10 October 2005, Official Report, column 12–13W, on the Independent Assessor of Military Complaints procedures, on what basis he made his decision that aspects other than thoseinvolving the policing of the 11 and 12 July 2004 North Belfast parades had been examined in sufficient detail. [42406]
Mr. Ingram: As indicated in my answer of 10 October 2005, Official Report, column 12–13W the policing of the North Belfast parades was examined in considerable detail by Keir Starmer QC and Jane Gordon in their special report for the Policing Board published in November 2004. Although this report did concentrate on the policing aspects of the parades, it also included consideration of the Army's support to the PSNI.
In light of this report, the relevant arrangements were fully reviewed internally following the 2004 marching season by the PSNI and Army, and a comprehensive and progressive training programme was initiated to exercise and develop these arrangements prior to marching season 2005. We are satisfied with the arrangements in place for joint operations with the PSNI and believe that they properly and fully address the concerns raised in the report.
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