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27 Oct 2008 : Column 631W—continued
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many civil servants working in his Department and its agencies have pensions with a cash equivalent transfer value of over £1 million. [229555]
Mr. Kevan Jones: It is not appropriate to disclose pension information for civil servants other than board members whose details are shown in the Remuneration Report in annual Resource Accounts. A copy of the Ministry of Defence's Resource Accounts for financial year 2007-08 and those for the Department's agencies and trading funds are available in the Library of the House.
Departmental Security
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many security passes have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen by staff in (i) his Department and (ii) agencies sponsored by his Department in each year since 2001. [228939]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Details of lost/stolen security passes for 2003 were provided in an answer given on 28 January 2004, Official Report, column 371W, to the hon. Member for Winchester (Mr. Oaten). However, figures for lost/stolen MOD security passes are not held centrally as they are issued at establishment level and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Details of lost/stolen service identity cards which are also used by service personnel as a security pass for site access purposes are held centrally but are only available from 2004. For numbers of lost/stolen service identity cards for the period February 2004 to June 2006 I refer the hon. Member to the answer on 4 September 2006, Official Report, column 1713W, to the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes).
Details of lost/stolen service identity cards for the period from July 2006 until 31 December 2007 were provided in an answer on 11 March 2008, Official Report, column 293W, to the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox).
The number of lost/stolen service identity cards for the period from 1 January to 30 September 2008 is 5,313. It is not possible to differentiate between lost or stolen cards or whether the card relates to the Department or one of its agencies.
Departmental Temporary Employment
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which companies were used by his Department for providing temporary staff in each of the last five years; and what the value of contracts with each such company was in each of those years. [229084]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Until November 2006, MOD business units were individually responsible for engaging their own temporary staff. Since November 2006, a limited service to engage temporary staff has been provided through the People, Pay and Pensions Agency (PPPA). This does not yet cover all grades employed by the MOD, and therefore business units are still making their own arrangements where necessary. This means that information on total expenditure during each of the last five years could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Between November 2006 and September 2008, expenditure on temporary staff engaged by the PPPA to work in the MOD has been £10 million. The value of individual contracts has not been given due to commercial confidentiality. These staff have been obtained from the following list of agencies.
A & J Recruitment
Acorn4Jobs
Active Staff
Adecco
Alpha Personnel
AM Personnel
Armstrong Appointments
Atos Origin UK
Aviation Requirements
Blue Arrow
Brook Street
Bucks&Berks
COS Recruitment
Carlisle Staffing
Castle Recruitment
Champion Employment Agency
Freshapproach
Hays
Hays (outside)
Jennifer Griffiths Recruitment
Jobs@Pertemps
Josephine Sammons
Key Personnel
Manpower UK Ltd.
Office Angels
Opus Appointments
Personnel Selection
Pertemps Recruitment Partnership
Phoenix Strategic
Recruitment Express
Reed (outside)
Reed Employment
Reed Property & Construction
Robert Half
Royle Recruitment
S Com Group
Saffron Recruitment
Secondsite Recruitment
Select Appointments
Spring Personnel
Stafforce Recruitment
Storm Recruitment
Systems Consultant Services
Tate Recruitment
Topstaff Recruitment
Total Recruitment
Turner Charles
Venus Office Staffing
Weststaff
Wisewalk Resources
Workforce Staff & Business
Hercules Aircraft: Safety
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons foam suppressant was not fitted to the wing-tanks of Hercules XL 179 which was shot down by enemy fire over Baghdad in 2005. [230524]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Explosion suppressant foam (ESF) was not fitted to the wing tanks of Hercules XV 179 in 2002 because it was not judged to be a sufficiently high priority at that time in relation to the assessed threat and emphasis was instead placed on implementing a range of other protective measures. The loss of XV179 showed that judgment was incorrect in relation to the threats which subsequently existed in 2005.
The MOD has spent over £150 million on urgent operational requirements for the Hercules fleet since 2001, including enhanced defensive aids suites and flight deck armour. Furthermore, all Hercules aircraft operating in Iraq or Afghanistan are now fitted with ESF.
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the concluding comments of Wiltshire Coroner David Masters into the loss of Hercules XL179; and if he will make a statement. [230526]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I am grateful for the very thorough and professional manner in which David Masters, HM Coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon conducted the inquest into the loss of the 10 personnel tragically killed when Hercules XV179 crashed in Iraq in 2005. He brought a number of lessons to our attention and it is clear that there have been failures in our procedures for which I apologise. We will address all the issues raised during the inquest, where we have not already done so.
Horn of Africa: Piracy
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the command relationships will be between Combined Task Force-150, Combined Joint Task Force—Horn of Africa and the new EU-led anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa; [228404]
(2) how many British ships will participate in the EU-led anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa, broken down by type of ship; and for how long the mission will last; [228405]
(3) what the cost will be for the British contribution to the EU-led anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa; and whether the Athena mechanism will be used to determine costs; [228406]
(4) what the legal basis is for the EU-led anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa. [228407]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: We have supported EU planning for a counter-piracy naval operation off the coast of Somalia. A formal legal decision from the EU member states to act, but not yet to launch the operation, is expected in the next 10 days.
This will be based on a UK offer to provide the Operation Commander and Operation HQ. No decisions have been taken on the command structure relating to the Forward Headquarters, although we have made it clear that any European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) operation needs to ensure maximum co-ordination with Combined Task Force 150, Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa and NATO.
The legal basis for the EU-led mission will be a Joint Action adopted under Articles 14, 25 and 28 of the Treaty of European Union, to support resolutions 1814/2008, 1816/2008 and 1838/2008 of the UN Security Council Resolutions.
Force generation for the operation will not begin until EU Ministers have agreed to act. We intend to offer a Royal Navy frigate for part of the ESDP operation, but the timing and detail will be subject to ESDP force generation requirements and UK operational priorities. EU planning envisages an operation lasting one year from the declaration of Initial Operating Capability by the Operation Commander.
The cost of this mission to the United Kingdom comprises two elements. The first is the common costs, which are determined by the Athena mechanism. The common costs will include the cost to set up the Operation Headquarters and the Force Headquarters. The second element is national costs associated with any ship deployment. Until further planning has been completed it will not be possible to determine the cost of the British contribution to any potential ESDP operation to tackle piracy.
Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether representatives of the British Army and representatives of the Mahdi Army entered into any agreement or accommodation in respect of military engagement in Iraq during 2007. [228803]
Mr. Hutton: UK forces are operating in Iraq as part of a multi-national coalition at the request of the Iraqi Government. The coalition and the Iraqi Government have routinely followed a policy of dialogue with insurgent groups, where it is judged they can be persuaded to renounce violence and participate in the legitimate political process. The offer of engagement is open to groups across the political spectrum and it has been an essential element of the counter-insurgency strategy to bring peace and security to Iraq.
In 2007, with the full knowledge and support both of our coalition partners and the Iraqi Government, UK forces conducted a dialogue with a range of militia leaders in Basra—including Jaish al-Mahdi—in accordance with the Iraq-wide reconciliation strategy. Neither these discussions, nor their outcome, prevented UK forces from providing military support to the Iraqi Security Forces.
Military Aircraft
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of (a) C-17 Globemaster, (b) C-130K Hercules, (c) C-130J Hercules, (d) Tristar, (e) VC-10 and (f) Nimrod aircraft are (i) in service, (ii) in the forward fleet and (iii) fit for purpose. [226994]
Mr. Quentin Davies:
The information requested for C-17, C-130 Hercules, Tristar, VC10 and Nimrod aircraft that are in service, in the forward fleet (FF) and considered fit for purpose (FFP) is provided in the following table. ‘In service’ has been taken to mean the effective fleet which covers all aircraft barring those which are redundant, declared as surplus or awaiting disposal. Aircraft in the FF are those that are available to the front line command for operational and training purposes including those
that are classed as short-term unserviceable aircraft undergoing scheduled depth maintenance, or planned routine fleet maintenance are not included. Aircraft defined as FFP are those considered capable of carrying out their planned missions on a given date. The FF and FFP figures shown are the latest available, provided as an average for September 2008, and have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
| Total Fleet | In service | Percentage of Total Fleet that is in service | Number in FF | Percent age of in service aircraft in FF | Number of aircraft FFP | Percentage of FF aircraft which are FFP | |
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