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25 Feb 2008 : Column 1161W—continued
Departmental Data Protection
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether personal data for which his Department is responsible is (a) stored and (b) processed overseas; and if he will make a statement. [176022]
Derek Twigg: Personal data, mainly on MOD employees and their dependents, for which the Department is responsible are stored and processed in permanent and deployed units overseas, but within UK jurisdiction. Similar data are also held on overseas based and locally employed staff by Defence Attachés in British embassies. The volume of personal data held outside the Defence overseas footprint is not currently held centrally. As part of the departmental response to the Cabinet Office-led Review into data handling procedures in Government, an internal review is currently establishing a more comprehensive assessment of personal data held and accessed overseas.
Departmental Hospitality
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was spent by his Department and its agencies on (a) alcohol and (b) entertaining in the last 12-month period for which information is available. [187783]
Derek Twigg: Information on alcohol expenditure is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 April 2007, Official Report, column 1014W, to the hon. Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson).
As regards expenditure on hospitality and entertainment, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 October 2007, Official Report, column 11W, to the hon. Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson).
Expenditure on official entertainment is subject to departmental regulation and compliance with the principles of propriety set out in Managing Public Money and in the Treasury's handbook on Regularity, Propriety and Value for Money.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of his Department’s Main Building staff were uniformed staff in each of the last 10 years. [186781]
Derek Twigg: Individual defence installations do not routinely publish personnel data, as different organisations and agencies are responsible for the same location or site. Figures for the stationed location of UK Regular Forces and civilian staff are only available at local authority level using centrally held data.
The number and percentage of military personnel stationed in MOD Main Building prior to 1 April 2007 are not centrally held and could not be collated without incurring disproportionate cost.
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 30 April 2007, Official Report, column 1462W, to the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper).
Departmental Official Hospitality
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 30 January 2008, Official Report, column 368W, on departmental official hospitality, if he will arrange for copies of the Hospitality Books kept by Ministers, members of the senior civil service and commanding officers to be placed (a) in the Library and (b) on a publicly accessible page on his Department's website. [187025]
Derek Twigg [holding answer 20 February 2008]: The Government are committed to publishing an annual list of hospitality received by departmental board members. Information for 2007 will be published in due course. Hospitality received by Ministers over the registrable limits are declared as appropriate in the Registers of Members' or Peers' Interests. All Hospitality Books are subject to external compliance testing by the National Audit Office.
Departmental Official Residences
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Ministerial residences were available to his Department’s Ministers in each of the last 10 years. [183183]
Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Watson) on 19 February 2008, Official Report, column 688W.
Departmental Property
Mr. Devine: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his Department’s properties in Scotland have been declared unfit for habitation. [182536]
Derek Twigg: The information requested is not held centrally and it will take time to determine what information could be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
I will write to my hon. Friend at the earliest opportunity.
Substantive answer from Derek Twigg to Jim Devine:
I undertook to write to you in answer to your Parliamentary Question on 30 January 2008, (Official Report, column 368W), about the number of Ministry of Defence (MOD) properties in Scotland that have been declared unfit for habitation.
I should explain that properties can be uninhabited for various reasons, such as they are awaiting demolition or undergoing major repair, modernisation or upgrade work. All occupied properties are regarded as being of a habitable standard. A record of all MOD property in Scotland that is uninhabitable is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what property has been lost or stolen from his Department since 1997; and what the cost of replacement was. [187406]
Derek Twigg: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. A summary of Losses and Special Payments has been published in the Notes to the MOD's Annual Report and Accounts since 2001-02 and, before then, in the MOD's Appropriation Accounts, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
Departmental Reports
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library the most recent briefing team reports from (a) the Chief of the General Staff, (b) the Chief of the Air Staff and (c) the First Sea Lord. [186052]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Army is the only one of the three services that currently operates a briefing team—the Chief of the General Staff’s Briefing Team—and a copy of its most recent report, that for spring 2007, is available in the Library of the House. I refer the hon. Member to the answer my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence gave on 27 November 2007, Official Report, column 308W, to the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry).
Departmental Road Traffic Offences
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of parking tickets paid by his Department and its agencies was in 2007. [187582]
Derek Twigg: Drivers are liable for payment of any fines while driving service vehicles and there is therefore normally no cost to the Department. There may, exceptionally, be cases when recovery of fines proved to be impossible, but these records are not held centrally.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much and what percentage of his Department's expenditure was spent on officials’ travel costs in each year for which figures are available. [187583]
Derek Twigg: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. All travel is conducted in accordance with the guidelines set out in the civil service management code.
Guided Weapons
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the United Kingdom has participated in the theatre missile defence system integration test bed tests at NATO's test facility near The Hague in 2008. [188165]
Des Browne: The UK participates in the integrated test bed programme through our interest in NATO's Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence programme. The UK Government has no direct military involvement in the ITB.
Gurkhas
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the Royal Ghurkha Rifles (a) applied for indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom and (b) left the Army in 2007. [187429]
Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 100W, to the hon. Member for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray). Serving Ghurkhas can not apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
During the period 1 April 2007 to 20 February 2008 a total of 18 officers and other ranks from the Royal Ghurkha Rifles left the Army.
Iraq: Armoured Fighting Vehicles
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether there are any plans to gift (a) Mastiffs, (b) Warriors, (c) Scimitars, (d) Boxers and (e) other armoured vehicles to Iraqi forces. [183078]
Des Browne: We have no further plans for the gifting of armoured vehicles to the Iraqi Security Forces.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 21 January 2008, Official Re port, columns 1601-603W, that refers to the 79 refurbished armoured Land Rovers which have already been gifted.
Iraq: Military Equipment
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 21 January 2008, Official Report, column 1602W, on military equipment: Iraq, where the Government sourced the 6,500 AK47 assault rifles; and how much was paid for them. [187081]
Des Browne: The assault rifles were purchased from a commercial contractor in Poland as part of the UK’s efforts to prepare the Iraqi Security Forces to be self-sufficient in undertaking their own security. The total cost was €760,000.00.
Iraq: Weapons
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures are in place to track and monitor the final destination of gifted arms and equipment in Iraq. [183083]
Des Browne: It is not practicable for the UK to track and monitor each item of equipment once it has been gifted to the Iraqi Security Forces. This is rightly the responsibility of the Chain of Command of the Iraqi Security Forces. In our mentoring and training engagement with the Iraqis, we continue to advise on the development of appropriate accounting and auditing procedures.
Wind Power
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what onshore wind farm applications his Department did not initially object to but later objected to in the last three years; and what the reasons were for doing so. [184434]
Derek Twigg: There are a number of reasons why a late objection may have to be made; these include new information being made available, a change in Ministry of Defence requirements, or an improved understanding of the effects of wind turbines.
In many cases a wind farm proposal changes significantly between the pre-planning consultation sent to the MOD and the final planning application. It is essential, therefore, that we assess the development in its final state using all available evidence. In some cases it will mean raising an objection when earlier we hadn't; in others we may be able to lift an objection we had previously registered.
Over the past three years the MOD did not initially object to onshore wind farm applications, but did so later in the following cases:
World War II: Medals
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will issue a medal for those who served in Bomber Command during the Second World War. [188629]
Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Wright) on 4 July 2007, Official Report, columns 1041-42W.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Christmas
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much his Department's agencies spent on (a) Christmas cards and (b) postage of Christmas cards in each year since 1997. [182446]
Mr. Thomas: The information requested is as follows:
(a) The following has been spent on Christmas cards:
| £ | |
| (1) Paper card (2) e-card | |
Figures from 1997 to 2004 are not available.
(b) There is no separate record of postage costs for sending paper cards in 2005 or 2006.
(a) The following has been spent on Christmas cards:
| £ | |
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