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24 July 2006 : Column 769W—continued
Defence Planning Assumptions
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether a review of the Defence planning assumptions will be conducted before the forthcoming comprehensive spending review. [87182]
Des Browne: Defence planning assumptions are reviewed as part of the Department’s routine strategic planning cycle. This work is about to begin and is planned to complete in spring 2008.
Defence Procurement Agency
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in the piloting of the operating framework for the Defence Procurement Agency; and if he will make a statement. [86659]
Mr. Ingram: As stated in the Ministry of Defence's response of 7 July 2006 to the House of Commons Defence Committee's report on the Defence Industrial Strategy, the DPA has completed development work regarding the project and programme management element of the operating framework, drawing on industry best practice. This work will form the basis of a wider Acquisition Operating Framework encompassing all of the Department's acquisition business.
From September 2006 to February 2007 we will undertake a pilot with a number of project teams from the Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics Organisation to evaluate our proposed approach to embedding project and programme best practice and to measure the benefits achieved. This will de-risk the full roll-out of the Acquisition Operating Framework which is due to commence in 2007.
Departmental Teams
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) function is and (b) annual cost in each of the last three years was of the departmental (i) Diversity and Work Balance Team, (ii) Ethnic Monitoring Team, (iii) Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Team, (iv) Disability Steering Committee Team and (v) Gender Panel; whether he has considered the merits of amalgamating these bodies into one unit; and what plans he has for their future. [86167]
Mr. Watson [holding answer 19 July 2006]: The function of the Diversity and Work Life Balance (DWLB) Team is to ensure the Department complies with, and reports against, the extant and emerging UK and EU legal requirements; develop and support the implementation of associated policy and guidance for the Department’s 100,000 civilians; support the achievement of a work force truly representative of the community it serves; and assist the Department in being an employer of choice through contributing to the development of a contemporary employment framework. The salary and associated costs of the DWLB Team over the past three years is:
| £ | |
The Ethnic Minorities Steering Committee (Ethnic Monitoring Team (sic)), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Forum (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Team (sic)) Disability Steering Committee and Gender Panel all essentially perform the same
function. This is to support the Department taking diversity forward by providing expertise, relevant to the strand they represent, presenting an avenue for members of under-represented groups to have their issues raised and considered, and also to take the Department’s message on diversity back to people within their strands. The members of the Committees, Forum and Panel are MOD employees who volunteer and perform the work in addition to their usual MOD duties, in work time. Therefore, we do not have separate cost information.
There are no plans to amalgamate these bodies into one unit. They provide an expertise relevant to their particular diversity strand and while they continue to be effective in moving the Department’s diversity agenda forward, we propose to continue with their operation.
Emission Permits
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many carbon dioxide emission permits have been allocated to military establishments; and what the actual emissions were for each military establishment included in the EU Emissions Trading scheme in its first year of operation. [86470]
Mr. Watson: I can confirm 267,428 carbon dioxide emission permits were allocated to military establishments. The following table details how many carbon dioxide emission permits were allocated to each Ministry of Defence establishment, and the level of emissions during the first year (2005-06) of operation of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
| Ministry of Defence Site | Annual emission permits | Actual emissions 2005 (tonnes Carbon Dioxide) |
Forces Recruitment
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff were recruited by the (a) RAF and (b) Royal Navy in each year since 1997, broken down by personnel type. [85755]
Mr. Watson: Intake from civil life to the United Kingdom Regular Royal Navy and Royal Air Force broken down by Officers and other ranks and branch or trade group is shown in the following tables:
| Naval Service Officer intake from civil life by branch | |||||||||
| 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| (1 )Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service. | |||||||||
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