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11 Jan 2007 : Column 709W—continued
Derek Twigg [holding answer 9 January 2007]: It is not possible to accurately identify the numbers of responses specifically generated by television advertising. However, Army advertising as a whole over the period 1 April to 1 December 2006 generated 163,770 inquiries to join the Regular Army. This compares very favourably with 88,000 inquiries for the same period last year. Of these, the Army judges that the multi-media Infantry ‘Forward as One’ campaign generated 113,000 inquiries, with the balance attributable to the ‘Everest West Ridge’ campaign. From these campaigns, the Army has received 30,020 specific inquiries to join the Infantry. Enlistments to the Infantry are currently up 30 per cent. compared with the same period in the financial year 2005-06 and the number of newly trained infantrymen that are forecast to join their units by the end of this financial year is up 15 per cent. on last year.
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the target strength was for the infantry (a) as a whole and (b) for the Scottish infantry for the years ending 31 March (i) 2001, (ii) 2002, (iii) 2003, (iv) 2004, (v) 2005 and (vi) 2006; what the actual strengths were in each case in each year; what the original recruiting target was for each of these years in each case; and whether the target was revised; [107868]
(2) whether the original recruiting targets for the (a) infantry and (b) Scottish infantry were achieved; [107869]
(3) what recruiting targets for the (a) infantry and (b) Scottish infantry have been set for the year ending 31 March 2007; and what recruitment has been to date in 2006-07. [107870]
Derek Twigg [holding answer 13 December 2006]: The following tables show the target and actual strength of the Regular Army Infantry as at 1 April 2001-06. The ‘target strength’ is presented in terms of Liability. Liability is not available by Infantry Division.
| Trained Infantry Strengths and Liabilities( 1,2) | |||
| Regular Army Infantry Liability( 3) | Infantry Strength( 3,4) | Scottish Division Strength( 5) | |
| (1) Figures are for all infantry trained officers and soldiers (excluding colonels and above) regardless of where they are serving e.g. it includes elements of the manning and training margin, including infantry cap badged soldiers and officers who are serving in E1-E3 posts, on the Y list etc. Figures exclude Gurkhas. (2) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. (3) Figures include Scottish Division (4) Strength figures include Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel figures (5) Figures exclude the Scots Guards. | |||
The Army Recruiting and Training Division, which is responsible for the recruitment and training of soldiers, recruits infantry soldiers to the three infantry career employment groups; line, parachute and guards, not to specific infantry capbadges.
Recruiting targets for the infantry, and achievements into training for the Financial Years 2000-01 to 2005-06, are detailed in the following table.
| Financial Year | Infantry recruiting target | Infantry enlistment achievement |
Statistics have been rounded to the nearest 10, and numbers ending in five have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.
Iraq
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many complaints of abuse have been made by Iraqi detainees (a) against UK forces and (b) against the Queens Lancashire regiment, excluding those currently under court martial; [109870]
(2) how many Iraqi detainees have (a) been injured and (b) died in British custody in Iraq since 2003. [109871]
Des Browne: Since the Divisional Temporary Detention Facility was established in December 2003 there have been no deaths or injuries as a result of the actions of UK personnel guarding the facility.
The number of complaints of abuse made by Iraqi detainees is not held centrally. It is Ministry of Defence policy to initiate a service police investigation where there are any grounds to suspect that a criminal act has or might have been committed by service personnel, or where the rules of engagement have been breached. This includes those who work in the Divisional Temporary Detention Facility.
Since operations commenced in 2003, there have been 213 investigations conducted by the Royal Military Police, 195 of which were closed with no further action. 41 investigations related to the death or ill-treatment of Iraqi detainees. Of these, 35 cases have been closed, two cases have been dealt with by courts martial, one case is currently being tried by court martial, one case has been dealt with summarily by the commanding officer and two investigations are ongoing.
There have been two cases against members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment in addition to that currently under court martial.
Ministerial Travel
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the occasions since he has held his present office when he has used (a) rail services, (b) the London Underground, (c) tram or light railway services and (d) buses in connection with his ministerial duties. [101980]
Derek Twigg: Under the Ministerial Code Departments are expected to make efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements, taking due account of security considerations in accordance with the rules set out in Travel by Ministers. The Secretary of State for Defence has travelled overseas by rail on two occasions; the first was for a return journey between London and Brussels. The second trip involved a journey from London to Brussels, an interconnecting rail journey between Brussels and Paris before returning to London from Paris. Domestic rail services have been used for a single journey from London to Plymouth, a return journey between London and Colchester, and a single journey from Inverness to Edinburgh.
The Secretary of State has made no journeys on the London Underground, tram or light railway services or buses in connection with his ministerial duties.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will answer substantively question 105862, on engagements, tabled by the hon. Member for Forest of Dean on 23 November for answer on 29 November. [112681]
Derek Twigg [holding answer 19 December 2006]: I replied to the hon. Member on 8 January 2007, Official Report, column 101W.
Public Finance Contracts
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) public-private partnerships and (b) private finance initiative contracts have been entered into by his Department; what assets were transferred to the private sector as part of each deal; what the value of these assets was; what the total cost is of each contract; and what estimate was made of the cost to his Department of traditional procurement over the life of each contract. [109341]
Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 December 2006, Official Report, column 447W, which listed the PFI contracts and their cost. However, the information published in Hansard contained an error, which will be corrected in the bound volume. The correct values for the C-Vehicles project should have been as follows:
| Project name | Estimated capital value (£ million) | Contract length year | Total estimated contract payments (£ million) |
Information on assets transferred as part of the contracts and the estimates made of the cost of traditional procurement over the life of each contract is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Department has signed a further 25 deals that are either below £20 million or involve a significant IT/IS element. Information on these, including estimated capital values, are held on the Treasury website available at
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public_private_partnerships/ppp_pfi_stats.cfm.
In addition to the PFI contracts described above, on 1 July 2001 the majority of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency's (DERA) assets were transferred into QinetiQ Ltd. under a public-private partnership deal. These assets were described in Schedule 2 of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Trading Fund Order 2001, Statutory Instrument 2001 no. 1246, and had an estimated value of £394.5 million. The PPP process has to date raised proceeds for the taxpayer of around £600 million with MOD's retained stake in the company worth around a further £250 million.
Scottish Regiments
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many soldiers from Scottish regiments left the Army in each month since 1 April 2005; and how many have applied to leave during 2006-07 to date. [107872]
Derek Twigg [holding answer 13 December 2006]: The following table shows the number of outflows for trained soldiers from the Infantry Scottish Division Regiments in each month from 1 April 2005 to date.
| Date of outflow | Number |
Trained soldiers serving in the Infantry Scottish Division Regiments gave 110 applications to leave during the period 1 April 2006 to 30 September 2006.
Working Hours
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average working hours were for civilian personnel in his Department in each year since 2001. [105672]
Derek Twigg: The average number of hours worked by civilian personnel employed in the Ministry of Defence during the years from 2001 were:
Education and Skills
Science A-Levels
11. Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of students studying science at A-level. [114159]
Bill Rammell: The Government set out a range of initiatives in the ‘Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014: Next Steps’ document which should encourage the study of science to A-level and beyond.
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