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18 Feb 2008 : Column 91W—continued
Commonwealth: Armed Forces
Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the UK armed forces who are citizens of other Commonwealth countries served in (a) each of the services and (b) operational theatres in each of the last 10 years. [179797]
Derek Twigg: The following table shows the number of other (non-UK) Commonwealth citizens (based on nationality) in the UK armed forces(1,2,3), at 1 April in each year.
| Service | ||||
| Navy | Army | RAF | UK armed forces( 2) | |
| n/a = Data not available. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. (1) Data are for UK Regular forces (trained and untrained), including Nursing Services and excluding Full Time Reserve Service personnel, Gurkhas, the Home Service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment and mobilised reservists. (2) Information by country of origin for Navy personnel is only available post Joint Personnel Administration implementation (October 2006 for Navy). Information by country of origin for RAF personnel pre Joint Personnel Administration (April 2006 for RAF) can be provided only at a disproportionate cost. Information in the table above is for Army personnel only in 1998-2005; for Army and RAF personnel in 2006 and for all services in 2007. All 2007 information and 2006 RAF information is marked as provisional due to the ongoing validation of Army Joint Personnel Administration data. (3) Figures include personnel from Fiji and Pakistan which were suspended from the Commonwealth in December 2006 and November 2007 respectively and Zimbabwe which withdrew from the Commonwealth in December 2003. (4) Provisional Source: DASA (Quad-Service) | ||||
Data on the nationality of UK armed forces who have served in operational theatres in each of the last 10 years are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
CPS21 Publication
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of the quarterly CPS21 publication for each quarter since the third quarter of 2006-07. [185765]
Defence Aviation Repair Agency
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the proposed sale of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency (DARA) to Vector Aerospace, how many members of the DARA workforce will transfer to a new pension scheme; how many will remain in the current Crown Service scheme; and how much he has agreed to transfer to the new scheme. [186308]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: There are currently 797 MOD employees at DARA's Rotary Wing Business Unit at Fleetlands, Hampshire and 295 at the Components Business Unit in Almondbank, Perthshire who will transfer to the new Vector Aerospace pension scheme on sale completion, unless they choose to opt out. In accordance with the Government’s “Fair Deal for Staff Pensions” (2004) guidance, they will not be able to remain members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) after sale completion. However, they will be entitled to three months’ notice to decide whether to retain their accrued pension contributions in the PCSPS until retirement age or transfer the benefits to the new Vector Aerospace scheme.
The MOD will not know how many employees will elect to retain their accrued benefits in the PCSPS until the three-month options exercise has been completed. The PCSPS actuaries will then be able to calculate the bulk transfer payment that will be transferred to the new Vector Aerospace scheme.
Defence: Procurement
Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to publish the next phase of the Defence Industrial Policy. [185433]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Defence Industrial Policy was published in 2002 and there is no current intention to update it. It has been taken forward by the White Paper Defence Industrial Strategy (CM 6697), published in 2005. We are currently reviewing the timetable for the publication of the updated Defence Industrial Strategy. I will inform the House of the publication date in due course.
Departmental Conditions of Employment
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of his Department's reports on (a) the working patterns survey, (b) the leave survey and ( c ) pay analysis—current and future pay for the financial years 2005-06 and 2007-08. [185764]
Derek Twigg: Copies of the continuous working patterns survey and leave survey reports for 2005-06 are already available in the Library of the House. The 2006-07 copies will be available in the Library shortly. The 2007-08 reports will not be produced until summer 2008.
The outputs from the pay analyses—current and future pay report are purely unrounded numerical data held in spreadsheet format. As such, no accessible reports are available for publication and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Data Protection
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department’s policy is on the (a) classification and (b) electronic storage of sensitive information. [182388]
Des Browne [holding answer 25 January 2008]: The Ministry of Defence follows Government policy on the classification and electronic storage of sensitive information.
The value of the information determines its classification. Only the originator of the information can apply a protective marking and this cannot be changed without the originator’s consent. Personnel are required to take account of the protective marking of the information and to apply the standard of encryption appropriate to the protective marking.
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what steps he has taken on (a) informing and (b) advising those whose personal data was contained in the missing laptops; and if he will make a statement; [185361]
(2) what advice has been given to those whose data was contained on the missing departmental laptops. [185362]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 7 February 2008]: As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said in his statement of 21 January 2008, Official Report, column 1225, we have written to the 3,702 personnel on the database whose bank details have been potentially compromised. In that letter, recipients were informed that the MOD had arranged for their bank or building society to be contacted about the theft, and those banks and building societies will monitor their accounts for signs of any unauthorised activity.
The banks and building societies have assured the MOD that they have the appropriate safeguards in place and that there is no need for people to ask for a new account. Under the Banking Code, when accounts are used fraudulently by a third party the account holder is not liable.
We also advised that individuals might wish to take steps to protect themselves. For example, they should contact their bank or building society immediately in the event of any unexpected activity on their accounts. We reminded recipients that they should not give out personal details if anyone contacted them unexpectedly. We advised them to take a note of the caller’s name and telephone number and, if they were suspicious, to contact their bank or building society. Lastly, if any of the passwords they used to access their accounts were based on their personal data, we advised that they should consider changing those passwords.
In addition, the Department has written to a further 147,823 people whose personal details have been lost, and similar advice was provided.
Finally, for those who wished to make further inquiries we have established a freephone helpline, an e-mail address and a freepost address for people seeking clarification on what personal data has been lost.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's policy is on the use of universal serial bus flash memory data storage devices to store (a) restricted, (b) confidential, (c) secret and (d) top secret data. [186050]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Only MOD universal serial bus memory data storage devices, which have been approved by the systems accreditor, are to be used.
All such devices, regardless of the protective marking of the data, are to be registered and issued to named individuals, who remain responsible for the device. With the exception of unclassified material, the data on the device must be encrypted, and the device must be securely destroyed when no longer needed.
Departmental Freedom of Information
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of Freedom of Information requests received from (a) parliamentarians, (b) businesses, (c) academics and (d) media sources have been agreed to by his Department since the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into force. [180191]
Derek Twigg: It should be noted that the statistics contained within this answer refer only to requests for information in which applicants have declared their occupation. This is not necessary for the Department to process a request.
| Percentage of total FOI requests from these sources and answered in full or part | Percentage of FOI requests from these sources answered in full or part | Percentage of total FOI requests, which where from these sources and were refused in full | Percentage of FOI requests from these sources refused in full | |
When requests are refused in full, it is either because the information was considered exempt under the FOI Act or because answering them would incur a cost to the Department which would exceed the ‘appropriate limit', set at £600.
The status of the remaining requests known to be from these sectors, is currently defined as ‘other', which means that they have been withdrawn by the requester; that they are subject to a permitted extension under the FOI Act; that they are ‘open', i.e. their status cannot currently be determined; or that the requested information was not held by the Department.
Departmental ICT
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) mobile telephones, (b) personal digital assistants and (c) laptop computers issued to departmental staff were reported (i) lost, (ii) missing and (iii) stolen in each year since 2001. [184322]
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many universal serial bus flash memory data storage devices used to store (a) restricted, (b) confidential, (c) secret and (d) top secret data have been lost by or stolen from his Department in each year since 2001. [186051]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: As a result of the recent theft of a laptop, the Ministry of Defence has initiated an investigation into the details of all lost or stolen electronic media since 2003. This investigation involves the collation and examination of reports from across the Department including final disposal action where available. While every effort is being made to gather the information as quickly and accurately as possible, not all the details are currently available. In addition, it should be noted that details of such incidents were not collated centrally before 2003 and therefore will not be available.
I will write to the hon. Members when the information has been collated, and will place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his Department’s personal digital assistants have been (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last five years; and what the value of those items was. [185276]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: As a result of the recent theft of a laptop, the Ministry of Defence has initiated an investigation into the details of all lost or stolen electronic media, including PDAs, since 2003. This process involves examining and collating reports from across the Ministry of Defence including final disposal action.
While every effort is being made to gather the information expeditiously, not all the details are currently available.
I will write to the hon. Member when the information is available, and will arrange for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.
Departmental Leadership
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the outcomes have been of steps taken to improve corporate leadership in his Department following the findings of his Department’s capability review. [185256]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth:
We are approaching the halfway stage of a two-year plan to strengthen corporate leadership in the Department and the other three areas identified by the capability review. This includes a continued effort by the senior leadership team to provide the Department with strong and visible corporate leadership, supported by changes in board structures which will be fully implemented by 1 April. These include the replacement
of a large number of subordinate boards and committees with a single operating board to ensure that the Defence board’s strategic direction is carried through into action.
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