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10 Dec 2007 : Column 60W—continued
Ex-servicemen: Medals
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many veterans in each constituency have applied for the Veterans' Badge; and if he will make a statement. [169373]
Derek Twigg: The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. A total of 532,000 badges had been issued up to and including 23 November 2007.
Iraq: Aviation
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans there are to open Basra Airport to commercial flights; and if he will make a statement. [170825]
Des Browne: Basra International airport received its first commercial flight, operated by Iraqi Airways, in January 2005. It continues to act as an international airport receiving both commercial and military aircraft.
Military Aircraft: Helicopters
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many flying hours RAF helicopter pilots (a) are required to have and (b) have on average before being deployed on operational duties flying (i) Puma, (ii) Merlin, (iii) Chinook and (iv) Sea King helicopters. [171011]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth:
The minimum number of flying hours that an RAF helicopter pilot would have before being considered to fly on operational duties are
shown, by aircraft type, in the following table. These figures include hours flown on fixed wing and helicopter training aircraft. Figures have been rounded to the nearest five hours.
| Helicopter type | Minimum hours flown |
The average number of flying hours that helicopter pilots have flown prior to operational deployment is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Navy: Fisheries
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how many patrol days in each category of operation each class of fishery patrol vessel was used in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [168227]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The number of patrol days on fishery protection for each class of fishery patrol vessel for the years 2002-03 were as follows:
| Island | Hunt | River | |
| Note Figures for the years 1997-98 to 2001-02 are not available. | |||
The operational focus of River and Island classes of vessels during this period was fishery protection. Time not spent on fishery protection was used for standoffs, training, maintenance, passage and visits, and, in the case of River class vessels, unused days owned by VT Group plc. The primary role of the Hunt class vessels is Mine Counter Measure, not fishery protection. Details of the operations conducted by these vessels, apart from fishery patrols, are not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
RAF Kinloss: Redundancy
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Nimrod Line personnel at RAF Kinloss (a) requested premature voluntary redundancy and (b) took redundancy in 2006; and how many have done so in 2007. [169474]
Derek Twigg [holding answer 29 November 2007]: The RAF does not retain information on those applicants who requested redundancy but were unsuccessful, and as such it is not possible to provide the number of Nimrod Line personnel at RAF Kinloss who requested redundancy.
Details of Nimrod Line personnel who left the RAF under redundancy terms are given in the following table:
| Number | |
| Notes: 1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. | |
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many consultation events have been held as part of the review of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. [171662]
Derek Twigg: Consultations took place through meetings and telephone discussions with a wide range of stakeholders from the public and private sectors. International stakeholders were also consulted. Public sector stakeholders consulted throughout the study are the following Departments:
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;
Department for Transport (including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency);
Her Majesty's Treasury;
Office of Fair Trading; and
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
UKHO Government customers and trade unions representing UKHO employees have also been consulted.
Private-sector stakeholders, including two trade associations, shipping fleet operators, distributors of navigational products, manufacturers of ‘Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems’ and commercial customers and other companies with an interest in public sector information, have been consulted.
International stakeholders consulted include foreign government hydrographic offices, data suppliers and flag states.
Given the continuous nature of this process, we do not hold records of the precise number of meetings and discussions held.
War Pensions: Edinburgh
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many veterans in Edinburgh have made successful claims for war pensions as funded by the War Pensions Scheme. [172482]
Derek Twigg: Due to the historical nature of the scheme, information on the total number of war disablement pensions awarded is not available. However, as at 30 June 2007 there were 1,065(1) war disablement pensions in payment to veterans living in Edinburgh.
Information is also available on the number of successful claims cleared in the last four financial years, since 2003-04. These are set out in the following table.
| Successful war disablement pension claims in Edinburgh, by financial year( 1) | |
| Successful claims | |
| (1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest five. | |
War Pensions: Scotland
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many veterans in Scotland have made successful claims for war pensions funded by the War Pension Scheme. [172606]
Derek Twigg: Due to the historical nature of the scheme, information on the total number of war disablement pensions awarded is not available. However, as at 30 June 2007 there were 17,640(1) war disablement pensions in payment to veterans living in Scotland.
Information is also available on the number of successful claims cleared in the last four financial years, since 2003-04. These are set out in the following table.
| Successful war disablement pension claims in Scotland, by financial year( 1) | |
| Successful claims | |
| (1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest five. | |
Young People
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff aged between 16 and 18 were employed by his Department (a) directly and (b) through an employment agency in each of the last 10 years; what proportion of these were given time off work to undertake some form of training; and what proportion were provided with some form of training (i) wholly and (ii) partially funded by his Department. [171272]
Derek Twigg: The following table shows strengths of civilian personnel(1) aged between 16 and 18 at 1 April each year.
(1) Includes industrial and non-industrial personnel and trading funds, and excludes Royal Fleet Auxiliaries and locally engaged civilians.
| H eadcount | ||
| Ages 16 to 18 | Total strength | |
| Source: DASA (Quad-service) | ||
These numbers cannot be broken down by those employed directly and those employed through an employment agency, as this is not held centrally.
The proportion given time off work to undertake training funded by the MOD is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, all those entitled to day release would have been entitled to the following assistance:
All fees, including those for examinations, for day classes, for evening classes or for block release courses in lieu of classes and relevant text book costs would be paid for by MOD;
Time off in lieu may be taken to compensate for classes undertaken at evenings or weekends.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Apprentices
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many (a) apprenticeship and (b) advanced apprenticeship places he plans to provide in each year to 2020. [171864]
Mr. Lammy: Planned apprenticeship outputs/volumes by academic year to 2010-11 were published in the Learning and Skills Council's Statement of Priorities on 16 November 2007. The breakdown requested by apprenticeships at level 2 and advanced apprenticeships at level 3 is not available. A detailed trajectory to 2020 will be published as part of the review of apprenticeships, which is due for completion in early 2008.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many people who completed a programme-led apprenticeship based at a college went on to complete a full level-3 apprenticeship in the same field in each year since 1997. [172274]
Mr. Lammy: Figures for those participating in apprenticeships funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) can be derived from the individualised learner record. The programme-led apprenticeship is an initiative to enable more learners to enter an employed-status apprenticeship programme. When they achieve their agreed goals, learners cease to be on a PLA and then become mainstream apprentices. It is possible to calculate participation for programme-led apprenticeships from the ILR data, but not their progression onto mainstream apprenticeships and therefore the associated framework achievement.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of employers who will have to take on apprentices in order to meet the Government's target for apprenticeships in 2020. [171862]
Mr. Lammy: The Government have announced plans to increase overall apprenticeship places from 250,000 today to 400,000 by 2020 but earlier if high-quality employer places are available. We therefore plan to expand the number of employers offering apprenticeships and the number of places offered by employers who are already involved in the programme. However, we do not intend to dictate to individual employers how many apprentices they require to meet their particular skills needs. A detailed trajectory covering the expansion of apprenticeship places to 2020 will be published as part of the review of apprenticeships, which is due for completion in early 2008.
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