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17 Oct 2006 : Column 1155W—continued
First World War Pardons
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussion he has had with (a) military historians and (b) other groups regarding the issue of executed First World War soldier pardons as part of his review; and if he will list those whom he has consulted. [91300]
Derek Twigg: The Ministry of Defence was aware of the views of a number of historians and other interested academics when undertaking its review of this issue. We have also taken account of the views of key interested parties both within Government and more widely, notably the Governments of those countries which are successor states to colonies and dominions from which individuals were executed.
Joint Personnel Administration System
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the timetable is for the proposed rollout of the Joint Personnel Administration system to all armed forces personnel. [91626]
Derek Twigg: The Joint Personnel Administration System was rolled out to the RAF on 20 March 2006. The planned dates for rollout to the Navy and Army are 23 October 2006 and March 2007 respectively.
Munitions
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what evaluation his Department has made of the results of the most recent M85 cluster munition testing in Norway. [91443]
Mr. Ingram: The L20A1 (Extended Range Bomblet Shell) of which M85 is a sub-munition, was tested in Norway in September 2005. Evaluation of the results of this trial led to the conclusion that the L20A1 munition system is safe and suitable for service.
Outstanding Pay/Benefits
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many individuals serving in (a) the regular forces and (b) the reserve forces including volunteer reservists had pay or benefits outstanding (i) for more than three months and (ii) totalling more than £500 in each of the last 10 years. [91489]
Derek Twigg: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
QinetiQ
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans the Government have further to reduce its stake in QinetiQ. [92617]
Mr. Ingram: MOD currently has no plans to dispose of its remaining shareholding in QinetiQ.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what mechanisms his Department has in place for liaising with other shareholders in QinetiQ on the company’s plans and prospects. [92620]
Mr. Ingram: Both the MOD and the Carlyle Group have nominated non-executive directors on the QinetiQ Board, at which the company’s plans and prospects are discussed. There are no other specific mechanisms for liaising with other shareholders outside the Board on the company’s plans and prospects.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what Government loans to QinetiQ are outstanding; and on what terms they were made. [92621]
Mr. Ingram: There are no outstanding Government loans to QinetiQ.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what mechanisms his Department has in place to exercise stewardship over the Government’s shareholding in QinetiQ. [92675]
Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence has a nominated non-executive director on the QinetiQ Board. The Department has also retained a special share in QinetiQ to protect the UK's defence and security interests.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what financial guarantees the Government has given to QinetiQ; and whether the Government has further liabilities (a) directly and (b) as a result of shareholder agreements. [92676]
Mr. Ingram:
The Ministry of Defence has given no specific financial guarantees to QinetiQ. QinetiQ does, however, receive a declining percentage of the relevant portion of the MOD’s research budget as single tender work. With the progressive introduction of competition into the science and technology research programme, this percentage is expected to reduce to
zero by April 2008. QinetiQ also has a 25-year Long Term Partnering Agreement with MOD valued in total at some £5.6 billion, with review points every five years.
MOD has no further liabilities beyond those agreed under the Liabilities Agreement at the initial stage of the PPP sale process in 2002. A summary of the Liabilities Agreement appear on pages 280-281 in the QinetiQ prospectus, a copy of which was placed in the Library of the House on 26 January 2006.
RAF Complaints Process
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 12 July 2006, Official Report, columns 1882-83W, on the RAF complaints process, if he will place in the Library a copy of the customer care charter. [91776]
Derek Twigg: The Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency Joint Personnel Administration Customer Care Charter is currently under review and it is anticipated that the new version will be delivered to both Navy and RAF personnel with their pay statements at the end of November. A copy will also be placed in the Library of the House.
Reservists
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many reservists have been deployed in Afghanistan in each year since October 2001. [91284]
Mr. Ingram: The numbers of Volunteer Reservists accepted into service to support operations in Afghanistan for 2001 to 2005, as published in the NAO Report on Reserve forces, are as follows:
| Numbers | |
Numbers for 2006 are not yet available.
Royal Irish Regiment
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his most recent estimate is of the number of personnel from the Royal Irish Regiment Home Service Battalions who intend to transfer to General Service. [92983]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 12 October 2006]: As at the 10 October, 27 officers and 44 soldiers from the Home Service Battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment have indicated a preference to transfer to General Service terms and conditions. We remain hopeful that more Home Service personnel will transfer.
International Development
Afghanistan
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make available the mid-term review undertaken by his Department in March 2006 of the Research in Alternative Livelihoods Fund (RALF) in Afghanistan; if he will ensure that all such work is readily available on the RALF website; and what assessment he has made of the progress of those Alternative Livelihood projects which have been successfully implemented by his Department in Afghanistan, broken down by province. [91845]
Hilary Benn: We are working with RALF to improve their dissemination strategy—in particular through their website. Work on this is under way. In the meantime we are able to share an internal mid-year review undertaken by DFID in August and RALF's most recent six monthly report. These have both been placed in the House of Commons Library, and we are following up with RALF to ensure that they are placed on their website.
DFID is contributing, with other donors, to the Government of Afghanistan National Solidarity Programme (NSP) and the National Rural Access Programme (NRAP) both of which are covering all provinces of Afghanistan. NSP has created 17,033 community development councils and financed 17,109 community led projects. NRAP is constructing 855km of rural roads. The multi-donor Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA), to which the UK contributes, is working in 20 provinces (Kabul, Baghlan, Kunduz, Samangan, Takhar, Bamayan, Parwan, Herat, Badakhshan, Balkh, Jozjan, Wardak, Nangahar, Laghman, Ghazni, Kapisa, Faryab, Sar-l-Pul, Logar, Kunar). It has disbursed US$81,264,560 in loans to 197,278 clients.
DFID's bilateral programmes, are active in Badakshan and Bamyan. In the former 26,500 farmers have received agricultural inputs, 155 villages have received veterinary services including the vaccination of 61,520 animals through a DFID funded programme. In Bamyan new and innovative ways for farmers to make a living including apricot drying, poultry, honey bee keeping, tailoring and weaving, silk and cashmere wool production and the introduction of fruit tree nurseries and greenhouses for vegetable production are proving successful.
DFID is currently working on a community and household assessment to determine the impact of the development effort (both policy influence and direct programmes) and its potential contribution to reductions in poppy cultivation. DFID has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to carry out an annual household survey over the next three years.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will place in the Library the (a) publications, (b) conclusions and (c) recommendations made by the Research into Alternative Livelihoods Programme concerning Afghanistan. [92344]
Hilary Benn: We are working with RALF to improve their dissemination strategy—in particular through their website. Work on this is under way. In the meantime we are able to share an internal mid-year review undertaken by DFID in August and RALF's most recent six monthly report. These have both been placed in the House of Commons Library, and we are following up with RALF to ensure that they are placed on their website.
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what programmes his Department are supporting to help farmers in Afghanistan switch from poppy production to other crops. [93943]
Hilary Benn: DFID's Livelihoods Programme, worth nearly £150 million from 2006-09, is designed to promote sustainable, rural economic development. The majority of this spending is channelled through the Afghan Government's National Programmes. This includes support to the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) and National Rural Access Programme (NRAP), both of which are now operating in all provinces in Afghanistan. NSP has created 17,033 community development councils and financed 17,109 community led projects. NRAP is constructing 855km of rural roads. The multi-donor Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA), which DFID also supports, is working in 20 provinces and has disbursed US$81 million in small loans to 197,278 clients.
Additionally, a proportion of DFID's funding for livelihoods is targeted on improving agricultural opportunities for Afghan farmers. This includes research to help identify, test and implement new crops and technologies. Examples include improvements in health and husbandry for livestock, apricot drying, honey bee keeping, tailoring, weaving and improving the production of alternative high value crops such as saffron and wheat.
DFID is also offering advice to ministries on how best to integrate the growth of legal livelihood opportunities.
DFID jointly funded, in 2005-06, with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a $25million nationwide programme to increase access to seeds and fertilisers for over 500,000 farmers for alternative crops.
Hampton Review
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what input (a) his Department and (b) (i) agencies and (ii) non-departmental public bodies had into the Hampton Review and its report Reducing administrative burdens: effective inspection and enforcement. [89581]
Mr. Thomas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 9 October 2006, Official Report, column 280W.
House of Commons Commission
Post Deliveries
Mr. Hancock: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what recent research the Commission has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the length of time it takes post to reach the Palace of Westminster following its receipt at Nine Elms sorting office; and if he will make a statement. [92705]
Nick Harvey: The House does not have access to records of when mail is received at Nine Elms. The House authorities do monitor the two contracts with regard to mail screening and internal mail delivery. Both of these contracts have key performance indicators. These show that all of the mail collected from Nine Elms on a given day is delivered within the Palace of Westminster by 2 pm that day, with over 60 per cent. of the day’s mail delivered within the Palace by the 8 am delivery and over 75 per cent. by the 10 am delivery. Regular checks are made of the processes involved. A monitoring group made up of Officers from both Houses meets monthly to consider the performance against the contracts and the indicators have been met consistently in recent months following changes made by both contractors during the first full year of the new contracts. These changes have been aimed at maximising the volume of mail in the parliamentary deliveries in the early part of the day.
Home Department
Confiscation of Criminal Assets Act
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been recovered under the Confiscation of Criminal Assets Act 2003 (i) in total and (ii) in each police authority area, listed in descending order by amount recovered in each year since its introduction; and how much is in the process of being recovered. [93513]
Mr. Coaker: Information on the total amount of criminal assets recovered over the last three years is set out in table 1. Information on the value of cash forfeiture orders and confiscation orders obtained in each police authority area over the last three years under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and earlier legislation is set out in table 2. Confiscation orders are not enforced by police forces but by HM Courts Service and other enforcement authorities. Orders made in one year may be enforced in future years. The amounts in the process of recovery depend on a number of factors including appeal rights and time to pay considerations.
| Table 1: Recovered criminal assets (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) | |
| Total recovered (£ million) | |
| Table 2: Total value of cash forfeitures and confiscation orders obtained by police forces in England and Wales 2003-04 | |
| Force | £ |
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