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14 Mar 2006 : Column 2146W—continued

Counter-insurgency

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence by what means lessons learned in counter-insurgency techniques during past deployments in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan are being collated and disseminated for use in future deployments. [57269]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 13 March 2006]: Ministry of Defence has a comprehensive mechanism for capturing strategic and operational lessons that has already identified counter-insurgency lessons from operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Lessons are identified by the chain of command and during formal theatre visits conducted by the Directorate of Operational Capability. This process includes interviews with key Commanders and staffs, the units involved, engagement with Coalition partners and analysis of publicly available information. Lessons identified are then collated into reports, which are considered by Chiefs of Staff before remedial action is taken as appropriate. These lesson reports are retained and used extensively to inform the planning and conduct of future operations.

Death Squads (Basra)

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of assassinations conducted by death squads in Basra since the beginning of 2006. [57261]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 9 March 2006]: In recording crime, the Iraqi police service do not attribute killings to Death Squads", though as part of their investigations, they are likely to make an assessment of the likely motive for the crime.
 
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Defence Export Services

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 13 February 2006, Official Report, column 1579W, on Defence Export Services, when he expects to begin the process of finding a successor to Alan Garwood as head of Defence Export Services. [57995]

Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State's written answer of 13 February 2006, Official Report, column 1578W. In line with normal practice for the external recruitment of a senior official, we expect to start the process between six and nine months ahead of the date when we need the position to be filled.

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the relocation of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. [57388]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 10 March 2006]: The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is currently consolidating its activities onto three core sites in accordance with the published site rationalisation plan. Over the next few years this will involve the movement of 1,300 individuals from Farnborough, Malvern, Alverstoke, Winfrith and Portsdown West to Porton Down, Portsdown West and Fort Halstead.

In August 2005 Dstl announced the appointment of Serco as the preferred bidder to partner Dstl through this major relocation programme. This contract is expected to be signed shortly.

Iraq

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether it remains his policy that no timetable for the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq should be indicated in advance of the completion of their mission. [57406]

John Reid: UK force levels in Iraq will be determined by conditions on the ground and not by any timetable. The conditions for handover of security responsibilities centre on four areas: threat level; the capability of the Iraqi security forces; governance capability; and the ability of the coalition to provide necessary support to the Iraqi security forces.

Job Relocation (Wales)

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many jobs in his Department have been relocated to Wales since 2001. [57673]

Mr. Ingram: Details of the number of departmental civil service jobs relocated to Wales are not available, as this information is not held centrally by the Ministry of Defence, and obtaining the data would incur disproportionate costs.
 
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Lancastria Bombing (1940)

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether his Department has considered designation of the resting place of the vessel Lancastria sunk on 17 June 1940 as a maritime war grave; and if he will make a statement; [52375]

(2) what plans his Department has to use the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 to lay a statutory instrument before the House confirming the merchant vessel Lancastria as a maritime war grave. [52376]

Mr. Touhig: The legal mechanism for such designations is the United Kingdom's Protection of Military Remains Act (PMRA) 1986. The Act has been used in previous cases where candidate wrecks lay in United Kingdom or international waters and consideration has indeed been given to its use in the case of the Lancastria. However, as the ship's remains lie in French territorial waters, use of PMRA 1986 is not a realistic option. We are therefore consulting the French authorities about the wreck to determine how best to take matters forward.

Land Rents

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much income was derived per hectare from the rent of military land on Salisbury Plain in each of the past three years; and what assessment he has made of the rents payable for similar land in the private sector in the Salisbury area. [58327]

Mr. Touhig: Average figures for the income per hectare derived from the rent of military land on Salisbury Plain for the previous three years are given in the table. The actual rents range from £1 per hectare for certain areas of winter grazing, to £210 for smaller areas of much higher quality arable land. Rents for farm buildings, farmhouse and farm cottages are also included.

	Per hectare (£)
2003–04	42.04
2004–05	42.44
2005–06	39.67

The rents negotiated with tenants of Salisbury Plain take into account the particular circumstances of each holding, and reflect what the market will bear on a case by case basis. Thus no assessment of rents payable for similar land in the private sector in the Salisbury area is required.

Overseas Duty

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) regular and (b) reserve medical personnel are deployed on overseas duty. [57485]

 
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Mr. Touhig: The following table shows the number of UK regular and reserve medical personnel deployed overseas on operational and non-operational duty:

	Regular		Reserve
Service	Operational	Non-operational	Operational	Non-operational
Royal Navy	290	57	0	0
Army	460	710	30	13
RAF	64	86	0	0

Note:
Figures above 100 have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
DMSD.

Private Offices

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of his private office was in the last year for which figures are available. [55721]

John Reid: The total cost to the Defence Budget in the Financial Year 2004–05 for my Private Office was approximately £1.1 million.

QinetiQ

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many contracts were given to QinetiQ by his Department (a) with and (b) without competitive tendering in (i) 2002–03, (ii) 2003–04 and (iii) 2004–05; and what the value of the contract was in each case. [42536]

John Reid: The information held by the Department on contracts awarded to QinetiQ does not provide the information necessary to answer this question. The additional information required could only be collected at disproportionate cost. We can identify, however, the total number of contracts and value of those contracts awarded to QinetiQ in those years as follows:

	Contracts	£ million
2002–03	1,400	(36)4,945
2003–04	1,145	356
2004–05	987	341

⁽³⁶⁾ Figures for 2002–03 include the Long Term Partnering Agreement awarded in 2002–03 but valued at £3,970million over 25 years from 2003–4 onwards.

Some of these contracts span more than one year, and therefore their value does

not correspond to revenue paid by MOD to QinetiQ in any one year.

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