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6 Mar 2006 : Column 1186W—continued

Departmental Dwellings

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his plans for the long-term future of empty married couples' dwellings identified by his Department. [54741]

Mr. Touhig: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 November 2005, Official Report, column 101W, to my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Devizes (Mr. Ancram). Some 3,000 are held for future service deployments, 500 are held pending modernisation and approximately 800 are in the course
 
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of disposal. A further 1,400 will be required to re-house families to facilitate further disposals of surplus stock. The remaining housing stock is available for allocation or awaiting incoming families. New commitments arising from policy changes, such as Gurkha Married Accompanied Service, will also be met from existing surplus housing stock where available and will result in further reductions to the level of void properties.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent by his Department on media training in each year since 1997–98. [55212]

Mr. Touhig: Information that is readily available relates to training of military personnel of all three Services primarily to deal with the media while on operations. This training is now the responsibility of the Defence Media Operations Centre which opened a training school in April 2005. Costs to date on civilian training contractors is some £151,000.

Prior to April 2005 media training was the responsibility of each Service; information on the amounts spent is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Vehicles

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what makes of cars ministers in his Department use; and whether they are UK-built. [51529]

Mr. Touhig [holding answer 13 February 2006]: The secretary of State's vehicle is provided by the Metropolitan Police.

Details of the cars currently available for use by other defence Ministers are as follows.

Make/Model of vehicle	Country of manufacture
Ford Mondeo	Belgium
Rover 75	UK
Honda Accord	UK
Nissan Primera	UK
Toyota Avensis	UK
Vauxhall Vectra	Germany
Vauxhall Signum	Germany

Discharged Personnel (Social Housing)

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many former service personnel required social housing on discharge in each of the last five years, broken down by service. [55978]

Mr. Touhig: The Joint Services Housing Advisory Office provides Service personnel with information and assistance on housing options, both during their service and on resettlement. However, personnel do not have to declare if they require social housing on discharge and therefore these figures are not available.
 
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Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people left the armed forces in each of the last five years; and how many of those required social housing but had not received it at their time of discharge. [55979]

Mr. Touhig: The numbers of personnel leaving the Armed Forces in each of the last five years for the 12 month period ending 1 April is as follows:

	Number of personnel leaving the armed forces
2001	24,950
2002	24,710
2003	24,100
2004	23,400
2005	23,430

Source:
UK Defence Statistics 2005.

The Ministry of Defence does not require Service personnel to declare if they require social housing on discharge. Therefore, these figures are not available.

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his assessment is of (a) the need for and (b) the ability of service personnel (i) in each service and (ii) of each rank to afford (A) a mortgage and (B) privately-rented accommodation whilst serving in the armed forces. [56376]

Mr. Touhig: Accommodation is available to all Serving personnel as part of their terms and conditions of service. Charges below the market rate are made for this accommodation in consideration of the peripatetic nature of the armed forces. The need for a mortgage or private rent whilst serving is therefore reduced considerably.

The ability to afford mortgage repayments or rental charges whilst Serving obviously depends on individual circumstances. Because of this, a detailed assessment of affordability by rank and Service cannot be made. However, we provide an excellent pay and pension package for Service personnel, together with extensive advice on housing options and an interest-free loan scheme.

Drug Taking

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether there has been a change in the policy of dismissing service personnel for taking class A drugs; and if he will make a statement. [55615]

Mr. Touhig: There is no change in policy. Most Service personnel who take drugs illegally—whatever the class of drugs—will be discharged. There is discretion to retain individuals exceptionally, however, and this may be made subject to satisfactory completion of a drugs intervention programme.

Infantry Deployments

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2006, Official Report, column 19W, on infantry deployments, if he will list the (a) deployments and (b) length of time between deployments for each company in those battalions that have been deployed more than once in the past five years. [56068]

 
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Mr. Ingram [holding answer 3 March 2000]: This information is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Infantry Regiments

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Executive on the decision to amalgamate the Scottish regiments. [55912]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 3 March 2006]: Defence is a reserved issue for the UK Government. Nevertheless, we have kept the Scottish Executive informed of the decision to amalgamate the Scottish Regiments.

Iraq

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what evidence his Department has received on whether members of Al Qaeda were operating in Iraq prior to the start of military action in 2003; [50827]

(2) when he will answer Question 50827, on whether members of Al Qaeda were operating in Iraq prior to 2003, tabled by the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale on 7 February; and what the reasons are for the time taken to respond. [56489]

John Reid: The MOD does not comment on intelligence and security matters.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his most recent estimate is of the cost of (a) combat operations and (b) peacekeeping operations in Iraq in each year since the conflict began. [55036]

Mr. Ingram: The annual audited figures for the costs of operations in Iraq are collected and audited on an annual basis. It is therefore not possible to separately identify the combat activities which commenced on 20 March 2003 and ceased on 1 May 2003 spanning two financial years 2002–2003 and 2003–2004.

The costs of operations are calculated on a net additional basis and audited figures are published each year in the MOD's Annual Report and Accounts. Costs of operations in Iraq for financial years 2002–03 to 2004–05 were:

		£ million
2002–03	Operations in Iraq	629
	Expenditure on Capital Equipment	218
	Total	847
2003–04	Operations in Iraq	1,051
	Expenditure on Capital Equipment	260
	Total	1,311
2004–05	Operations in Iraq	747
	Expenditure on Capital Equipment	163
	Total	910
	Total	£3,068

The estimated cost of £1,098 million for operations in Iraq for 2005–06 were included in the Spring Supplementary Estimates published in February. Final
 
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figures will be published in the MOD's Annual Report and Accounts for 2005–06 following audit by the National Audit Office.

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