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Ministerial Hospital Visits
John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many visits by Cabinet colleagues to soldiers in hospital as a result of injuries sustained in overseas missions his Department facilitated in 2006. [87973]
Des Browne: The Ministry of Defence facilitates visits by the Prime Minister to soldiers injured on operations. These are treated as private occasions and we do not release details of such visits.
The MOD facilitated a visit by the Secretary of State for Health (Ms Hewitt) to injured soldiers at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine in Birmingham in June 2006. This was part of a wider visit to Selly Oak NHS hospital.
The MOD has not facilitated any such visits by other Cabinet colleagues in 2006.
Nuclear Deterrents
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the memorandum on the UK's strategic nuclear deterrent provided by his Department to the Defence Committee in November 2005, whether his Department’s (a) Ministers and (b) officials are in a position to agree to the Defence Committee’s request for them to give evidence to their inquiry on The Future of the UK’s Strategic Nuclear Deterrent: The Strategic Context. [61294]
Des
Browne: The Ministry of Defence has done all it can
support the work of the Defence Committee on the future of the
Strategic Nuclear Deterrent. We produced
an initial memorandum, which was published on 20 January 2006.
My predecessor also discussed this issue with the Defence Committee in
some detail on 1 November 2005, as did I during my oral
evidence session on 11 July this year. We have provided a detailed and
substantive response to the Committee’s first report, which was
published on 26 July this year, and also made arrangements for the
Committee to visit key nuclear establishments over the summer recess.
We will continue to do all that we can to support future inquiries by
the Committee in this
area.
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what requests he has received to give evidence to the Defence Select Committee on Trident replacement; and if he will make a statement. [65318]
Des Browne: We have received three requests from the House of Commons Defence Committee for information and evidence on the future of the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent. In response, we produced an initial memorandum, which was published on 20 January 2006. My predecessor also discussed this issue with the Defence Committee hi some detail on 1 November 2005, as did I during my introductory session on 11 July this year. We have provided a detailed and substantive response to the Committee’s first report, which was published on 26 July this year, and will continue to do all that we can to support future inquiries by the Committee in this area.
No decisions on any replacement for Trident have yet been taken, either in principle or in detail, but these will be taken later this year.
Official Visits
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions he has visited each region in an official capacity in the last 12 months. [84024]
Des Browne: The number of visits to the regions by Defence Ministers between 1 July 2005 and 10 July 2006 are shown in the following table:
| Secretary of State | Minister for the Armed Forces | Minister for Defence Procurement | Under-Secretary of State | |
Ordnance Expenditure
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was spent on ordnance in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005. [73125]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 24 May 2006]: The total spend in financial years 2004-05 and 2005-06 by the Defence Logistics Organisation on General Munitions was £228 million and £199 million respectively.
Overseas Operations
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of the British armed forces is serving on operations overseas. [83115]
Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 July 2006, Official Report, columns 350-52W.
Phone Cards
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will (a) increase the value and (b) extend the time of phone cards issued to armed forces personnel stationed overseas. [75905]
Mr. Ingram: As part of the operational welfare package, personnel serving on operations overseas are allowed 20 minutes of free telephone calls each week to anyone anywhere in the world. The financial allowance for people serving in non- operational locations overseas includes an element that is intended to cover the difference between the cost of 20 minutes of telephone calls in their location and the cost in UK.
Publicly funded telephone calls are only one component of both the operational welfare package and the calculation of local overseas allowance. While accepting that more time would be welcome, there is a balance to be struck against expenditure on other elements of support. The complete operational welfare package has recently been reviewed and the operational commanders do not see a need to re-balance it.
Piracy
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many seaborne attacks by armed gangs there were (a) in the Persian Gulf, (b) in the vicinity of Umm Qast and (c) near the Basra Oil Terminal in (i) 2004, (ii) 2005 and (iii) 2006. [87704]
Mr. Ingram: I am unable to answer the question in the format requested. However, coalition statistics on the number of maritime criminal incidents that occurred in the North Arabian Gulf in 2005 and 2006 are set out in the following table. Information relating to the number of incidents in 2004 is not held.
| Year | ||
| Month | 2005 | 2006 |
Procurement
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether defence integrity pacts are applied to all defence procurements. [88106]
Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence has encountered a relatively low number of cases of corruption in relation to the volume and value of its contractual activity. The MOD does not use defence integrity pacts as an anti-corruption device because it considers that its existing, well established processes have served it well (see the ‘Guideline for Industry—Code of Procurement Ethics’ and the Defence Condition 520—‘Corrupt Gifts and Payments of Commission’, both available through the Commercial Toolkit at www.ams.mod.uk).
Public Appointments
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many public appointments are within his patronage; what (a) salary and (b) other emoluments are attached to each; and what the comparable figures were in (i) 1976, (ii) 1986 and (iii) 1996. [83186]
Mr. Watson: The Ministry of Defence sponsors 32 public bodies: six executive non-departmental public bodies; 24 Advisory non-departmental public bodies; one Public Corporation and one Independent Monitoring Board. In total, these Bodies comprise 424 public appointments. These 32 public bodies include the Defence Nuclear Safety Committee which was formed in 1999 and the Central Advisory Committee on War Pensions, plus 13 War Pension Committees, which moved over to the Ministry of Defence from what is now the Department for Work and Pensions in 2001.
Details of the public appointments to the public bodies sponsored by the Ministry of Defence can be found in ‘Public Bodies’, copies of which are in the Library of the House. ‘Public Bodies’ has been published annually since 1980 and the most recent edition provides figures for 2005. Each edition of ‘Public Bodies’ contains details on the number of public appointments and remuneration details for that particular year. Comparable information for 1976 in respect of Ministry of Defence could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Between 1980 and 2001 ‘Public Bodies’ published remuneration figures for both Chairs and Members of Public Bodies. This practice ceased in 2002 when the remuneration figures for Members were not included in the publication. The most recent details of remuneration for Chairs (as at 31 March 2005) is published in ‘Public Bodies’. Details are set out below in respect of the eight Ministry of Defence Public Bodies who remunerate its members; the remaining 24 do not.
Advisory Group on Medical Countermeasures
Member: £210 per meeting
Animal Welfare Advisory Committee
Member: £200 per day
Member: £300 per meeting/visit
Defence Nuclear Safety Committee
Member: £210 per day
Defence Scientific Advisory Council
Deputy Chair: £265 per day
Member: £210 per day
Nuclear Research Advisory Council
Member: £210 per day
Review Board for Government Contracts
Member: £7,370 per annum
Member: £7,500 per annum
No public appointments to Bodies sponsored by the Ministry of Defence attract emoluments beyond the remuneration referred to above.
QinetiQ
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations and warranties his Department has given to the QinetiQ Joint Bookrunners in the Underwriting Agreement; and if he will place a copy of the agreement in the Library. [47268]
Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence gave certain limited warranties and representations to the Joint Bookrunners in the Underwriting Agreement. These were normal for a transaction such as the QinetiQ IPO. Broadly, they related to:
(i) the MOD's ownership of the shares;
(ii) the MOD's ability, as a matter of law, to sell the shares and to perform its other legal obligations in relation to the process;
(iii) the accuracy of certain prospectus statements relating to the policies, plans, views or expectations of the MOD, or to the terms of specific arrangements between the MOD and QinetiQ.
The Underwriting Agreement is a commercially confidential agreement and I am therefore unable to place a copy in the Library. However, a detailed summary of its key terms appears on pages 300-303 of the QinetiQ prospectus, a copy of which was placed in the Library of the House on 26 January.
Questionnaires
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) questionnaires, (b) statistical inquiries and (c) investigations have been carried out wholly or partly at public expense on behalf of or by his Department or public bodies for which he is responsible in each year since 1997; and what the (i) nature, (ii) purpose and (iii) cost was of each. [83187]
Mr. Watson: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Regma Biotechnologies
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what basis and on whose authority Regma Biotechnologies was allowed (a) access to facilities and (b) to set up a laboratory at Porton Down; and if he will make a statement. [88366]
Des Browne [holding answer 25 July 2006]: Regma Biotechnologies was founded in December 1999 and commenced a three-year tenancy on the Porton Down Science Park on 17 July 2000.
The Porton Down
Science Park was founded in October 1997 as a result of the Defence
Diversification White Paper of November 1998. The aim was to work in
partnership with other local research and
development organisations to promote Porton Down, and to act as an
incubator unit for small start-up biotechnology companies by allowing
them access to the support infrastructure. The tenancy agreement with
Regma was the same as for any other small start-up biotechnology
company.
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions Wouter Basson has been given access to Porton Down to visit Regma Biotechnologies; and if he will make a statement. [88367]
Des Browne [holding answer 25 July 2006]: Wouter Basson has not been given access to Porton Down to visit Regma Biotechnologies.
Reservists
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Army reservists have been deployed on active service overseas in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of the total number of Army reserve forces that figure represented in each year. [88105]
Mr. Watson: Numbers and percentages of regular and volunteer Army reservists mobilised each year since 1995 are shown in the following table:
| Reserves mobilised | Proportion of reserve forces | |||||
| Regular | TA | Total( 1) | Regular | TA | Total( 2) | |
| (1) Total number of regular
and volunteer (TA) reserves mobilised by 31 December of that
year. (2) Percentage of reserves mobilised as a
proportion of the total strength of regular and volunteer (TA) reserve
forces, excluding full-time reserve service (FTRS), non-regular
permanent staff (NPRS) and officer training corps (OTC).
Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10,
numbers ending in ‘5’ have been rounded to the nearest
multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. The sum of the parts may not
therefore equal the
total. | ||||||
It is not possible to identify from central sources the exact number of mobilised reservists who deployed overseas. The table shows all mobilised reservists, irrespective of their deployment.
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