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Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ships
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is for (a) the retention in service and (b) the upgrading of Royal Fleet Auxiliary Argus. [83612]
Mr. Ingram: On current plans Royal Fleet Auxiliary Argus will be withdrawn from service in 2020. No decisions have been taken on the upgrading of RFA Argus, though we are considering our options for the future provision of a Joint Casualty Treatment Ship capability.
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) additions and (b) deletions have been made within the past 12 months to the list of Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships scheduled for refitting and upgrading. [83614]
Mr. Ingram: During the twelve months from 30 June 2005 to 1 July 2006, there were no additions or deletions to forward plans to the refit of Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ships. Refits are, however, part of a wider upkeep programme, from which there have been seventeen deletions, but no additions. These deletions, which remove projects between 2006 and 2020, are listed in the following table:
| Ship | Reason for the deletion | |
RN
and RFA ships are not specifically scheduled for upgrades, since
equipment is upgraded when the opportunity arises, usually as part of
an upkeep period.
Opportunities to undertake upgrades are kept under regular review and
can change for operational
reasons.
Tour Intervals
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defenceif he will make a statement on progress in his Department’s measurement of tour intervals of personnel in the (a) Royal Navy and (b) Royal Air Force. [81136]
Mr. Ingram: Harmony guidelines are measured in two ways: unit harmony, which is expressed in tour intervals, and individual harmony through separated service, which is the length of time individuals spend away from their home base. The former is relatively easy to measure but can mask the actual effect of deployments on individuals. Work is therefore in progress to develop a common and effective system of separated service measurement. Currently, each service has its own procedures for measuring harmony.These take account of the different service regimesfor manning and career management, training requirements and patterns of deployment. The different systems do not allow straightforward comparisons of the impact of separation on people to be made between services.
A common definition of separated service has now been developed and the service rules for recording have been harmonised. These harmonised rules take effect, for each service in turn, with the roll out of the Joint Personnel Administration system. This is now in operation for the Royal Air Force and, when complete for the Royal Navy (anticipated in November 2006) and Army (anticipated in March 2007), will allow accurate measurement of separated service across the armed forces.
Welfare Services
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effect on morale of servicewomen of using Nell McAndrew to advertise the Confidential Support Line. [83915]
Mr. Watson: One of Nell McAndrew’s chosen charities is the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, which operates the Confidential Support Line. We are very grateful for her support for Service personnel and its positive effect on morale.
Health
Food (Nutritional Content)
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will assess the merits of banning the sale of food containing hydrogenated fats. [84713]
Caroline
Flint: The Government have no plans to ban the sale of
foods containing hydrogenated fats. There have been concerns expressed
about
hydrogenated fats due to their high level of trans fatty acids (TFA).
The average consumption of TFA is below the maximum level recommended
by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy in
1994.
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will introduce regulations requiring fast food outlets to publish nutritional information about their products in an easily accessible and public form. [84715]
Caroline Flint: There are no plans to introduce regulations of this sort. The Food Standards Agency encourages catering establishments, including fast food outlets, to voluntarily provide information about the nutritional content of the food they serve to help consumers who wish to use such information to inform their choices.
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will assess the merits of making the traffic light system for nutritional information on food packaging compulsory for all forms of packaged food. [84716]
Caroline Flint: The Government currently have no plans to make front of pack signpost nutritional labelling compulsory. Responsibility for food labelling lies with the European Union and the rules are harmonised across Europe. The European Commission wishes to update the existing nutrition labelling legislation and recognises the need for simpler nutritional information which will help the consumer to make healthier choices. Formal proposals are expected from the Commission next year.
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the voluntary traffic light system for nutritional information on food packaging. [84717]
Caroline Flint: Comprehensive consumer research with more than 2,500 participants conducted by the Foods Standards Agency (FSA) has shown that the Government-endorsed approach recommended bythe FSA helps consumers across all populationgroups make healthier choices. The vast majority of consumers (96 per cent.) thought a simplified front of pack nutritional signposting scheme would help them make healthier choices.
Trade and Industry
Energy Efficiency
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the Government's strategy is for encouraging energy efficiency measures for those living in fuel poverty. [79695]
Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.
A range of schemes and policies are in place to help tackle fuel poverty. It was announced in the 2005 pre-Budget report that an additional £300 million would be made available to tackle fuel poverty across the UK over the 2005-08 period.
The main tool
for eradicating fuel poverty in England is the Warm Front scheme which
provides a range of energy efficiency measures and advice to
vulnerable households. Warm Front has already assisted more than one
million vulnerable households. Similar schemes exist in each of the
devolved
administrations.
There are a range of other schemes and policies in place to improve the energy efficiency of domestic properties, such as the Energy Efficiency Commitment and the Decent Homes Standard. These have provision to target assistance at the most vulnerable low-income families and pensioner households.
Communities and Local Government
Departmental Costs
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what costs arising from setting up of her Department have been allocated to the corporate communications budgets. [79381]
Angela E. Smith: To date the total costs that have been allocated to the corporate communications budget come to £12,000. This has come from existing budgets.
Departmental Discussions
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions she has had with (a) the Treasury and (b) the Cabinet Office regarding the pre-comprehensive spending review report; and if she will make a statement. [82848]
Angela E. Smith: The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has had and will continue to have wide ranging and regular discussions with the chief secretary about preparations for the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, as a matter of key importance to the Department for Communities and Local Government's medium and long term planning.
FIFA World Cup
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which matches (a) she and (b) other Ministers in her Department attended at the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany in their ministerial capacity; at what cost to public funds; and with what contributions from third party organisations. [83618]
Angela E. Smith: No Minister from this Department has attended any of the FIFA World Cup 2006 matches in Germany, but we did watch them on T.V.
Fire Service
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on the planned regionalisation of fire service control rooms. [80248]
Angela
E. Smith: Independent reviews have consistently shown that
creating an integrated system of nine regional control centres will
provide a more resilient, effective and efficient service. The current
46 fire control centres were not designed to deal in a
co-ordinated way with major, regional or national incidents. The new
system will offer more reliable fallback in times of peak demand or
external threats such as flooding, and more effective response to all
incidents, particularly those of substantial scale or
complexity.
Private Finance Initiative Projects
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government by what total amount Private Finance Initiative projects for which her Department is responsible which went over budget did so in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [83652]
Angela E. Smith: Responsibility for the Department for Communities and Local Government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects rest with individual local authorities taking forward PFI projects. To date the Department has not been informed of any PFI projects going over budget.
The risk of PFI projects going over budget is normally transferred to the private sector. If a cost overrun affects the delivery of the service being provided, the public sector has the right to make performance deductions from the unitary charge. Furthermore, unitary charge payments do not commence until the service is operational and meets agreed standards.
Swindon Borough Council
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what purposes funding was allocated to Swindon borough council under the category of building capacity in (a) 2004-05 and (b) 2005-06. [84730]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested is set out in the following table.
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | ||
| Headline project and date approved | Grant approved (£) | Headline project and date approved | Grant approved (£) |
Communications and Information Technology Communications (August 2005) | |||
In addition, Swindon received approval for a grant of £1,000,000 in March 2005 to establish a partnership between Kent county council and Swindon borough council in order to improve the social services provided to the people of Swindon. The Department of Health met £180,000 of the £1,000,000.
Culture, Media and Sport
Clissold Road Swimming Pool
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the Clissold Road swimming pool will re-open. [84165]
Mr. Caborn: I understand that Clissold Leisure Centre is now expected to re-open in July 2007. Sport England will continue to monitor the time scales and milestones towards the re-opening.
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