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26 Mar 2007 : Column 1356W—continued
Armed Forces: Legal Profession
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) military and (b) civilian personnel were serving with the Army legal corps in each year since 2000. [128080]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 19 March 2007]: The following table shows the number of military and civilian personnel working for the Army legal service (ALS) as at 1 January each year since 2000.
| Adjutant general’s corps (army legal services) trained army officer and civilian strength | ||
| 1 January: | Officers( 1,)( )( 2,)( )( 3) | Civilians( 4,)( )( 5) |
| (1) Figures include all AG Corps (ALS) Officers including those Officers with a rank of Colonel and above. (2) The figures are for trained regular army officers only and therefore exclude all reservists. (3) Only Army personnel capbadged AG ALS are included in the figures. Therefore the figures exclude those personnel from other arm/services attached to or supporting AG ALS. (4) Civilians working in the following units are included: Director General Legal Services, Directorate of Army Legal Services, Army Prosecuting Authority (Germany), HQ Army Prosecuting Authority (UK), Office for Standards of Casework and the Officer and Soldier Complaints Authority Army Appeals Wing. (5) Full-time equivalent staff. Counts part-time staff by the number of hours they work as a proportion of their full-time conditioned hours. Note: All figures are rounded to the nearest 10. | ||
Armed Forces: Uniforms
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence at what points Ministers have sought permission from Her Majesty the Queen for servants of the Crown to wear European Union flag unit insignia upon their uniforms. [129242]
Derek Twigg: The European Union insignia as worn is not formally a flag, but a circular patch. Approval from Her Majesty the Queen is required for the wearing of insignia which contain a crown. The European Union symbol, worn below the Union flag, does not fall into this category.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the next vehicle expected is in the future rapid effect system series after the Panther Command and Liaison vehicle; [127021]
(2) what assessment he has made of the priority accorded to (a) the personnel carrier and (b) the direct fire version in the development of future rapid effect system medium weight vehicles; and if he will make a statement. [127027]
Mr. Ingram: The Panther Command and Liaison vehicle does not form part of the future rapid effect system (FRES) programme. The FRES utility vehicle, which will carry personnel as one of its roles, is currently afforded the highest priority and is likely to be the first variant to enter service. A direct fire variant may follow; the Department is continuing to examine the requirement and options as part of the assessment phase.
Army: Manpower
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel there were in the Army in each year since 1992. [128869]
Derek Twigg [holding answer 22 March 2007]: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 22 January 2007, Official Report, column 1557W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Lynda Waltho).
Departments: Art Works
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on art work for its main building in 2005-06. [129723]
Derek Twigg: No works of art were bought for the Main Building, nor for any other MOD building, in 2005-06. £52,992 was spent in 2005-06 on maintenance tasks for the MOD Art Collection, including conservation, re-framing, re-hanging and photography.
Departments: Official Hospitality
Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many regimental dinners took place in 2006; and what the total cost was of those dinners. [127537]
Derek Twigg: Information on how many regimental dinners took place in 2006 is not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
All Army messes are supported by contracts that include provision for a number of functions each year, for which attendees are charged the costs of food and drink. Some of these will be regimental dinners. If a regiment wants to hold additional functions, the drink and staff costs are met by private regimental funds and not the Defence budget. It is therefore not possible to provide the total cost of regimental dinners in 2006.
Falkland Islands: Anniversaries
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what celebrations his Department is preparing for the 25(th) Anniversary of the liberation of the Falkland Islands. [129727]
Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave on 11 January 2007, Official Report, column 711W, to his earlier question on this subject. Preparations for the commemorations that I have outlined are now well under way.
Iraq: Peace Keeping Operations
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many courts martial have been held to try the conduct of British soldiers in Iraq; and what the charges were in each case in which no legal proceedings remain active.[128793]
Mr. Ingram: Since 2003, there have been a total of 36 courts-martial held to try the conduct of British soldiers serving in Iraq.
Marines: Manpower
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Royal Marine commandos there are; and what the planned target number for the period 2006-07 was. [129730]
Mr. Ingram: On 1 February 2007 there were 5,540 trained Royal Marines Commandos.
The requirement for Royal Marines Commandos in April 2006 was 5,970 and 6,030 in April 2007.
Note:
These figures include Regular personnel and exclude full-time reserve personnel and activated reservists.
Military Fatalities
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military fatalities have been repatriated through RAF Brize Norton in each of the last five years. [129645]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 23 March 2007]: The number of military fatalities that have been repatriated through RAF Brize Norton in each of the last five years are:
| Personnel repatriated | |
Navy: Deployment
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Royal Navy ships are in service; how many were in service in 1997; and if he will make a statement. [126293]
Mr. Ingram:
In August 1997 the Royal Navy had 98 ships in service. The Royal Navy currently has 75 ships in service although HMS Invincible is held at low readiness. These totals include: landing platform docks, landing platform helicopter, aircraft carriers,
destroyers, frigates, mine countermeasures ships, river class offshore patrol vessels, inshore patrol craft, survey ships and the royal yacht.
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