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29 Jan 2009 : Column 718W—continued
| Light artillery units | |||
| Unit | Operation name | Location | Date |
| (1) Elements of regiment deployed | |||
All deployments are at Regimental Scale of Effort unless otherwise specified.
Departmental Land
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) estimated monetary value, (b) location and (c) size is of each land asset owned by his Department. [252097]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Details of all land owned by the Ministry of Defence are held on a property database, including the last valuation based on the rolling five year revaluation programme undertaken by the Department. Valuations are stated at either replacement cost or existing use value rather than market or sale value and thus do not take account of the possibility of any development potential or any costs associated with the decontamination of the land.
An extract has been taken from the database and will be placed in the Library of the House.
Departmental Public Relations
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East (James Duddridge) of 11 November 2008, Official Report, column 1000W, on departmental public relations, which areas of work and projects the external public relations firm worked on; and for what reasons such work was not conducted in-house. [252214]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence gave on 22 January 2009, Official Report, column 1673W.
Gulf War: Veterans
Mr. Mates: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will commission further research into the diagnosis and treatment of Gulf War veterans’ illnesses; and if he will make a statement. [251121]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Medical Research Council (MRC) has provided independent advice on our Gulf research programme. In 2003, the Ministry of Defence asked the MRC to undertake an independent scientific review of all the UK research work that has been carried out into Gulf veterans’ illnesses in an international context and to advise on whether there are any areas appropriate for future research. The MRC’s recommendations were published on 22 May 2003 and are available at:
A key recommendation was that future research work should focus on improving the long-term health of veterans with persistent symptoms and proposals on rehabilitation therapies were sought. A contract for research into ways of rehabilitating unwell Gulf veterans was awarded to an expert group at Cardiff University last summer and work is expected to be complete by April 2012. In the event of any new research proposals being made that would add to our knowledge on Gulf health issues then the Ministry of Defence will consider funding any proposal for research which has been formally considered and approved by the MRC.
HMS Plymouth
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department will seek to provide an open berth for HMS Plymouth in a British port. [252390]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The former HMS Plymouth is a privately owned vessel. While the Ministry of Defence would always wish to see a dignified and appropriate use for the vessel, it has no practical role in her placement or usage.
Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether HMS Richmond will be deployed to duties pertaining to the arms embargo on the Gaza Strip before Operation Telic ends. [251891]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: We are considering the provision of naval resources to counter the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. No decisions have yet been taken.
Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether Lockheed Martin have been asked to postpone the completion date for the Joint Strike Fighter. [252898]
Mr. Quentin Davies: We have never asked Lockheed Martin to postpone the completion date for JSF. We have not even declared an In Service Date for this programme in the UK and will only do so when the programme is sufficiently mature. We are one of nine participant nations in the JSF programme and its completion date cannot be determined by one participant in isolation.
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the Joint Strike Fighter to enter service. [252899]
Mr. Quentin Davies: We will not be setting in-service dates for the Joint Combat Aircraft (JCA) until we take the main investment decision, and we will take that decision when the project is sufficiently mature. The Joint Strike Fighter remains our preferred solution to meet the JCA requirement and our current plans for JCA remain coherent with the CVF programme.
Mass Media
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of his Department’s contracts with press monitoring services was in each of the last five years. [251223]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Information is only available for the last four financial years. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 November 2008, Official Report, column 1177W, to the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox).
Military Aircraft: Helicopters
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what proportion of helicopter pilots did not undertake the required 15 hours individual flying training per month in the last year. [251748]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: NATO guidance recommends that helicopter aircrew undertake 15 hours flying training per month in order to maintain competency. While this is an accepted guideline across the MOD it is not interpreted as an absolute requirement for Army and RAF helicopter pilots.
Information on individual flying training hours for Army and RAF helicopters is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, Royal Navy regulations require that Royal Navy helicopter pilots undertake 15 hours flying training per month. Figures for the number and proportion of Royal Navy pilots who did not complete 15 hours training per month in the last year are shown in the following table.
| Sea King force | ||||||||
| Merlin force | SK5 | SK7 | Lynx force | |||||
| 2008 | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage |
| Note: These figures only represent the data requested in the question and do not reflect the number of aircrew in current flying practice and therefore ready for duty. Three month rolling currency requirement and currency checks ensure the number of aircrew ready for duty is maximised. | ||||||||
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