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20 Jan 2009 : Column 1260W—continued
Departmental Pay
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy that temporary and permanent employees of his Department employed at the same grade receive the same hourly rate of pay. [248421]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer to him on 14 January 2009, Official Report, columns 584-85W.
Departmental Surveys
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department's central media and communication unit spent on public surveys in each of the last three years. [248032]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The Wales Office has not conducted any public surveys in the last three years.
Departmental Written Questions
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on how many occasions in the last 12 months Ministers in his Department have used their discretion to rule that a parliamentary question for written answer should be answered because it would be in the public interest to do so, even though to do so would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold of £700. [249127]
Offenders
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many former prisoners are employed by his Department; and what his Department's policy is on employing former prisoners. [246335]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The majority of staff working in the Wales office are seconded from other Government departments. Therefore, the individual’s home department under The Civil Service Management Code carries out the necessary security checks. Sections 1.1.5 and 1.1.6 deal specifically with checks before appointment.
Leader of the House
Departmental Data Protection
Paul Holmes: To ask the Leader of the House how many members of staff in her Office have been (a) investigated, (b) suspended and (c) dismissed for losing (i) memory sticks, (ii) laptop computers, (iii) desktop computers and (iv) mobile telephones belonging to her Office in each year since 1997. [248254]
Chris Bryant: There have been no further losses following the answer I gave on 12 November 2008, Official Report, column 1262W, namely that since June 2007, one laptop has been reported stolen from the Leader of the House of Commons Office. The laptop was used to update the office website and did not contain any personal data or other sensitive information. No data have been lost. No members of staff in the Leader’s Office have been investigated, suspended or dismissed for losing memory sticks, laptop computers, desktop computers and mobile phones.
Following a machinery of government change, information prior to 2006-07 is available only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pay
Grant Shapps: To ask the Leader of the House how much has been spent by her Office on staff reward and recognition schemes in each of the last three years. [248723]
Chris Bryant: The amount spent by the Leader’s Office on staff reward and recognition schemes for the year 2007-08 was £192.
Following a machinery of government change, information prior to 2006-07 is available only at disproportionate cost.
Parliamentary Privilege
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Leader of the House what steps she plans to take to ensure the protection of parliamentary privilege; and if she will make a statement. [247967]
Chris Bryant:
The precise nature of parliamentary privilege has been regularly and hotly debated over the centuries and is a key factor of our parliamentary
democracy. The prime responsibility for parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons lies with the Speaker and the Committee on Standards and Privileges.
Defence
Aircraft Carriers
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what effect the decision to delay the in-service date of the new aircraft carriers by up to two years will have on the procurement of aircraft to operate from the carriers. [248364]
Armed Forces: Manpower
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel have been declared unfit for front line duty in each service in the last 12 months. [245113]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The MOD collates, on a quarterly basis, management information on “fit for task”, which provides a measure of the medical fitness of all trained armed forces personnel. These figures are broken down into three categories: Medically Fully Fit, Medically Not Fully Fit and Medically Unfit. It should be noted that the majority of those personnel who fall under the category of Medically Not Fully Fit remain fit enough to work in some capacity and therefore continue to make a contribution to operational effectiveness, often within theatres of operation.
Information from the last four quarterly returns of those personnel within the Naval Service and RAF are shown as follows. Personnel numbers are rounded to the nearest 10, and percentages rounded to one decimal point:
| Naval Service | RAF | ||||
| Number | Percentage of total trained strength | Number | Percentage of total trained strength | ||
The Army currently collates quarterly figures only for its deployable elements, rather than for its total trained strength. This provides snapshot figures of Personnel Unable to Deploy (PUD), though many of these will be able to undertake non-deployed duties. The following
table provides the figures for 2008 of the number of personnel recorded as unable to deploy for medical reasons. Personnel numbers are rounded to the nearest 10, and percentages rounded to one decimal point:
| 1 March 2008 | 1 June 2008 | 1 September 2008 | 1 December 2008 | |
The MOD is in the process of introducing a new and more accurate data-capture system, which will enable it to report validated, comparable data on a tri-service basis.
Armed Forces: Northern Ireland
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel were stationed in Northern Ireland on 1 January 2009. [248114]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: On 1 January 2009, there were some 4,510 armed forces personnel stationed in Northern Ireland.
Defence Equipment: Procurement
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he made of the utility of Dragon Runner to his Department's operation; whether his Department has allocated funds to purchase Dragon Runners; and if he will make a statement. [247849]
Mr. Quentin Davies: We have recently assessed that the Dragon Runner Micro-Remote Control Vehicle (RCV) is the most suitable solution available to meet particular requirements for Explosive Ordnance Disposal. The Department has allocated no funds to the purchase of Dragon Runner Micro-RCVs as these costs are attributable to current operations. Such additional costs of current operations are funded from the Reserve.
Defence Medical Services: Manpower
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the (a) inflow and (b) outflow was of personnel in the Defence Medical Services in each year since 1997, broken down by (i) service and (ii) type; [245110]
(2) what the (a) inflow and (b) outflow was of personnel in the Defence Medical Services in each month in 2008, broken down by (i) service and (ii) type. [245111]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I am placing the available data of the type requested covering the period up to September 2008 for the Royal Navy and RAF in the Library of the House. The data for the Army is only available within proportionate costs, in the summary form shown up to 2006.
Defence: Procurement
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will bring forward proposals to ensure that a certain proportion of all expenditure on defence procurement is spent on products produced by UK-based companies. [248676]
Mr. Quentin Davies: In considering procurement decisions, the Ministry of Defence needs to ensure that it secures the best equipment available for our armed forces whilst at the same time ensuring value for money for the taxpayer. Open and fair competition is the most effective method of making sure that we achieve this. Therefore, the MOD does not mandate that a certain proportion of all expenditure on defence procurement is spent on products produced by UK-based companies. Furthermore, any such action would be against EU law, which forbids the provision of preferential treatment to any company, except in respect of essential security interests which is covered by Article 296 of the European treaty.
Departmental Housing
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many houses owned by his Department are rated as grade (a) one, (b) two, (c) three and (d) four. [248855]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 19 January 2009]: Worldwide, Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties are at the following Grade for Charge (GfC)—an assessment of the chargeable condition of accommodation, along with other factors such as its size, location and closeness to amenities.
| GfC | Number of properties |
SFA properties are either owned by Annington Homes Ltd. (the majority in England and Wales), the MOD (in Scotland and Northern Ireland) or provided by the host nation as is the case overseas.
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