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12 Mar 2007 : Column 57W—continued
Trident: Legal Opinion
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has requested the legal services of his Department to provide him with an assessment of whether any decision to replace (a) the Trident launch platform, (b) Trident missiles or (c) Trident nuclear warheads with new components would be compatible with the United Kingdom’s legal obligations under Articles 1 and 6 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. [126301]
Des Browne: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by hon. Friend, the Member for Pontypridd (Dr. Howells), the Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South (Alan Simpson) on 6 March 2007, Official Report, columns 1843-4W. The Government set out its position on the international law position in paragraphs 2-9 and 2-10 of the White Paper “The Future of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Deterrent” (Cm 6994, published December 2006).
Urgent Operational Requirements
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) pursuant to the answer of 2 February 2007, Official Report, column 963W, on urgent operational requirements, what records are kept of formal requests made by lower echelon commanders which have been submitted to theatre commanders for consideration as urgent statements of user requirement requests; [124995]
(2), what records are kept of urgent statements of user requirements generated by commanders-in-theatre approved by the chain of command; [124998]
(3) at what stage an urgent operational order is considered formally to have formally come into being; and by whose decision. [124999]
Mr. Ingram: Requests by lower echelon commanders are staffed through the in-theatre chain of command, with both the unit and the brigade in theatre keeping relevant records.
In the Land environment, if the requirement is for a new item of equipment or for more equipment, where insufficient stocks are held on the inventory for the current operations, the request is forwarded to the Divisional Equipment Capability (EC) Cell for further staffing. The Divisional EC Cell constructs an Urgent Statement of User Requirement (USUR) in consultation with the originator to ensure that the exact requirement is captured and submits it to the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ). Records of the USURs are held in the EC Cells in the appropriate theatre.
Royal Navy and Royal Air Force requirements are staffed up the appropriate chain of command, with USURs then submitted to PJHQ in a similar way.
If PJHQ endorses the requirement, the USUR is passed to MOD Centre for action. Records of endorsed USURs are held in PJHQ and MOD Centre.
Once endorsed by PJHQ, the USUR is considered to have become an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR), allocated a unique number and tracked on a central UOR database.
Warships: Deployment
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Royal Navy warships of frigate destroyer size and above are deployed on operations; and what the maximum numbers deployed were in each year since 1997. [125396]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 7 March 2007]: The number of warships on operations varies considerably within and between years. The number of warships of frigate/destroyer size and above currently deployed on operations is eight. Data on all past ship deployments are not held centrally.
Warships: Decommissioning
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels were paid off in the last six months; and which Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels he expects to be paid off in the next six months. [125395]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 7 March 2007]: No RFA vessels were paid off in the six months to 1 March 2007. Future plans for the structure of the RFA have yet to be finalised.
Written Questions
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy that all written questions on British nuclear weapons tabled for answer on or before 12 March will be answered with a substantive response before 14 March. [126717]
Des Browne [holding answer 9 March 2007]: We will endeavour to answer every question asked on British nuclear weapons prior to the debate on 14 March. Questions tabled on or after 12 March, however, may not appear in the Official Report before the debate.
Culture, Media and Sport
British Library
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people used the facilities of the British Library in 2005-06. [126268]
Mr. Lammy: The British Library Funding Agreement includes a set of metrics—a number of which are based on use of services—against which they report. For 2005-06 their outturns against these metrics were as follows:
| Metric | 2005-06 outturn |
|
Number of children attending educational sessions + Number of visitors to Library’s ‘learning’ website | |
|
Number of visitors to the Library’s on-site and virtual exhibitions | |
Olympic Games: Civil Servants
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff in her Department are employed on London 2012-related matters; and how many have private sector experience. [125385]
Mr. Caborn [holding answer 5 March 2007]: Within my Department there are at present 49 full-time equivalent staff spending the majority of their time employed on London 2012-related matters.
In addition, there are a further eight full-time equivalent staff in the Olympic Programme Support Unit, which provides cross-programme support for the Olympic Board and is based, for administrative purposes, within my Department.
Of these 57 full-time equivalent staff, 10 contract and seconded staff, and other full-time equivalent staff, have been recruited specifically for their experience of procurement, project management, finance and infrastructure transactions, all gained partly or wholly in the private sector. Other full-time equivalent staff also have experience of working in and with the private sector but specific records on levels of experience are not available.
Football: Tickets
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions her Department has had with the footballing authorities on ticket pricing. [126067]
Mr. Caborn: Neither my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State nor I has held discussions with the football authorities on ticket pricing.
The Government have no role in the commercial and sporting operation of professional football. The issue of ticket prices is a matter between the individual clubs and the relevant football authorities.
Institute for Public Policy Research
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding the Countryside Agency has provided to the IPPR or IPPR Trading Ltd. in each year since May 1997; and what the purpose was of such funding. [123895]
Barry Gardiner: I have been asked to reply.
When it was still part of The Countryside Agency(1), the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) agreed some sponsorship funding for the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North towards its “A New Rural Agenda” project. The Countryside Agency’s sponsorship funding was for a total of £25,000 over two years:
| £ | |
The purpose of this funding was:
(a) to encourage some fresh thinking about rural issues and policies;
(b) to provide the CRC with opportunities to engage in the debate this project was expected to generate;
(c) to open up opportunities for read-across with CRC work; and
(d) to learn more about the working methods of think tanks which could be of use to the CRC.
(1 )The Countryside Agency is now part of Natural England.
National Lottery: Grants
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much and what proportion of lottery money was provided to (a) sports and (b) other community projects in each of the last five years. [126959]
Mr. Caborn: The sports good cause has received 16.66 per cent. of operator-related national lottery good cause income in each year since 1998. The total amount of lottery money raised for the sports good cause in the last five years is set out in the table.
| Total lottery income to the sports good cause | |
| £ million( 1) | |
| (1) Figures rounded to nearest £ million. | |
The other good causes combined have received 83.33 per cent. of operator-related national lottery good cause income in each year since 1998. The total amount of lottery money raised for the other good causes in the last five years are set out in the table.
| Total lottery income to other good causes | |
| £ million( 1) | |
| (1) Figures rounded to nearest £ million. | |
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the amount of lottery money that will be provided to (a) the Olympics, (b) sports and (c) other community projects in each of the next five years. [126960]
Mr. Caborn: It was always understood when we bid that national lottery funding for London 2012 would involve some loss of income to the non-Olympic good causes. Non-Olympic distributors may lose an average of 5 per cent. of their income because of sales diversion to Olympic lottery games over the period 2005-06 to 2012-13. In addition, we have already announced that £410 million will be taken from non-Olympic lottery proceeds between 2009 and 2012. No decision has been made about how that amount will be shared between the various non-Olympic good causes nor on the further use of lottery funding to meet any of the £900 million in additional costs that have been announced. It is therefore not possible to provide the estimates requested.
New Opportunities Fund: Sports
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total value of (a) awards and (b) payments made from the New Opportunities Fund for physical education and sport has been in the 2006-07 financial year; and if she will make a statement. [126492]
Mr. Caborn: The figures in the table reflect the total value of awards and payments made from the New Opportunities Fund for the financial year 2006-07. The financial year has not ended so the figures provided are YTD figures.
| £ | ||
| Awards made | Payments made | |
These figures do not include Awards for All and other grants that have funded sport indirectly.
Olympic Delivery Authority
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff are employed in each division of the Olympic Delivery Authority; and how many have over five years’ relevant experience in the private sector. [125384]
Mr. Caborn [holding answer 5 March 2007]: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has supplied me with the following breakdown of the divisional deployment of the 117 staff they currently employ, as detailed in the following table:
| Division | Number of staff |
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