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6 Nov 2008 : Column 674W—continued
| 2006-07 | |||||||||||||
| £ million | |||||||||||||
| Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | Total | |
| 2007-08 | |||||||||||||
| £ million | |||||||||||||
| Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | Total | |
Although the Department centrally records annual expenditure on electricity worldwide, it would incur disproportionate cost to identify the amounts spent for individual countries, including the UK, and to provide a breakdown by month.
The total spent worldwide in each of the last five financial years, excluding that on overseas operations, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, is as follows:
| £ million | |||||
| Financial year | |||||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
These figures do not include expenditure by the MOD’s Trading Funds, which are not included within the MOD’s accounting boundary.
Departmental Older Workers
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people aged over (a) 55 and (b) 60 years of age were recruited by his Department in 2007-08; and what percentage in each case this was of the number of new recruits. [228758]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The following table shows the intake of civilian personnel aged 55 and above, and 60 and above for 2007-08, in respect of headcount and percentage of total.
| 2007-08 | ||
| Headcount | Percentage | |
| Notes: 1. All numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. 2. These figures include civilian intake data for the top level budgets and trading funds, but exclude data for locally engaged civilians and royal fleet auxiliary personnel for whom intake data by age are not known. | ||
Ex-servicemen: Employment
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the proportion of military personnel from the North East returning from active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan which has been able to find alternative employment on leaving the armed forces in each of the last three years. [232795]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Information on alternative employment of military personnel leaving the armed forces and the residential location of military personnel on discharge is not held centrally and therefore it is not possible to provide the requested estimate without incurring disproportionate cost.
The Department does however hold employment statistics, in six-monthly tranches, for those service leavers seeking employment and using the services of the MOD's resettlement contract, which is known as the Career Transition Partnership. For the last three years available, from October 2004 to September 2007, the percentage of service leavers in employment within six months of discharge is an overall 94.7 per cent.
Gurkhas
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Gurkhas joined the British Army prior to 1 May 1997; and what estimate he has made of the number of dependants of Gurkhas who served in the British Army prior to that date. [233749]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Brigade of Gurkhas became part of the British Army on 1 January 1948, following Indian independence. Between 1948 and 1997, some 30,100 Nepalese men joined the Brigade.
There are no data readily available to give a reliable estimate of the number of dependants for this group of Gurkha veterans.
Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total cost to date has been of the deployment of forces in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan. [233558]
Mr. Hutton: MOD identifies the costs of operations in terms of the net additional costs it has incurred, that is the costs that the Department would have incurred regardless of the operation taking place, such as wages and salaries, are not included. Savings on activities that have not occurred because of the operation—training exercises for example—are also taken into account in arriving at the net figures.
The total annual audited cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are set out as follows:
| Iraq | |||
| £ million | |||
| Operations in Iraq—resource costs | Expenditure on capital equipment | Total | |
| Afghanistan | |||
| £ million | |||
| Operations in Afghanistan —resource costs | Expenditure on capital equipment | Total | |
The forecast of spend for Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008-09 will be bid for in the Winter Supplementary Estimates which is due to be published in mid-November.
Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what cost control regime applies to the joint strike fighter programme; and if he will make a statement. [233596]
Mr. Quentin Davies: Cost control for the UK contribution to the joint strike fighter system development and demonstration phase is exercised through a US/UK Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which fixes our contribution at $2 billion. The UK has an incremental acquisition strategy for aircraft production and through life support in accordance with the production, sustainment and follow on development MOU. The UK can purchase aircraft when required to meet our affordability and capability requirements.
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the target offtake of the joint strike fighter is; and what it was estimated to be in 2004. [233597]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The UK has adopted an incremental acquisition strategy to procure and support JCA. The number that will be acquired will be set when the programme reaches sufficient maturity and will also be shaped by defence needs at the time.
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the joint strike fighter will be able to carry and fire (a) Storm Shadow and (b) Brimstone. [233598]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The joint strike fighter (JSF) will enter into UK service with a baseline air to air and precision air to ground capability. Decisions on the integration of future weapons capabilities have yet to be taken but under current planning assumptions both will be integrated on JSF.
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which UK weapons systems are to be fully integrated to the joint strike fighter. [233599]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) and Paveway IV are being fully integrated into joint strike fighter during the system development and demonstration phase of the programme.
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