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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]


25 Feb 2008 : Column 1162W

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:


25 Feb 2008 : Column 1163W

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.


25 Feb 2008 : Column 1164W

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]


25 Feb 2008 : Column 1165W

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:

Site n ame Reason for MOD objection

Wryde Croft

Unacceptable implications for Air Traffic Control (ATC) radars at RAF Coningsby, RAF Cottesmore, RAF Cranwell, RAF Waddington and also with the Precision Approach Radar (PAR) at RAF Wittering.

Wandylaw

Unacceptable implications with Air Defence (AD) radar for the Remote Radar Head (RRH) Brizlee Wood in Northumberland.

Green Rig

Unacceptable interference with the ATC radars at RAF Spadeadam.

French Farm

As for Wryde Croft.

Nutsgrove

As for Wryde Croft.

Routh

Unacceptable interference on AD radar at RRH Staxton Wold in Yorkshire.

Ray

Unacceptable effect on the ATC radars at RAF Spadeadam.

Fallago Rig

Unacceptable effect on the AD radar at the RRH at Brizlee Wood in Northumberland.


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.


25 Feb 2008 : Column 1166W

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:

UK Trade and Investment

(a) The following has been spent on Christmas cards:

£

2005

18,303.00(1)

2006

11,031.00(1)

2007

9,112.50(2)

(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.

Companies House

(a) The following has been spent on Christmas cards:

£

2002

602

2003

618

2004

880

2005

590

2006

580

2007

494


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