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22 May 2007 : Column 1188W—continued
Departments: Assets
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which assets of his Department were disposed of in the Portsmouth area in each of the last three years; and what the timetable for further disposals programme is. [136559]
Derek Twigg: The Ministry of Defence property assets that were disposed of by Defence Estates in the Portsmouth area for the last three financial years are as follows:
Clayhall Cottage, 51 Clayhall Road
Defence Munitions Dean Hill, Main Site and adjacent land
RNMT Depot, Hilsea
HMS Daedalus Technical Site and Residual Airfield areas
HMS Daedalus Main Airfield area
Fleet Photographic Unit, Stamshaw
Footbridge above Nimrod Drive (Rowner Footbridge)
Portsmouth Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Service Families Accommodation
(SFA) Phase 1, Daedalus
Small plot of land adjacent to Eastney Sports Ground
Strip of land at 54 Military Road, Gosport
Small parcel of land at OFD Gosport
The Brambles, 44 Marine Parade West, Lee-on-the-Solent
1-46 Rodney Close, Rowner, Gosport, Hampshire
Land at Seafield Park, Stubbington, Hampshire
The current and future disposal program in the Portsmouth area is as follows:
Portsmouth PFI SFA Phase 2, Daedalus
Frater House and Civil Service Sports Ground, Gosport
Royal Clarence Yard (RE Depot), Gosport
Land at Bell Davies Road, Seafield Park, Stubbington
Service Families Accommodation land at Titchfield
Royal Hospital Haslar
Small Plot of Land adjacent to Eastney Sports Ground
Helicopters: Costs
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) acquisition cost and (b) average operating cost per hour is of the (i) RAF and (ii) Royal Navy version of the Merlin helicopter. [137620]
Mr. Ingram: The acquisition cost of the RAF operated Merlin Mk 3 is around £19 million and for the RN operated Merlin Mk 1 is around £39 million.
The large price differential is due to the inclusion of the sophisticated anti-submarine mission avionics, which are an integral part of the weapons system in the Merlin Mkl.
The total operating cost per hour is approximately £34,000 for the Merlin Mk 3 and is approximately £42,000 for the Merlin Mk 1. These figures include both fixed and marginal costs, comprising servicing costs, fuel costs, crew capitation and training costs, support costs and charges for capital and depreciation.
Helicopters: Peace Keeping Operations
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many hours downtime for maintenance or due to fatigue the (a) Lynx, (b) Merlin and (c) Sea King helicopters had during 2006 in (i) Iraq and (ii) Afghanistan; and what percentage of hours flown in that period that figure represents. [137621]
Mr. Ingram: Information on the number of hours downtime for maintenance or due to fatigue for Lynx, Merlin and Sea King helicopters deployed during 2006 in Iraq and Afghanistan is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Lynx helicopters have been taken out of service (a) to update counter measures, (b) to fit electronic counter measures and (c) to fit infra red jammers in the last five years. [137377]
Mr. Ingram: No Lynx helicopters have been taken out of front-line service to be modified. They have been modified during scheduled maintenance activities, or during planned modifications programmes that work around the deployment and training requirements.
We do not comment in detail about the defensive systems fitted to our aircraft in order to safeguard our personnel serving on operations.
Iraq: Peace Keeping Operations
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK fatalities in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan have been attributed to the inadequate protection of vehicles with inadequate protection from roadside bombs. [135901]
Des Browne: No UK fatalities from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan have been directly attributed to inadequately protected vehicles. Protection is provided through a combination of tactics, techniques and procedures as well as armour and other technical means. However, even with all of these measures employed, absolute protection can never be 100 per cent. guaranteed.
Military Bases: Visits
Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the occasions in the last 12 months where Ministers have approved visits to barracks by hon. Members. [134153]
Derek Twigg: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Submarines
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Astute-class submarines he plans to order; and what their projected in-service dates are expected to be. [138525]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 21 May 2007]: Three Astute class submarines are on order with BAES (Submarine Solutions), and I refer the hon. Member to my written ministerial statement of 21 May 2007, Official Report, columns 55-56WS, about boat 4. Further boat orders are currently being considered, subject to affordability. We are working with industry as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy to achieve an affordable and sustainable submarine programme.
The planned in-service date for the first of class, Astute, is 2009. The second of class, Ambush, will follow in 2010, and the third of class, Artful, in 2012.
Sudan: Armed Forces
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the armed forces of Sudan attended UK military establishments in each of the last three years. [138774]
Mr. Ingram: In support of the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, the Ministry of Defence has provided training to the Joint Integrated Units (JIU), consisting of the Government of Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. The JIUs are critical to strengthening the fragile peace that exists between the CPA’s parties. Between financial years 2004-05 and 2006-07, 11 mid and senior ranking members of the JIU have attended UK military establishments to undertake courses on managing defence in a democracy and collective training. This can be broken down by financial year as follows: two in financial year 2004-05; nil in financial year 2005-06 and nine in financial year 2006-07.
Tanks: Peace Keeping Operations
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost per track/road mile, excluding crew costs, of operating the (a) Challenger 2 Tank, (b) Mastiff and (c) Bulldog in Iraq. [137619]
Mr. Ingram: Operational track mile cost data are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The full capitation cost for the Challenger 2 Tank (all variants) based on peacetime usage is calculated as £496.15 per kilometre.
Costs for the Mastiff and Bulldog are not currently available as these vehicles have only recently entered service.
War Pensions
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average waiting time was for the Veterans Agency to settle claims to personnel entitled to payments in each year since 1997. [131713]
Derek Twigg: Average clearance times for all claims made under the war pensions scheme since financial year 2000-01 were as follows:
| Working days | |
Prior to 2000-01 performance data was gathered on a different basis and average clearance times were not recorded. Performance was measured against a target of 145 working days, and the percentage of claims cleared within this target was as follows:
| Percentage | |
The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) was introduced in 2005-06. In the introductory year of the scheme, no overall average clearance time figure was produced. In 2006-07 the average clearance time under the AFCS was 34 days.
Education and Skills
Building Schools for the Future Programme: East Sussex
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding his Department plans to allocate to East Sussex Local Education Authority for the Building Schools for the Future programme in the next phase of the programme. [138025]
Jim Knight: East Sussex has projects prioritised in waves 10 to 15 of the Building Schools for the Future programme which may access funding from 2014-15, depending on future public spending decisions. No decisions have yet been made on funding for these projects. We aim to consult later this year on the management of waves seven onwards of the programme.
Because of its late prioritisation in the programme, East Sussex has been offered £30 million of One School Pathfinder funding to renew its neediest secondary school. This funding is available from this year.
Over the last three years (2005-06 until 2007-08), East Sussex and its schools have been allocated £55 million of capital support for investment in their buildings.
Disabled Students’ Allowances
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many people (a) applied for and (b) received disabled students’ allowance in each of the last five years; [138388]
(2) what the average length of time was between application and receipt of disabled students’ allowance funding in the latest year for which figures are available. [138390]
Bill Rammell: Applications for disabled students’ allowances (DSA) are dealt with by local authorities and the Student Loans Company (SLC); information about the number of people who applied is not held centrally. Available data on English domiciled higher education students in receipt of DSA(1) are given in the table.
(1) Data relate to Student Support Scheme students and include full-time, part-time, and postgraduate DSA.
| Academic year | Number of HE students in receipt of DSAs( 1) |
| (1) Numbers rounded to the nearest 100 students. (2) Due to a change in reporting arrangements, data are not centrally available for 2003/04. Source: Student Loans Company (SLC) | |
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