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28 Jan 2008 : Column 36W—continued
Departmental Mobile Telephones
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 22 November 2007, Official Report, column 1031W, on departmental mobile telephones, what central controls his Department maintains on the (a) purchase and (b) reasons for purchase of mobile telephones. [179641]
Derek Twigg: Under the Defence Fixed Telecommunication Services agreement managed by Director General Information Systems and Services, the Defence Fixed Network Integrated Project Team provide a central procurement route for the procurement of mobile phones and other Global System Mobile (GSM) devices to MOD users, and records are kept of the total number of active GSM connections and billing data.
Justification of purchase and use of mobile phones within MOD is a local decision and no records are held centrally.
Departmental Personal Records
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of those individuals who had their personal details lost as a result of the theft in Edgbaston on 9 January of an MOD computer from the vehicle of a Royal Navy Officer are domiciled in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland, (d) England and (e) elsewhere. [182396]
Des Browne: Where a record of domicile is held, the following figures were recorded on the database at the time of the entry of the record.
| Number | |
Departmental Telephone Services
Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many 0845 or similar cost telephone numbers are used by (a) his Department and (b) related departmental bodies for public access to services. [179198]
Derek Twigg: Records of 0845 or similar cost numbers are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
EU Defence Policy
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in which areas of European Security and Defence Policy the Lisbon treaty will introduce qualified majority voting; and if he will make a statement. [182335]
Des Browne:
The Council will continue to act by unanimity among member states on all aspects of
European Security and Defence Policy except for certain procedural items in respect of permanent structured cooperation and the European Defence Agency.
The Council would act by qualified majority voting (QMV) when establishing permanent structured cooperation and when determining the list of participating member states, including when deciding on the participation of a member state that subsequently wishes to participate or suspending the participation of a member state which no longer fulfils the criteria or its commitments.
In the context of the European Defence Agency, although the treaty provides for the adoption of a decision on the Statute, seat and operational rules of the agency by QMV, these matters have already been decided upon under the joint action establishing the agency. We therefore do not anticipate any further need for decisions in this area.
The “passerelle” clause, which allows the European Council unanimously to decide to adopt a decision by QMV does not apply to decisions having military or defence implications.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what role the new EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will have in the European Defence Agency; and if he will make a statement. [182346]
Des Browne: We expect that the new EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy would become Head of the European Defence Agency. This role is currently held by the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the application of the Solidarity Clause to the area of defence in the Lisbon Treaty. [182348]
Des Browne: The Solidarity Clause reflects EU member states' desire to offer each other support in dealing with disasters on their territory, including terrorist attacks. The use of any UK military assets under the Solidarity Clause would be on a voluntary basis and would be a sovereign decision for the UK Government to take in the light of other commitments at the time. Any support would be given only in response to a specific request by an affected member state. The arrangements required to implement the Solidarity Clause would be defined by a European Council decision. In the case that there were defence implications, the Council would decide unanimously.
European Union: Military Alliances
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effects of permanent structured co-operation on the military capabilities of (a) the EU and (b) NATO; and if he will make a statement. [182334]
Des Browne: Permanent structured co-operation is a mechanism that could contribute to the development of military capabilities by EU member states. This is consistent with UK policy to encourage European nations to improve their national defence capabilities for the benefit of both the EU and NATO.
Iraq: Armed Forces
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many soldiers are serving in the standard Iraqi (a) brigade, (b) division and (c) battle group. [181713]
Des Browne: The Iraqi Army has a division, brigade and battalion as the standard operational configuration. They are established at 10,100 for the divisional level, 2,750 for the brigade level and 850 for the battalion level.
USA: Armed Forces
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many US visiting forces are based at each location in the UK. [181873]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The latest available figures listed as follows have been provided by the United States Visiting Force (USVF). They are approximate figures and include US military and their supporting civilian component. In most cases it has not been possible to provide figures for each location made available to the USVF because the USVF database only records its numbers by command and not by location.
Warships
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the out-of-service date is for each (a) submarine, (b) frigate, (c) destroyer and (e) minehunter vessel in the Royal Navy. [182321]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 3 September 2007, Official Report, column 1632W.
Transport
A11: Accidents
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road traffic accidents there have been on the A11 in Suffolk since 1997. [181769]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of reported personal injury road accidents on the A11 in Suffolk from 1997 to 2006 is shown in the following table.
| Number of accidents | |
A21
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to her answer of 15 January 2008, Official Report, column 1084W, on A21, what the latest cost estimates are for the contracts for the A21 Tonbridge to Pembury and the A21 Kippings Cross to Lamberhurst improvement schemes. [181979]
Mr. Tom Harris [holding answer 25 January 2008]: The interim cost estimates for these A21 schemes are:
| £ million | |
Interim cost estimates provided by the Highways Agency have been made available to the Regional Transport Boards. The south east regional bodies have been asked to confirm their support for these schemes on the basis of these interim cost estimates.
These estimates have not been validated under the Highway Agency's new estimating procedures. Fully validated cost estimates will be provided by spring 2008.
Agricultural Machinery: Accidents
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) road traffic and (b) on-farm accidents were reported involving an agricultural vehicle in each year from 1997. [181756]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of reported personal injury road accidents involving at least one agricultural vehicle on a public highway in Great Britain from 1999 to 2006 is shown in the following table. Accidents on private premises, including on-farm accidents, are not collected.
| Number of accidents | |
Agricultural vehicles were not identified separately prior to 1999.
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