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26 Jan 2009 : Column 32W—continued
The figures in this table exclude fuel card purchases and some refuelling arrangements with other nations. Moreover, they do not include fuel for use on operations as non-marine fuels are obtained by arrangement with NATO and the United States.
Departmental ICT
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 24 November 2008 to the hon. Member for Chesterfield, Official Report, columns 897-8W, on departmental ICT, (1) how many of the principal operators of the (a) 65 memory sticks lost or stolen from his Department in 2008 and (b) 11 memory sticks recovered by his Department in 2008, had security clearance to enable then to access (i) confidential, (ii) secret and (iii) top secret information; [249502]
(2) how many of the principal operators of the (a) 120 laptops lost or stolen from his Department in 2008 and (b) 26 laptop computers recovered by his Department in 2008, had security clearance to enable then to access (i) confidential, (ii) secret and (iii) top secret information; [249503]
(3) how many of the principal operators of the (a) 12 desktop computers lost or stolen from his Department in 2008 and (b) the desktop computer recovered by his Department in 2008, had security clearance to enable then to access (i) confidential, (ii) secret and (iii) top secret information; [249504]
(4) how many of the principal operators of the (a) 74 hard drives lost or stolen from his Department in 2008 and (b) five hard drives recovered by his Department in 2008, had security clearance to enable then to access (i) confidential, (ii) secret and (iii) top secret information. [249505]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 12 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1176-77W, on departmental manpower, whether civilian staff who are allocated to the redeployment pool are required to relocate to (a) permanent and (b) temporary positions in specific parts of the country. [250043]
Mr. Kevan Jones:
Generally, full-time civilian staff at band D and equivalent and above have a full mobility
obligation. All part-time staff and those below band D have a minimum mobility obligation, within the travel to work area. All civilian staff, whether in the redeployment pool or not, may be required to transfer within the terms of their mobility obligation, which may be to a permanent or temporary position.
Departmental Mobile Phones
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many mobile telephones (a) were reported as lost or stolen from and (b) have since been recovered by (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies in each year since 2003. [249501]
Mr. Kevan Jones: MOD units are not required to report centrally incidents of loss or theft of mobile phones. The information requested therefore could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
EC Defence Policy
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes in EU defence policy took place during the 2008 French Presidency. [250244]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the Explanatory Memorandum (EM number 30250) submitted for parliamentary scrutiny by the Minister for Europe on the presidency report of the European Security and Defence Policy. This EM was placed in the Library of the House on 10 December 2008 and sets out the HMG view on developments and changes for the European Security and Defence Policy that took place during the French presidency of the EU.
EU Battlegroups
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to his Department of providing Britain’s commitment to the EU Battlegroup was between July and December 2008. [249742]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the answers my predecessor gave on 16 June 2008, Official Report, column 278W, and 2 June 2008, Official Report, column 681W. The UK EU Battlegroup did not deploy and hence there were no additional deployment-related costs to the UK.
Ex-servicemen: Radiation Exposure
Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent representations he has received from veterans who were present at the nuclear tests which took place in and around Malden Island in the 1950s; if he will make compensation payments to such veterans whose health was affected by the tests; and if he will make a statement. [250209]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 22 January 2009]: I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave today to the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Davies) and to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr. Hayes).
Mr. Dai Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent representations his Department
has received from the British Nuclear Test Veterans' Association (BNTVA) over claims for compensation from such veterans; and what the outcome was of his most recent meeting with the BNTVA to discuss compensation. [248784]
Mr. Kevan Jones: In December 2008 I received a letter signed by the Chairman of the BNTVA John Lowe, the hon. Member for Billericay (Mr. Baron) and my hon. Friend hon. the Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson). That letter set out a case for an end to the atomic veterans litigation and for payment of damages to "nuclear test veterans and their affected offspring". While I have considered the points made, the Ministry of Defence has seen no general evidence of damage to nuclear test veterans' health, and therefore in my view the atomic veterans litigation must proceed at the High Court. I will place a copy of that letter and my reply in the Library of the House.
I do, however, take the concerns of our nuclear test veterans very seriously. For that reason, I met with representatives of the BNTVA, John Baron and Ian Gibson in October 2008 to discuss taking forward a study into the health of the offspring of nuclear test veterans. Officials also met the BNTVA and John Baron on 4 December 2008 to discuss preliminary scientific and ethical considerations that may be relevant to such a study. Both meetings were in clear agreement that compensation should not be discussed in advance of the forthcoming legal case. The Ministry of Defence has received no other recent representations from the BNTVA concerned with claims for compensation.
We are currently arranging a follow-on meeting to include the BNTVA and scientific experts, to take place as soon as practicable.
Future Large Aircraft
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what progress has been made on the position of the A400M project; and if he will make a statement; [249608]
(2) what the expected delivery dates for the A400M aircraft are; whether the aircraft will meet the Royal Air Force's heavy lift requirement needs; what recent discussions his officials have had with Airbus on the project; and if he will make a statement. [249609]
Mr. Quentin Davies: A contract for the development and production of the A400M aircraft was signed with Airbus Military on 27 May 2003 by the Organisation for Joint Armaments Co-operation (OCCAR) on behalf of participating nations (Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Turkey and the UK). The UK offtake is 25 aircraft from a total order of 180. The A400M is proving to be a challenging programme, and several delays and programme slips have been announced. Most recently, EADS/Airbus Military announced a slow down in production and that the first flight of the A400M prototype aircraft will slip until the “second half of 2009”.
EADS/Airbus Military have recently presented a proposed way ahead for the A400M programme and announced that they wish to discuss the delivery schedule
and specific performance characteristics. The implications of these proposals are being studied by the nations and OCCAR.
Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of co-operation between his Department and the Department for International Development in Operation Telic. [250853]
Mr. Hutton: There is strong and effective cooperation between officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development on Operation TELIC and in other areas of stabilisation and conflict prevention activity. On a recent visit to Basra, the US Commanding General in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, praised the levels of UK civil-military integration in Basra, describing it as ‘the way forward' for Iraq.
Joint Strike Fighter
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on procurement of the Joint Strike Fighter. [248373]
Mr. Quentin Davies: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer on 6 November 2008, Official Report, column 676W, to the hon. Member for Mid-Sussex (Mr. Soames) .
Met Office: Consultants
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much the Meteorological Office has spent on (a) public affairs firms and consultants and (b) external public relations companies in the last five years; and on which firms the money was spent. [250236]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The information requested is provided in the following table.
| £ | |||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
Payments to public affairs firms relate to training for Met Office witnesses appearing before Select Committees; training for Met Office staff in stakeholder management; assistance with the development and strengthening of relationships with key stakeholders, and support for Met Office participation in stakeholder events relating to meteorology and climate science.
Payments to external public relations companies relate to the provision of general PR support and advice. The Met Office no longer uses external public relations companies for this purpose.
Military Aircraft
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many helicopters were available for deployment by each service in each year since 2001. [249702]
Mr. Quentin Davies: All aircraft in the Forward Fleet are available for potential deployments worldwide. The Forward Fleet figures for each helicopter type by service are shown in the following table.
| Financial year | ||||||||
| Helicopter type | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
| (1) Not in service (2) Not recorded | ||||||||
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