House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 30 Oct 2006 (pt 0022)

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Category C Initial Gate Projects^{( 1)}
Date of approval	Name of project	Date of approval	Name of project
14 January 2005	UK Integrated Broadcast Service	10 May 2006	UK Air Surveillance Command and Control System
19 May 2005	DNA(2)—T23 Frigate Command System Update	5 June 2006	Computer Network Defence (CND)
24 May 2005	Digital Diagnosis Repair	8 August 2006	Joint Command and Control Support Programme (JC2SP) Application Migration Project
1l July 2005	Surveillance Systems and Range Finding	17 August 2006	Project Listener
16 November 2005	J1/J4 Interim Op Support—Interim fit	11 September 2006	Small Arms Range Targetry Systems

Category C Main Gate Projects^{( 2)}
Date of approval	Name of project	Date of approval	Name of project
17 December 2004	Army Training and Recruitment Agency -Digitised Classroom Project	23 June 2006	Command, Control and Information System for Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps
22 December 2004	Armed Forces Compensation Scheme	26 July 2006	DNA(2)—T23 Frigate Command System Update
21 February 2005	Defence Fixed Telecommunications System (Cyprus)	25 August 2006	Dismounted Counter Mine Capability
13 May 2005	Temporary Deployed Accommodation	l September 2006	Project CUTLASS
26 August 2005	Maritime Composite Training System	11 September 2006	JC2SP Interoperability Project
7 September 2005	Defensive Anti-Surface Warfare
⁽¹⁾ One project has been excluded from the list as it relates to Special Forces. ⁽²⁾ Three projects have been excluded from the list as they relate to Special Forces.

EUFOR

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the submarines which are flagged under EUFOR. [95340]

Mr. Ingram: There are currently no UK submarines flagged under EUFOR.

Far East War Prisoners

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people have been (a) paid, (b) refused and (c) are awaiting a decision on payments under the Far East Prisoners of War Ex-Gratia Payments Scheme (i) in total, (ii) under the blood link criterion and (iii) under the 20 year rule. [95622]

Derek Twigg [holding answer 23 October 2006]: The position as at 20 October 2006 is as follows:

	Claims paid	Rejected	Awaiting decision

Total claims (includes both Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees)	25,293	6,880	369
Civilian claims considered under the 20-year UK Residence criterion⁽¹⁾	86	0	87
Civilian claims considered under the Birthlink criterion⁽¹⁾	1,186	^{(2, 3)}1,194	3
⁽¹⁾ Military claims are considered under separate criteria with respect to definition of the required close link to the United Kingdom. ⁽²⁾ Rejections under the Birthlink criterion include cases where the claimant: was not British; or failed to meet either the initial criterion based on eligibility under the1950s scheme that made payments from liquidated Japanese assets or the Birthlink criterion introduced in March 2001; or did not provide evidence to show that he or she was interned in a recognised camp. ⁽³⁾ Since March 2006, a number of these rejections have been eligible for reconsideration under the 20-year UK residence criterion and a number have claimed and received an award; the precise number affected in this way is not known since we do not routinely collect information on the Birthlink criterion; however, we would expect most of the 86 claims accepted under the 20-year UK residence criterion to have been rejected previously and further consideration of claims under this criterion are expected to reduce the number of rejections further.

Fischer-Tropsch Process

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the merits of powering military platforms with green fuels made by the Fischer-Tropsch process. [93346]

Mr. Ingram: The MOD is closely engaged with major oil companies, original equipment manufacturers and the scientific and technical community to further the use of non-fossil fuels.

As part of this ongoing work, the MOD is currently assessing the utility, compatibility and availability of fuels produced by the Fischer-Tropsch process for a range of military platforms. The Department led the way in the international aviation fuels community on the introduction of synthetic fuels, from specific sources, into the technical specification for aviation fuels.

Flight Training

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the monthly average for (a) flight training and (b) flight trainer hours was for Red Arrows pilots in the last year for which figures are available. [93340]

Mr. Ingram: In the period October 2005 to September 2006 the average monthly flight training hours and simulator training hours for the Red Arrows were 132 and three respectively.

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Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many flight training hours on average were flown per month during the last 12 months by pilots of (a) Tornado F-3, (b) GR variants, (c) Jaguar and (d) Harrier. [93211]

Mr. Ingram: In the period September 2005 to September 2006 training flying hours flown by front line fast jet pilots average as follows:

	Hours/pilot/month
Tornado F-3	16.8
Tornado GR4	16.1
Jaguar	17.5
Harrier	16.1

General Sir Richard Dannatt

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the transcript of the interview with General Sir Richard Dannatt reported in the Daily Mail on 13 October. [95386]

Des Browne: Yes.

Helicopters

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his latest estimate is of the number of helicopters available in Iraq; what steps he is taking to ensure sufficient helicopters have been procured; and if he will make a statement. [95520]

Mr. Ingram: There are sufficient numbers of helicopters in Iraq to carry out the allocated tasks. The precise number of helicopters cannot be disclosed as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice the security of our armed forces. We keep under constant review how best to sustain and refresh the helicopter capability provided to operations.

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with Boeing on the return to flight of the eight Mk3 Chinook helicopters which have been grounded since their delivery to the UK; and if he will make a statement. [95779]

Mr. Ingram: There has been no recent discussion between the Secretary of State for Defence and Boeing on the return to flight of the eight Mk3 Chinook helicopters, although there has been recent senior level engagement with Boeing, including by the Minister for Defence Procurement.

Joint Strike Fighter Programme

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent progress has been made in discussion with the United States on the joint strike fighter programme. [94704]

Mr. Ingram: We are continuing to work hard together to deliver President Bush and the Prime Minister's joint intent for UK operational sovereignty for the Joint Strike Fighter.

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Military Vehicles

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence of what type and how many vehicles the Vector and Cougar vehicles will replace. [93928]

Mr. Ingram: Vector and Mastiff (the United Kingdom armed forces name for Cougar) will complement our existing fleet of vehicles. This will give commanders the flexibility to select the appropriate vehicle to achieve their missions and tasks.

Missiles

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the value of the Harpoon missile as a weapon. [94939]

Mr. Ingram: Harpoon is the Royal Navy's only long-range anti-surface warfare missile. It is a potent element of the Royal Navy's anti-surface capability.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what circumstances surface ships would engage hostile surface forces with the Harpoon missile; and if he will make a statement. [94940]

Mr. Ingram: The Harpoon missile is designed for long-range anti-ship warfare and would be employed against hostile units (normally frigate size and above) posing a threat against Royal Navy or coalition units, whether as an individual unit or as part of a larger task group.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he plans to equip the Type-45 Destroyer with the Harpoon missile. [94941]

Mr. Ingram: There is no current requirement for the Type 45 Destroyer to operate Harpoon missiles, and so there are no plans at present to equip them with these weapons.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the range is of the Harpoon missile. [94944]

Mr. Ingram: Harpoon is a sophisticated anti-ship missile which uses a combination of inertia guidance and active radar homing attack targets out to a range of 130 km.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which ships carry the Harpoon surface-to-surface missile. [94945]

Mr. Ingram: All Type 22 and Type 23 frigates are fitted with the Harpoon surface-to-surface missile system. They are:

Type 22 frigates

HMS Cornwall

HMS Cumberland

HMS Campbeltown

HMS Chatham

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Type 23 Frigates

HMS Argyll

HMS Iron Duke

HMS Kent

HMS Lancaster

HMS Monmouth

HMS Montrose

HMS Northumberland

HMS Portland

HMS Richmond

HMS Somerset

HMS St Albans

HMS Sutherland

HMS Westminster

Munitions

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the supply of ammunition to combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. [92513]

Mr. Ingram: Sufficient stocks of ammunition are available in Iraq and Afghanistan to support all current and contingency operations. The Defence Logistics Organisation continues to ensure that sufficient ammunition supplies are delivered on time to our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan during a specific attack our operation units in remote locations have occasionally exhausted supplies of a particular ammunition type. In such instances, the ground forces are re-supplied by helicopters. At no time, however, have troops on the ground run out of all ammunition types available to them.

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