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10 Feb 2009 : Column 1876W—continued
The RAF run one major recruitment campaign each year using a variety of media outlets. It is not possible to identify how many separate advertisements are run within this campaign without disproportionate cost.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent steps he has taken to increase recruitment from ethnic minority groups into the armed forces. [250024]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The armed forces have established ethnic minority recruiting teams in areas with large ethnic minority populations aimed at promoting service careers.
They are engaged in numerous and varied initiatives to encourage more young people from ethnic minority backgrounds to join the armed forces. These include forming new community partnerships, holding personal development courses for schools and community groups, and holding open days and visits to service establishments. The Royal Navy's diversity action team gives presentations in schools, colleges and to community groups, organises five-day personal development courses, attends careers, and cultural and religious festivals and events and engages potential recruits and their gatekeepers. The Army's diversity action recruiting team (DART) provides role models to young people from ethnic minority backgrounds at recruiting events throughout the country. The RAF's motivational outreach team participates in schools’ careers conventions, festivals and sporting events, and visits to youth organisations and ATC/CCF squadrons. They also arrange visits for young people from ethnic minorities to RAF stations.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has any plans to order battlefield evacuation vehicles in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [254996]
Mr. Quentin Davies: A number of battlefield evacuation vehicles (ambulances) are in service. These include variants of Mastiff, Vector, Viking, Bulldog, CVR(T), Land Rover and Saxon. In addition to these, there are ambulance variants in the current orders for Ridgeback, Warthog and tranche 2 of Mastiff. Plans for the next 12 months include the ordering of an ambulance variant in the procurement of the Husky Medium Tactical Support Vehicle.
Departmental Pensions
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to advise staff of pension options available to them in relation to added years or additional voluntary contributions. [253266]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme receive an annual benefit statement showing the pension built up to date, and also a projection of their pension on retirement if they continue in service to scheme pension age. The benefit statement prompts the member to consider boosting their pension and provides details of the civil service pensions website where staff can obtain further information, including options for making additional voluntary contributions and a calculator to work out costs for added pension (previously added years).
New entrants are informed of pension options in the employment offer and are provided with a pension information pack.
The Defence intranet provides comprehensive coverage of the terms and conditions of employment of the Department’s civil servants. This includes information on pension schemes and the ways in which staff can increase their pension benefits. The intranet gives links to the civil service pensions website that explains added pension and additional voluntary contributions for members. The information is also available in scheme booklets which can be accessed via the civil service pensions website or on request from the member’s pensions administrator.
Departmental Temporary Employment
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was spent by his Department on (a) agency and (b) temporary staff in each financial year since 2005-06. [251288]
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 the grades employed by the MOD, or all MOD locations and therefore individual business units are still making their own arrangements to engage temporary staff in some circumstances. This means that information on how much was spent on agency and temporary staff in each financial year since 2005-06 is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Since November 2006, the Department has spent £12.3 million on temporary staff engaged through the PPPA.
EU Rapid Reaction Force
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and which (a) troops and (b) military assets the United Kingdom has contributed to each EU Force Catalogue in each year since 2000. [255628]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The UK has contributed to two EU Force Catalogues, one for the Helsinki Headline Goal in 2004 and the other for the Headline Goal 2010 which superseded the Helsinki Headline Goal in 2006.
For details on our Headline Goal 2010 return, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 4 March 2008, Official Report, column 2348W.
Navy: Deployment
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what naval resources he (a) has deployed and (b) plans to deploy to (i) the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia and (ii) the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Gaza. [254685]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Royal Navy is providing the following assets in the Indian ocean off the coast of Somalia.
An enduring commitment of a frigate to the Combined Maritime Forces: currently HMS Portland operating in the Gulf of Aden;
An enduring commitment of an Arabian Gulf Ready Tanker, supporting coalition operations in the Middle East region, including the Indian ocean: currently RFA Wave Knight;
HMS Northumberland for the first period of the EU counter-piracy mission, Operation Atalanta.
In the Mediterranean sea, we have an enduring commitment of a frigate to Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2): currently HMS St. Albans.
We are also considering the provision of naval resources to counter the smuggling of weapons into Gaza in co-operation with international efforts.
RAF Menwith Hill: Security
Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who meets the costs of policing outside the perimeter of RAF Menwith Hill. [255672]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Ministry of Defence and North Yorkshire Police share the costs of policing outside the perimeter of RAF Menwith Hill.
RAF St. Athan: Welsh Language
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate his Department has made of the costs for contractors working on the defence training establishment proposed for St. Athan of providing all their services bilingually under the terms of the Welsh Language Legislative Competence Order. [254702]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: No estimate has been made by the MOD of potential bilingual costs. The costs for contractors are a responsibility of the Metrix Consortium as developer of the Defence Technical Academy on the St. Athan site.
The Department has a Welsh language scheme and in the conduct of its business with the public in Wales treats the English and Welsh languages on a basis of equality.
SERCO
Mr. Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the value was of his Department's contracts held with SERCO in each of the last five financial years. [253255] [Official Report, 27 March 2009, Vol. 490, c. 6MC.]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The value of contracts with SERCO Group PLC, in terms of spend, in each of the last five financial years was as follows:
| £ million | |
The figures are shown exclusive of VAT rounded to the nearest million. They exclude any contracts placed by MOD Trading Funds or by British Defence staff (Washington) and low-value purchase transactions, for which records are not held centrally.
Warships
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to be able to announce the decision on where to base port the Royal Navy's frigates. [254864]
Mr. Quentin Davies: I refer the hon. Member to my answer on 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 113W.
International Development
Departmental Internet
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which websites are operated by his Department in addition to its main website; and what the operating budget for those websites is. [251421]
Mr. Michael Foster: The information is as follows:
| Website operated by DFID | Operating budget (£) | |
|
Research for Development (R4D) (www.research4development.info) | ||
|
Developments (www.developments.org.uk) | ||
Departmental Recruitment
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many new recruits his Department employed in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2007-08 and (d) 2008-09; how many of these were (i) permanent, (ii) temporary and (iii) agency staff; and what estimate he has made of equivalent recruitment numbers in (A) 2009-10 and (B) 2010-11. [254426]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The following table shows the number of new recruits into DFID between 1 April 2005 and 31 January 2009 broken down into (i) permanent and (ii) temporary staff.
Central records of agency staff employed during this period are not held.
| Date | Permanent | Temporary (fixed term contract) |
DFID has not made a detailed estimate of recruitment numbers for future years, but does not anticipate any significant increases from recent years.
Members: Correspondence
Clare Short:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham,
Ladywood, dated 9 October 2008, on the engagement of his Department's offices in Uganda with the Kingdom of Bunyoro Kitara. [254205]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: A reply to the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood has been issued.
Palestinians: Health Services
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment has been made of the availability of medicines and medical supplies in Gaza; and if he will make a statement. [253962]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The United Nations reports that many medicines and medical supplies are generally available. However there are critical shortages of, for example, certain anaesthetics and essential medical equipment such as defibrillators and syringe pumps.
Gaza's health infrastructure has long been under severe strain due to the restrictions on access for people, commercial goods and humanitarian supplies. Going forward repairing and maintaining health facilities will be a priority. Frequent power cuts and subsequent reliance on generators increases the risk of damaging medicines that need consistent temperature regulation, as well as of harming patients dependent on medical equipment in intensive care. The conflict has exacerbated all these problems as restrictions on Gaza's borders have been further tightened.
The UK Government have repeatedly raised the issue of allowing enough humanitarian supplies and fuel into Gaza with the Israeli Government. We are also supporting organisations that provide direct medical treatment to the sick and injured such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). UNRWA has 18 health centres in Gaza and ICRC’s medical teams were among the first to be allowed in during the conflict.
Palestinians: International Assistance
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he took the decision to write to the Director General of the BBC requesting that the BBC broadcast an advertisement for the Disasters Emergency Committee's Gaza Crisis appeal; and if he will make a statement. [254212]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: I took the decision to write to heads of the BBC, Sky and ITV on 23 January 2009. I refer my hon. Friend to my statement to the House of 19 January 2009, Official Report , column 20WS.
Palestinians: Overseas Aid
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with the Israeli authorities to ensure continuous access for humanitarian relief into Gaza; and if he will make a statement. [253961]
Mr. Douglas Alexander:
As a priority, the UK Government continue to press the Israeli Government to allow full, unhindered and consistent access for humanitarian supplies into Gaza. The Under-Secretary
of State for International Development, my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr. Foster) discussed this issue with Israeli Minister of Welfare and Social Services Isaac Herzog during his visit to the region on 19 January 2009. The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have also consistently pressed UK concerns with Prime Minister Olmert and the Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni respectively.
The UK welcomes the recent letter from the European Union to the Israeli Government expressing these concerns and calling for
“all humanitarian items to be allowed automatic entry to the Gaza strip”.
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