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20 Jun 2006 : Column 1707W—continued
University Students
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students normally resident in Scotland are attending university in England. [78864]
Bill Rammell: The information is given in the following table:
| Scottish domiciled enrolments at English HEIs 2004/05 | |||
| Mode of study | |||
| Level of study | Full-time | Part-time | Total |
| Notes: 1. Figures are on a HESA Standard Registration Population basis. 2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. Source: HESA student record data 2004/05 | |||
Defence
African Union
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent representations he has made to (a) African Union member states, (b) the United Nations and (c) NATO regarding African Union troops' rules of engagement. [66720]
Mr. Ingram: Her Majesty's Government has made no recent representations to African Union member states, the United Nations or NATO regarding African Union troops' rules of engagement.
Army Continuous Attitude Survey
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors were taken into account when deciding to omit from the Army Continuous Attitude Survey September-December 2005 (a) question 61a, (b) question 63a and (c) question 66 included in the June-September 2004 survey. [78131]
Mr. Watson: Questions 61a and 63a were removed from the survey because they were not providing an accurate measure of the levels of discrimination and bullying in the Army, or of the Army’s commitment to issues of equality. They asked whether individuals believed that bullying and discrimination exists rather than whether they had direct experience of such incidents. Responses were therefore likely to be influenced by factors such as anecdotal evidence, media coverage and popular opinion as opposed to personal knowledge. Other questions related to direct experience remain.
Question 66 was replaced by question 39c to give the respondent more opportunity to explain their reasons for not making a formal complaint and to provide a richer source of data for analysis.
Army Recruitment
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many applications to join the Army were made in each year since 1998; and how many applicants were successful in each year. [78771]
Mr. Watson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer he was given on 21 July 2005, Official Report, column 2110, for figures covering the period 1998-99 to 2004-05. Figures for 2005-06 are detailed in the following table.
| Number | |
| Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. | |
BAE (Kuwait Contracts)
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) contracts and (b) variations of contract his Department has entered into with (i) BAE and (ii) its subsidiaries in respect of work carried out in Kuwait between 1 January 2003 and 30 June 2003. [78235]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 16 June 2006]: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Departmental Staff
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff in his Department did not achieve an acceptable mark in their annual report in each of the last three years; and what percentage this represented of the total number of staff in each case. [75105]
Mr. Watson: These issues are dealt with at local level and to obtain this information from each unit would incur disproportionate cost. However, for those staff covered by the MOD main pay deal (around 66,000 staff) this information is captured at the end of the staff reporting year to inform pay rises.
Figures for the last three years for which figures are available are:
| Number | |
| (1 )Excluding industrial staff who were not recorded in this year. | |
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his staff are (a) under and (b) over 55 years of age. [77275]
Mr. Watson: The number of staff who are under and over 55 years of age on 1 January and 1 April 2006 are shown as follows.
| Headcount strength of staff under/over 55 years of age | ||
| January 2006 | April 2006 | |
| (1) information on the date of births of a small number of records, the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries and locally engaged civilians are not available centrally. Note: The values and totals are rounded separately to the nearest 10 and the sum of the rounded data may not equal the rounded sum. | ||
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people over the age of 55 years have been recruited into his Department in each of the last three years. [77276]
Mr. Watson: The number of people over the age of 55 years that have been recruited into the MOD in each of the last three years is shown as follows.
| Headcount | |||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| (1) A small number of staff have no date of birth recorded. Notes: 1. The values and totals are rounded separately so the sum of the rounded values may not equal the rounded sum. 2. These values exclude Royal Fleet Auxiliary and locally engaged civilians. | |||
Gurkhas
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many casualties were sustained by Gurkhas serving with British forces in each campaign in which Gurkhas served since 1976. [72089]
Mr. Watson: The information is not held centrally. We are consulting potential sources of information and I will write to the hon. Member.
Home Working
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people in his Department have been enabled to work from home in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [67986]
Mr. Watson: The Ministry of Defence does not collect these statistics centrally and they could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, the Department promotes and supports a wide range of non standard working patterns, including home working, and encourages managers to accommodate staff requests to work differently whenever it is possible.
Met Office Reports (Oxfordshire)
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library reports from the Meteorological Office on the weather in Oxfordshire on (a) 15, (b) 16, (c) 17 and (d) 18 July 2003. [76407]
Mr. Watson: A summary of the weather in Oxfordshire on the days concerned, together with supporting data, will be placed in the Library of the House.
Parliamentary Questions
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the reasons were for the delay in answering parliamentary question (a) 69450 tabled on 3 May 2006, (b) 68478 tabled on 2 May 2006, (c) 67171 tabled on 26 April 2006, (d) 65234 tabled on 19 April 2006 and (e) 65233 tabled on 19 April 2006 by the hon. Member for Lewes; and when he expects to answer each question. [78238]
Des Browne: Parliamentary questions 69450, 68478, 67171 and 65234 were answered on the 16 June 2006.
Private Office Staff
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been paid in (a) salary, (b) travelling expenses, (c) subsistence allowance and (d) removal expenses to special advisers in his private office in each of the last five years. [69114]
Mr. Watson: Since 2003, the Government have published on an annual basis the names and overall cost of special advisers, including the number in each pay band. For information relating to the 2004-05 financial year I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, on 21 July 2005, Official Report, columns 158-61WS. Information on special advisers for the last financial year is currently being collected and will be published in the normal way when it is ready.
Travel and subsistence expenses could be provided only at disproportionate cost. There are no records of removal expenses raised against any special adviser working in the Ministry of Defence during the period in question.
QinetiQ
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total cost was of the legal and advisory fees incurred in the sale of QinetiQ to Carlyle, broken down by year in which they were incurred; and what proportion of the total cost was incurred by (a) his Department, (b) QinetiQ and (c) Carlyle. [76986]
Mr. Ingram: The sale of a stake in QinetiQ to The Carlyle Group was completed in February 2003. Starting in 1998, the overall PPP process included: options studies and public consultation; the division of DERA into QinetiQ and Dstl; the formation of QinetiQ as a limited company; the conduct of the competition resulting in the selection of Carlyle as MOD's Strategic Partner; and the completion of the legal negotiations and due diligence process necessary to complete the transaction. Work on many of these activities was conducted in parallel and they have not been separately costed.
MOD's total expenditure on advisers throughout these stages of process was approximately £17.5 million over 5 years. This includes a cost of approximately £9.2 million for legal advice, broken down by financial year as shown in the following table.
| Cost of external legal advice to the MOD on the QinetiQ PPP prior to the sale to Carlyle | |
| £ million | |
| Financial year | Amount |
The remaining £8.3 million covered a range of specialist financial, accounting, banking and other technical advice. In order to provide appropriate incentives, a significant proportion of this total was paid on completion of the sale as a success fee, and was calculated as a percentage of the value achieved at sale. Consequently, it is not possible to accurately attribute these costs across individual financial years.
In addition to these fees, Dstl incurred £1.6 million of general advisory costs and £0.25 million of legal costs relating to its formation.
The legal and advisory costs incurred by QinetiQ and The Carlyle Group are a matter for those two organisations.
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