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14 May 2007 : Column 509W—continued

Armed Forces: Compensation

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what compensation was paid under the new Armed Forces Compensation Scheme for injuries and deaths in each month since the new scheme came into force; and if he will make a statement. [135328]

14 May 2007 : Column 510W

Derek Twigg: The information requested is shown in the following tables:

£
2005-06 (6 April 2005 to 31 March 2006( 1) )	Amount awarded in lump sums (including bereavement grants)	Amount awarded as a guaranteed income payment (including survivors guaranteed income payments)
April	—	—
May	3,000.00	—
June	5,000.00	—
July	8,000.00	—
August	25,000.00	12,000.00
September	21,000.00	7,000.00
October	44,000.00	33,000.00
November	98,000.00	—
December	30,000.00	21,000.00
January	48,000.00	—
February	97,000.00	—
March	109,000.00	34,000.00

£
2006-07 (1 April 2006 and 23 November 2006( 1, 2) )	Amount awarded in lump sums (including bereavement grants)	Amount awarded as a guaranteed income payment (including survivors guaranteed income payments)
April	194,000.00	15,000.00
May	166,000.00	28,000.00
June	314,000.00	46,000.00
July	283,000.00	11,000.00
August	586,000.00	40,000.00
September	459,000.00	20,000.00
October	646,000.00	61,000.00
November(3)	393,000.00	—
(1) Data have been rounded to the nearest £1,000.00. (2) Data are not yet fully available for 2006-07. (3) Data are not yet fully available for November 2006.

Armed Forces: Education

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what (a) facilities and (b) programmes are available for service personnel to continue education while on deployment in (i) Iraq, (ii) Afghanistan and (iii) the Balkans region; [135409]

(2) how much was spent on education centres by the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force in each year since 1997; [135410]

(3) how many education centres were closed in each year since 1997 in the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force; and where each centre was located; [135411]

(4) how many education centres there are in the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force; and where they are located; [135412]

(5) what education assistance programmes are available to spouses of serving service personnel. [135414]

Derek Twigg: As the information requested requires a lengthy response, I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

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Armed Forces: Parachuting

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on replacing the GQ 1000 parachute with the GQ 5000 following recommendation 7h of the RAF Board of Inquiry’s Military Aircraft Accident Summary into the aircraft accident of Tornado F3 ZG751 of 25 August 2003; and if he will make a statement. [136170]

Mr. Ingram: The programme to replace the GQ 1000 parachute with the GQ 5000 on both the Tornado GR4 and F3 aircraft is being taken forward by Defence Equipment and Support in conjunction with Industry. The work will be undertaken as part of the Tornado seat scheduled maintenance cycle and the first aircraft are due to be fitted with the GQ 5000 parachute by September this year.

Armed Forces: Pay

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of the strategic review of remuneration. [136035]

Des Browne: The Strategic Review of Remuneration is examining the strategic rationale and effectiveness of the whole armed forces financial reward package (including pay, allowances, compensation, specialist pay, and financial retention incentives) to ensure that we can attract and retain sufficient, capable and motivated personnel. The review is expected to produce options for consideration within the Department around the turn of the year.

Armed Forces: Postal Services

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes are planned to free postal services available to service people on operations overseas. [136773]

Mr. Ingram: There are no changes planned to the postal services available to service personnel on operations overseas.

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Army Board: Mass Media

Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance is issued to members of the Army Board on dealing with the media. [135291]

Derek Twigg: Guidance and support is provided to members of the Army Board as required, just as it is to Ministers and all senior officials who come into contact with the media as part of their official duties.

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence announced on 24 April 2007, Official Report, columns 21-22WS, an independently-led review of media access to service personnel and the support and guidance they receive is currently under way.

Defence Communication and Services Agency

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the likely cost of external assistance to the Defence Communication and Services Agency in each of the next three years; and if he will make a statement. [136128]

Mr. Ingram: The estimated cost for future External Assistance within Information Systems and Services (formerly the Defence Communication Services Agency) in the next three years is shown in the following table:

Financial year	Estimated future requirement (£ million)
2007-08	35.706
2008-09	15.800
2009-10	24.173

Departments: ICT

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) originally estimated, (b) most recently estimated and (c) outturn cost was of each of the five largest information technology contracts agreed by his Department with outside suppliers in the last five years referred to in the answer of 6 November 2006, Official Report, columns 809-10W, on information technology. [135621]

Mr. Ingram: The information requested (as at 4 May 2007) is shown in the following table:

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14 May 2007 : Column 514W

	Contract	Original estimated cost (£ million)	Most recently estimated cost (£ million)	Outturn cost (£ million)	Comments
1	Skynet 5 (Satellite Communication Services)	2,775	3,660	157	Expenditure does not include expenditure from other areas within the Department that call up SATCOM services. ‘Most recent cost' reflects revised contract to include a fourth satellite which if not used in event of failure of first three on launch will reduce costs to £3,273 million. £157 million is the 2006-07 figure, which is currently being validated through the end of year reconciliation process.
2	Defence Information Infrastructure (Future) (DII(F))	3,040	3,056	427	This relates to the Increment 1 and Increment 2a contract. The balance of Increment 2 and Increment 3 have not yet been let.
3	Joint Personnel Administration (JPA)	237	257	162	These estimates comprise all extramural costs for JPA and include the cost of personnel administration services using JPA up to the end of financial year 2008-09. Outturn costs cover extramural expenditure to the end of financial year 2006-07 (subject to end year validation). Cost increase was very largely the consequence of delaying roll out to the Navy and Army while awaiting DII availability, however some improvements resulting from lessons learned during RAF rollout were also added to the programme.
4	Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP)	98	82	5.1	Outturn costs cover contract costs to date.
5.	Joint Asset Management and Engineering Solutions (JAMES)	30	23	16.9	These figures are for the Fleet Management MIS Project (known as JAMES 1). There is a potential requirement estimated at £9 million to enhance JAMES1 but as yet the requirement is not funded nor approved—therefore it has not been included. The Whole Fleet Management MIS Project, the second project within the JAMES Programme has completed its Assessment Phase and forms the IS supporting component of the Tri Service Whole Fleet Management Main Gate Business Case which is currently in draft. Once again, as this project is not approved and therefore unfunded, it is not included.
Note: Purely voice communications systems are not considered to fall within the scope of the question.

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the details of the Defence Information Infrastructure (Future) design system solution were completed in advance of the decision to contract the ATLAS Consortium to implement the scheme in March 2005; and if he will make a statement. [136126]

Mr. Ingram: Following a free, fair and open competition involving a number of bidders, Atlas were selected to provide Defence Information Infrastructure (Future) services on the basis of their overall proposal, which included an overview of their technical design. As with all bidders, the proposal did not include the complete system solution design but contained design detail that was sufficient for bid evaluation and contract award.

Departments: Internet

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department’s website cost to run and support in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [135776]

Derek Twigg: The Ministry of Defence corporate Departmental Website, www.mod.uk, incurred the following direct costs in the financial year 2006-07:

	£
Staff	125,000
Hosting and Maintenance	44,500
Hardware	8,375
Total	177,875

Iraq: Peace Keeping Operations

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the Territorial Army who served in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan were discharged as a result of psychiatric problems in each of the last five years. [131637]

Derek Twigg: I will write to the hon. Member once the figures have been collated.

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many traumatic amputations there have been in the recent 2 Rifles Operation Telic tour. [136511]

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