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Warships

Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the adequacy of warship numbers to meet the tasks of the Fleet. [56445]

Mr. Ingram: The structure of the armed forces is reviewed on a continual basis; the current size and shape of the Royal Navy is adequate to meet all tasks, commitments and challenges of the foreseeable future. Our very considerable investment in new warship building will ensure this remains the case.

Widowed Service Pensioners

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many widowed service pensioners have made post-retirement marriages, broken down by constituency. [55971]

Mr. Touhig: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

SCOTLAND

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much has been spent by his Department on media training in each year since 1997–98. [55214]

David Cairns: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since that date, the Office has incurred no expenditure on media training.

Devolution

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent devolution issues have been considered by the Advocate General. [55205]

David Cairns: Since 24 January, 86 devolution issues have been intimated to the Advocate General.

Queen's Birthday

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans his Department has to celebrate Her Majesty's 80th birthday; and if he will make a statement. [54187]

David Cairns: The Scotland Office will mark Her Majesty's 80th birthday by flying the Union flag and the Saltire from its buildings in London and Edinburgh.
 
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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Bureau International des Poids et Mesures

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the nature is of his Department's financial contribution to the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures; and if he will make a statement on the current programme of that institution. [52572]

Barry Gardiner: The DTI pays an annual dotation to the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). For 2006 this is £581,346.16 (€848,309). The sum to be paid is set according to rules annexed to the Metre Convention of 1875 and is agreed by the General Conference on Weights and Measures which meets every four years, the last meeting being in 2003.

The BIPM is the international body set up as a result of the Metre Convention with the aim of ensuring world-wide uniformity of measurements and their traceability to the International System of Units (SI). A significant part of its work is in supporting the Mutual Recognition Arrangement—which allows for the international acceptance of measurement results which are traceable to National Standards.

BIPM's scientific and technical programme provides it with the ability to carry out its role. It is published by the BIPM and is reported on annually in the Directors report. Significant features of the programme are: the responsibility to conserve and disseminate the primary standard of mass—the international prototype of the kilogram; to establish and disseminate International Atomic Time (TAI) and Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC); and to provide unique facilities such as the International Reference System for radionuclides. Work is also carried out in a number of other aspects of metrology such as length and chemistry.

Centre of Ecology and Hydrology Research

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what audit the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) has conducted of the science delivery and management expertise at the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology research sites in the last five years; and whether the findings of these comply with NERC's scientific objectives. [52047]

Barry Gardiner: The performance of each of the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) research and collaborative centres is evaluated in five-yearly Science and Management Audits (SMAs). SMAs scrutinise delivery over the previous five years of the science approved by NERC Council at the start of that five-year period. However, they do not examine proposals for future activity. NERC conducted an SMA of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in 2004. In 2004–05 and 2005–06 it also considered CEH's proposals for the period 2005–10 and NERC's Science and Innovation Strategy Board made funding recommendations to NERC Council based on the quality of these proposals, their fit to NERC's overall science strategy, and their priority relative to other funding proposals made to NERC.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many Institute for Scientific Information listed scientific publications were published
 
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in 2004–05 per scientific employee at the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology research sites; and if he will make a statement; [52049]

(2) if he will list the scientific publications from the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology research sites in the last five years; and what assessment he has made of these; [52050]

(3) how many scientific papers on ecology have been published by (a) universities and (b) the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology research facilities since 2001. [52062]

Barry Gardiner: The Government are fully committed to maintaining the quality of environmental science in the UK and provide funding to the National Environment Research Council (NERC) for this purpose. NERC's science budget allocation has doubled since 1997 to £334 million for this year. NERC is currently considering the input from a wide consultation with stakeholders on proposals on how its Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) can best contribute on a sustainable basis to UK environmental science in the future.

I have asked the Chief Executive of NERC to write to the hon. Member about his specific requests for information on publications.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessments the Natural Environment Research Council made of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology sites not chosen for closure; and if it will make its findings public. [52060]

Barry Gardiner: The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) asked independent consultants to conduct a strategic review of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in 2005 so as to assist it in developing a business plan for the future of CEH. All the CEH sites were assessed against the same list of criteria, referred to in section 4.3 of the CEH Business Plan (available on the NERC website).

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the National Environment Research Council will publish table 5a of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology business plan; and if he will make a statement. [52064]

Barry Gardiner: A copy of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) Business Plan is available on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) website (http://www.nerc.ac.uk). NERC has not published specific aspects of the business plan that are commercial-in-confidence or relate to confidential peer review.

Defence Export Services Organisation

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many meetings officials in his Department have had with their counterparts in the Defence Export Services Organisation at the Ministry of Defence since 18 March 2003. [56323]

Malcolm Wicks: The Export Control Organisation (ECO) does not routinely collate information on the meetings it holds with other Government Departments
 
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(OGDs) and I am unable therefore to provide you with the precise number of meetings ECO officials have held with their MOD/DESO colleagues since 18 March 2003.

ECO officials hold regular meetings with other Government Departments, including DESO, on a wide variety of business relating to export licence applications and export control policy.

Medical Research

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of moving the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill; and what discussions he has had with the Medical Research Council on the move; [53440]

(2) when he expects the move of the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill to central London to take place; and when he expects the Gateway process on the move (a) to start and (b) to finish. [53441]

Barry Gardiner: My noble Friend Lord Sainsbury of Turville has been briefed by MRC's chief executive, Professor Colin Blakemore, on MRC's plans for moving the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR). I have asked Professor Blakemore to write to the hon. Member with information on MRC's proposals.

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