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4 Dec 2006 : Column 81W—continued
Wales
China
Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will initiate discussions with the Chinese ambassador on the prospects for the establishment of a Chinese consulate in Cardiff; and if he will make a statement. [105944]
Mr. Hain: I am happy to raise this with the Chinese ambassador. I visited China in April 2004 and will continue to work in partnership with the National Assembly for Wales to promote Wales on the international stage.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) marketing officers, (b) communications officers and (c) press officers are employed in his Department; and what the total expenditure on communications for his Department was on (i) Government Information and Communication Service staff and (ii) other (A) press officers, (B) special advisers and (C) staff in the last year for which figures are available. [104315]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office press and communications office has three staff covering all aspects of communications for the Wales Office.These staff are members of the Government Communications Network which replaced Government Information and Communication Service (GICS) in 2005. The total salary cost for these is £181,332.
We have two special advisers who advise and support Ministers in accordance with the code of conduct for special advisers and both they and other staff spend some of their time on communications matters,but identifying that expenditure would entail disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many temporary employees were contracted to work for his Department in 2005-06; and what the total cost of such employees was in (a) 2005-06 and (b) 1997-98. [106688]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office employed a total of eight temporary staff throughout 2005-06 at a cost of £91,923.26. The Wales Office was not in existence in 1997-98.
Engagements
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on which dates in the last month he (a) attended his Department’s offices (i) in London and (ii) in Cardiff, (b) dealt with departmental business (i) in the House and (ii) elsewhere and (c) undertook other engagements in his official capacity. [107246]
Mr. Hain: I attended Gwydyr House in London on 2, 9, 16 and 23 November and Discovery House in Cardiff on 6, 20 and 28 November.
I dealt with departmental business in the House of Commons on 1, 6, 15, 20 and 22 November and elsewhere on all other days of the month.
I undertook engagements in my official capacity on 3, 4, 10, 12, 24 and 25 November.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many parliamentary written questions his Office received in each parliamentary Session since 2001; and how many of these questions (a) were not answered because of disproportionate cost, (b) were not answered, (c) received answers referring back to a previous answer (i) asked by the hon. Member and (ii) asked by another hon. Member and (d) were grouped together for answer; [107472]
(2) what target his Office has for the maximum acceptable amount of time to answer parliamentary written questions; and what percentage of parliamentary answers met that target in each parliamentary Session since 2001. [107473]
Mr. Hain: This information could not be made available without disproportionate costs being incurred.
My Department targets answering ordinary written questions within five parliamentary sitting days of receipt of the question. Named-day questions are answered on the date specified by the Member of Parliament tabling the question.
Procurement Projects
Mr. Hayes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the 20 largest procurement projects initiated by
his Department since May 1997 were; what the (a) original budget, (b) cost to date and (c) consultancy fees were; and what the final cost was of each project which has been completed. [106597]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office was established in July 1999, and has not undertaken any procurement projects in that time.
Recruitment Advertising
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spent on recruitment advertising in each of the last three years. [107749]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office has spent the following sums on recruitment advertising:
| £ | |
| (1) Just over, so far, in the current financial year. | |
Special Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many of his Department’s civil servants work full-time to support departmental special advisers; and what the salary is of each such civil servant. [106499]
Defence
Afghanistan
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of the Taliban who are (i) reconcilable and (ii) ideological. [101660]
Des Browne: There is a small core of the Taliban movement, including most of the senior leadership, who have made it clear they have no intention of reconciling themselves to the Government of President Karzai. We assess that many of those we have faced are locally recruited and they could be persuaded to abandon violence if offered the prospect of better political, social and economic prospects.
Armed Forces Deployment
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list the deployments of armed forces units based in Germany over the last four years; what the name was of each unit deployed; and what the (a) size, (b) location and (c) length was of each deployment; [103740]
(2) what deployments have been made of units stationed in Germany in each year since 2003; and what the size was of each such deployment. [103905]
Mr. Ingram: The information is not held centrallyin the format required. Officials are collating this information, and once this has been done, I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Armoured Vehicles
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have been killed in roadside bomb attacks while patrolling in Land Rovers since 2000. [101908]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 29 November 2006]: There have been 24 service personnel killed in roadside bomb attacks while patrolling in Land Rovers since 2000 on operations overseas.
Basra Air Station
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the security of military and civilian personnel at Basra Air Station; and if he will make a statement. [105996]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 28 November 2006]: We keep the threat to both our military and civilian personnel under continuous review and take all practical measures to ensure their safety and security wherever they are deployed throughout Iraq. Additional protection is—and will continue to be—provided as the operational situation requires.
Defence Export Services Organisation
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance with applications to the Export Credits Guarantee Department is given to companies by the Defence Export Services Organisation; and if he will make a statement. [104390]
Mr. Ingram: The Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) does not routinely assist companies with applications to the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) and is not a party to agreements reached between companies and the ECGD.
In some cases, however, DESO may advise companies to consider seeking ECGD support. In addition, where requested by ECGD, DESO provides advice on sales prospects to help inform ECGD's risk assessments and any subsequent discussions with applicants.
Eurofighters
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any of the Eurofighters being sold to Saudi Arabia under the agreement announced in August 2006 are already in production. [103146]
Mr. Ingram: The negotiations on the supply of Eurofighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia have yet to be concluded. It is therefore too early to specify the destination of production line aircraft.
Flying Hours
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average flying hours of pilots for the Royal Air Force (a) Hercules C-130, (b) VC-10, (c) C-17 Globemaster, (d) Tristar aircraft and (i) Chinook, (ii) Puma, (iii) Merlin and (iv) Sea King helicopters have been for each month in 2006. [105968]
Mr. Ingram: The average number of flying hours of Royal Air Force pilots in fixed-wing aircraft of the following type for each complete month in 2006 is:
| 2006 | Hercules C-130 | VC-10 | C-17 Globemaster | Tristar |
The average number of flying hours of Royal Air Force crews in rotary aircraft of the following type for each complete month in 2006 is:
| 2006 | Chinook | Puma | Merlin | Sea King |
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