| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
11 Jun 2007 : Column 748W—continued
Armed Forces: Bereavement Counselling
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proposals he has to improve support services available to bereaved service families; and if he will make a statement. [139624]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 4 June 2007]: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the written ministerial statement I made on 7 June 2007, Official Report, columns 26-29WS.
Armed Forces: Dental Services
Mr. Harper:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence where each regional defence headquarters is located; and how many defence dental personnel there
are in each of the regional headquarters in (a) the UK, (b) Germany and (c) Cyprus, broken down by role. [138791]
Derek Twigg: Under the direction of the Principal Dental Officers (PDO), Defence Dental Services (DDS) Regional Headquarters are responsible for the efficient and effective delivery of primary dental care to the armed forces in the UK and overseas.
The locations of the nine UK Regional Defence HQs, plus two overseas, and the numbers of DDS personnel at each, broken down by role, are shown as follows. In Germany and Cyprus primary dental care is extended to authorised dependants and other entitled personnel.
| Number of dental workers at location by type | ||||
| Location | Principal dental officer | Principal dental warrant officer | Principal dental corporal | Civilian administration assistant |
| (1) In addition there is one army major responsible for clinical operations and one civilian clerk translator. (2) In addition there is one part time Civilian Orthodontist. | ||||
Armed Forces: Hearing Impaired
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to reassess the 50 decibels threshold at which hearing loss due to service can be compensated. [139859]
Derek Twigg
[holding answer 4 June 2007]: The compensation threshold for “hearing loss due to service” applies only to bilateral noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss. It does not apply to other forms of hearing loss or injury, such as that caused by blast. The 50 dB threshold was introduced into the war pensions scheme in 1993 as part of a package of changes which focused benefits on the more severely disabled and is also common to the related Civilian Industrial Injuries Disablement Scheme. The same threshold is used for compensating for this condition in the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, which also focuses on the more severely injured.
This approach is based on contemporary scientific evidence and understanding. This has been confirmed in recent years by several reviews carried out by independent audiological experts. There are no plans to review the threshold, although we remain open to consider new evidence that may arise.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what level of protection the Bucher Duro Search Explosive Ordnance Disposal vehicles have against (a) mines, (b) rocket-propelled grenades, (c) improvised explosive devices and (d) small arms fire. [141043]
Mr. Ingram: I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
Army Board
Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost was of running the offices of the (a) Adjutant General, (b) Army Board and (c) Chief of the General Staff in 2006; and what change there has been in the cost of each since 2002. [127539]
Derek Twigg: The full cost of running the outer offices of the Army Board members are not recorded separately and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
However, the majority of the costs arise from staff pay and the establishment of each office remained largely unaltered between 2002 and 2006. The 2006 establishment together with the 2006 salary range for each position is shown as follows. These figures do not include civilian overtime or staff car drivers.
| 2006 | |
| Member | £000 |
Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many internal flights were taken by the (a) Adjutant General, (b) Chief of the General Staff, (c) non-ministerial members of the Army Board and (d) Assistant Chief of the General Staff in 2006; how many of those flights were with (i) military and (ii) commercial carriers; and what the cost was. [127568]
Derek Twigg: A breakdown of UK commercial and military flights undertaken in 2006 is shown in the following table. The military flights shown form part of wider funded flying activity, which is required to keep pilots trained and aircraft and airfields current and serviceable. The cost for RAF flights is a notional cost only calculated on the basis of a combination of aircraft capitation rates and flying hours. Information on Army flights has not been maintained in a way that would enable a representative notional cost calculation to be made.
| Board member | RAF rotary and fixed wing taskings | Notional cost (£) | Army rotary wing taskings | Commercial flights | Cost of commercial flights (£) |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |