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25 Mar 2008 : Column 65W—continued
| Regular Army UK and Commonwealth soldier strength rates against average soldier strengths and requirements from 1 April 1997 to 28 February 2007 | ||
| P ercentage | ||
| Against average strengths | UK | Commonwealth |
| P ercentage | ||
| Against requirements | UK | Commonwealth |
Armed Forces: Mental Health Services
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what new contracts have been awarded by his Department to the Priory Group since November 2007; and if he will make a statement. [195392]
Derek Twigg: The Priory Group currently holds the contract for the provision of in-patient mental health care to armed forces personnel.
No new contracts have been awarded to the Priory Group since November 2007.
Army: Labour Turnover
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of (a) UK nationals and (b) non-UK nationals recruited into the British Army (i) did not complete basic training, (ii) left within a year of enlistment, (iii) left within two years of enlistment and (iv) did not complete their engagement in each of the last 10 years. [194552]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Defence: Procurement
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department’s policy is on the use of improvised explosive device jammers. [162532]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The armed forces use electronic counter measures to counter improvised explosive devices. I am withholding details of the policy governing their use as its disclosure would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
Departmental Advertising
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which of his Department’s initiatives have been advertised to the public in each of the last 10 years; and what the cost of each such campaign was. [192227]
Derek Twigg: The combined departmental costs on armed forces recruitment advertising initiatives and veterans awareness advertising initiatives since financial year 2003-04 are as follows:
| Financial year | £ million |
Accurate information on other advertising procured by the Ministry of Defence, Defence Agencies, Top Level Budget areas, Trading Funds, Joint Headquarters, single Service Commands and military units is not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Details of expenditure on advertising prior to March 2003 cannot be provided in the format requested as the information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Discrimination
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many claims for discrimination, based on (a) sex, (b) race and (c) sexual orientation, were brought by members of his Department and settled (i) in and (ii) out of court in each of the last five years. [194978]
Derek Twigg: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Reserve Forces
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the members of (a) the Territorial Army and (b) the Royal Naval Reserve have served in theatre in the last 12 months. [196269]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Records of individual Territorial Army (TA) personnel deployed on operations are not held centrally and information on the proportion of members of the TA who have served in theatre in the last 12 months could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
As at 1 April 2007, the strength of the Naval Service Volunteer Reserves, including Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) and Royal Marine Reserve (RMR), was 2,970. Of these, 230 personnel (140 RNR and 80 RMR(1)), or 8 per cent. of total strength, have served in theatre between 1 March 2007 and 29 February 2008.
(1) Due to rounding methods used, totals may not always equal the sum of the parts.
Royal Military Academy: Foreigners
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many places at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst were allocated to foreign nationals in each year since 1997, broken down by nationality. [196171]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 29 February 2008, Official Report, columns 2016-20W.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what methodology her Department uses to assess levels of (a) underage drinking and (b) drug use by young people. [195422]
Mr. Coaker: The survey 'Drug use, smoking and drinking among young people in England' is used to assess levels of (a) underage drinking and (b) drug use by young people. This is an annual survey which is conducted by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NRER) on behalf of the Information Centre for health and social care (IC). The survey is widely regarded as the best source of national data on drinking among schoolchildren in England. Information for the 2006 survey was obtained from 8,200 pupils in 288 schools throughout England in the autumn term of 2006. The data were collected by researchers using self-completion questionnaires administered to children in their classroom under 'exam conditions'.
Animal Experiments
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on EC Directive 86/609/EEC, with particular reference to the use of apes for experimental and other scientific purposes. [193669]
Meg Hillier [holding answer 13 March 2008]: The objectives of the Government during the review of European Directive 86/609 on animal experimentation will be to ensure efficient and effective regulation that properly balances the protection of animals against the legitimate needs of science and industry. We do not believe that wholesale changes to the Directive are necessary to achieve the main benefits sought of harmonisation and animal welfare. We believe that the Directive has stood the test of time well and still provides a sound framework for regulation.
We feel that the current revision of the Directive should aim to improve the regulation of animal use by focusing on key areas where regulation and harmonisation would improve animal welfare, improve scientific outputs, provide a more level playing field within the EU and improve the EU’s competitiveness with other economic regions without compromising science and welfare.
The vast majority of primates used in scientific procedures regulated by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in the UK are marmosets and macaques. Then Home Secretary Jack Straw said in 1997:
“Great Apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, pygmy gorillas and orang-utans) have never been used under the 1986 Act as laboratory animals. But this has not previously been banned. The Government will not allow their use in the future. This is a matter of morality. The cognitive and behavioural characteristics and qualities of these animals mean it is unethical to treat them as expendable for research.”
There are no plans to change this policy.
Antisocial Behaviour Orders: South Yorkshire
Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued in (a) Barnsley, East and Mexborough constituency, (b) Barnsley metropolitan borough and (c) Doncaster metropolitan borough since their inception; [195755]
(2) how many acceptable behaviour contracts have been issued in (a) Barnsley, East and Mexborough constituency, (b) Barnsley metropolitan borough and (c) Doncaster metropolitan borough since their inception. [195756]
Mr. Coaker: Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) became available from 1 April 1999. The number of ASBOs issued to the end of 2005 (latest available) where the prohibitions specify locations within the Barnsley metropolitan borough council and Doncaster metropolitan borough council areas are 74 and 61 respectively. Data collected centrally on ASBOs issued are not available at parliamentary constituency level.
Acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) are voluntary agreements and therefore not suitable for central data collection. However, surveys carried out by the Home Office of the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) indicated that over 25,000 ABCs have been made in England and Wales since October 2003.
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