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DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what assessment he has made of the military capability and sophistication of (a) the Taliban and (b) al-Qaeda forces operating in South Afghanistan; [54206]

(2) what assessment he has made of the number and strength of (a) Taliban, (b) al-Qaeda and (c) illegal armed groups operating in South Afghanistan. [54207]

John Reid: The capabilities of Taliban, al-Qaeda and illegally armed groups in Southern Afghanistan are limited and we believe do not currently pose a threat to the long-term stability of Afghanistan, although they pose a localised threat to international forces, representatives of the Afghan government and those who support it.

The actual numbers of Taliban in Southern Afghanistan fluctuates, but could amount to over a thousand. al-Qaeda's presence in the area is small. There is also a range of illegally armed groups in the south with various tribal and criminal allegiances, contributing to general lawlessness. It is not possible to determine the number of armed individuals belonging to such groups across the South.

British Beef

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will encourage British military bases in Europe to serve British beef. [58383]

Mr. Ingram: The procurement of beef for use by the UK armed forces complies with European Union legislation and it would be unlawful for the Department to stipulate that beef should be sourced from a particular country. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Defence's food supply contractor is specifically required to purchase British produce whenever it is competitive to do so and the MOD is working with the Department for Environment Food Rural Affairs and Industry to maximise the competitiveness of British produce.
 
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Continuous Attitudes Survey

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place copies of the latest Continuous Attitudes Surveys for each of the Services in the Library. [58301]

Mr. Touhig: The most recent versions of the Royal Navy and RAF Continuous Attitude Surveys (CAS) were published in the Library of the House and on the MOD's Freedom of Information (FOI) website in October 2005. The Army's latest CAS was completed in February 2006 and copies will be placed in the Library of the House and the MOD's FOI website from 1 April 2006.

Darfur

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with his NATO counterparts regarding the provision of further assistance by NATO to the African Union mission in Darfur; and if he will make a statement. [57470]

John Reid: The focus of discussion in NATO has been on support to the African Union's Mission in Darfur (AMIS) until the expected handover from AMIS to a UN force in Darfur later this year. NATO is already supporting AMIS in areas such as strategic lift and developing their planning and training capabilities.

Departmental Files

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many files in his Department are believed to have been contaminated by asbestos dust during storage; what plans he has to decontaminate them; and if he will make a statement. [58256]

Mr. Touhig: Approximately 63,000 files were affected by the asbestos contamination of the basement of the Old War Office Building.

Following pilot work in early 2005, a project to regenerate the affected files into electronic format by scanning commenced in December 2005. It is estimated that the project will take until July 2007 to complete. Scanning will be followed by quality assurance checks, and then the destruction of the original files to the appropriate security and health and safety standards.

Falkland Islands

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when his Department last assessed the military state of readiness of UK forces on the Falkland Islands. [57474]

Mr. Ingram: All units deployed in the Falkland Islands are held at varying degrees of readiness appropriate to their role. Like Force Levels, readiness is kept under review.

Future Aircraft Carriers

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he will take to ensure that the agreement reached with France on a common aircraft carrier design does not delay the coming into service of the United Kingdom's future aircraft carriers; and whether target in-service dates have been set. [58258]

 
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John Reid: As I announced on 24 January, we will be co-operating with France during the CVF demonstration phase to produce a common baseline design that both countries can further use to develop their own carriers. The French Defence Minister and I subsequently signed a memorandum of understanding to formalise the associated arrangements. The MOU specifically recognises that both countries' co-operative aims shall be achieved without detriment to the timescales of their respective programmes.

As for all projects, the in-service dates for the future aircraft carriers will only be set following the main investment decision and once they have been approved by Ministers. This decision has not yet been taken.

Harrier Deployment

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Harrier jets have been in Afghanistan during their deployment by the RAF; and on how many occasions in each six-month period they have engaged insurgents. [57403]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 14 March 2006]: Since September 2004, there have been six harriers based in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In this time 970 missions have been flown of which 21 have resulted in the release of weapons. One of these missions was in the first six months of the deployment; ten during the second six months; and ten since 1 November 2005.

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the role has been of the RAF Harrier Jet deployment in Afghanistan; and by whom it will be carried out after their withdrawal; [57404]

(2) on what (a) military and (b) economic factors the decision to withdraw RAF Harriers from Afghanistan was based; and whether representations against the withdrawal have been received by the Department. [57405]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 14 March 2006]: The role of the RAF Harrier GR7 deployment in Afghanistan since September 2004 has been to provide a close air support and reconnaissance capability to Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Ensuring continued close air support to the ISAF is a matter for the NATO force generation process, and the Netherlands have committed six F16s which are due to be fully operational in Kandahar by summer 2006.

The decision to extend the UK Harrier GR7s in theatre from June 2005 until June 2006 was based on the need to cover the period of runway work at Kandahar, the military requirement, and on the relative cost-effectiveness of meeting the requirement in this way. We continue to review the requirement in consultation with NATO and the coalition.

Helicopters

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his Answer of 6th February 2006, Official Report, column 825W, on helicopters, what was the average number of hours flown on operations for a Royal Air Force (a) Chinook, (b) Merlin, (c) Sea King and (d) Puma helicopter in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002 and (iii) 2003. [57660]

 
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Mr. Ingram: Information in respect of hours flown on operations in 2001 and 2002 is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. An average yearly total for financial year 2003–04 has been calculated ¹ and is shown in the following table:

¹ The calculation used is: total annual operational hours by aircraft type divided by the average number of aircraft type deployed on operations.

Aircraft type	Financial year 2003–04
RAF Chinook	192
RAF Merlin	418
RAF Puma	304

As I stated in my answer of 6 February 2006, Official Report, column 825W, the Sea Kings operated by the RAF are dedicated to the UK Search and Rescue capability and have, therefore, not been included in the figures provided.

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