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26 Feb 2009 : Column 1060W—continued


Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the forecast cost of the Modernised Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilots Night Vision Sensor programme was from the (a) direct resource departmental expenditure limit (DEL), (b) indirect resource DEL and (c) capital DEL at 31 March (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2007 and (iv) 2008. [257782]

Mr. Quentin Davies: The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures include the cost of the assessment, demonstration and manufacture phases.

£ million
31 March 2005 31 March 2006 31 March 2007 31 March 2008

Direct Resource DEL

28

29

28

(1)33

Indirect Resource DEL

8

9

8

6

Capital DEL

218

199

199

197

Total

254

237

235

236

(1 )The apparent increase in RDEL as at 31 March 2008 is due to a change in reporting in relation to contracted-out services VAT. This is a requirement of MPR but is not a cost to the Department as VAT is recovered under the COSVAT scheme. In real terms the costs have not risen.

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the forecast cost of the Merlin Sustainment Capability programme was from the (a) direct resource departmental expenditure limit (DEL), (b) indirect resource DEL and (c) capital DEL at 31 March (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008. [257783]

Mr. Quentin Davies: The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures include the assessment, demonstration and manufacture costs.

£ million
31 March 2007 31 March 2008

Direct Resource RDEL

27

27

Indirect Resource DEL

27

27

Capital DEL

805

805

Total

859

859


Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the forecast cost of the Nimrod Maritime Reconnaissance and Attack Mk 4 Programme was from the (a) direct resource departmental expenditure limit (DEL), (b) indirect resource DEL and (c) capital DEL at 31 March (i) 2001, (ii) 2002, (iii) 2003, (iv) 2004, (v) 2005, (vi) 2006, (vii) 2007 and (viii) 2008. [257785]

Mr. Quentin Davies: The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures include the cost of the assessment, demonstration and manufacture phases.

£ million
31 March 2001 31 March 2002 31 March 2003 31 March 2004 31 March 2005 31 March 2006 31 March 2007 31 March 2008

Direct Resource DEL

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

Indirect Resource DEL

373

371

596

406

549

452

449

461

Capital DEL

2,462

2,467

2,780

3,187

3,258

3,064

3,052

3,141

Total

2,840

2,843

3,381

3,598

3,812

3,521

(1)3,505

3,607

(1 )Due to rounding, the total figure does not equal the sum of the parts
Note:
Due to rounding, the figure for 2005 and 2007 do not exactly equal the overall total programme cost published in the Major Project report of the year in question.

Departmental Internet

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish a copy of his Department’s website accessibility plan. [257238]

Mr. Kevan Jones: An accessibility policy is available for the MOD corporate website

The policy was produced in line with guidance from the Central Office of Information (COI). The policy contains an action plan for compliance with World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0

Conformance Level Double A


26 Feb 2009 : Column 1061W

or WCAG 2.0

equivalent where applicable, by December 2009. A web page summary of the www.mod.uk accessibility policy will be published to the site by 2 March 2009, as well as the full policy.

Departmental Manpower

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2009, Official Report, columns 32-3W, on departmental manpower, in which parts of the country civilian staff in the redeployment pool band D and equivalent and above are required to work. [258590]

Mr. Kevan Jones: Full-time staff at Band D and equivalent and above are classed as having a full mobility obligation, which renders them liable to transfer to any location in the UK or abroad. Staff below Band D and all part-time staff, regardless of grade, have a minimum mobility obligation. This means that they are liable to temporary detached duty and can be transferred locally to other suitable employment within reasonable daily travelling distance.

Empty Property

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated cost in empty property business rates for the vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS database owned by (a) his Department and (b) the Met Office is in 2008-09. [258515]

Mr. Kevan Jones: MOD has only one part vacant property recorded on e-PIMS. The estimated cost of the vacant element is £2,425 in 2008-09. The MOD actually pays some £60,000 per annum in rates on the building. There are no costs associated with properties owned by the Meteorological Office.

Ex-servicemen: Offenders

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) plans to undertake on (i) the factors associated with offending by former members of the armed forces
26 Feb 2009 : Column 1062W
and (ii) the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder amongst such offenders. [258186]

Mr. Kevan Jones: In concert with the Ministry of Justice the Ministry of Defence plans to conduct research this year on the proportion of veterans in the prison population using data provided by the Ministry of Justice. We also aim to conduct research on offending among those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan linked to our existing health research on this cohort which includes mental health aspects such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the schedule of payments is for the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft under the private finance initiative contract; and when each payment is due to be made. [258997]

Mr. Quentin Davies: The payment for the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft is dependent upon the level of usage by the MOD. Invoices will be presented to the MOD each month.

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the private finance initiative contract signed with the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft consortium requires the armed forces to use the consortium to undertake all air-to-air refuelling tasks for the period of the contract. [258998]

Mr. Quentin Davies: The FSTA contract does not prevent the RAF from continuing to receive from, or provide fuel to, other nations’ air forces.

Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many equipment failure reports have been received in respect of armoured vehicles during (a) operations in (i) Iraq and (ii) Afghanistan and (b) training in each of the last 12 months, broken down by vehicle type. [257679]

Mr. Quentin Davies: The information is shown in the following table.


26 Feb 2009 : Column 1063W

26 Feb 2009 : Column 1064W
Equipment failure reports
2008 2009
Vehicle Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan

Iraq

Bulldog

29

15

14

10

13

12

1

30

0

13

6

11

Challenger 2

37

10

8

10

0

7

13

8

31

37

0

27

Titan

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

Trojan

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

CVR(T)

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

Mastiff

22

7

8

18

7

2

22

32

14

9

12

70

Saxon

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

Vector

0

0

0

0

0

0

19

24

0

19

3

9

Warrior

65

24

29

88

11

10

14

26

12

32

6

12

Afghanistan

Bulldog

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

Challenger 2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

Titan

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

Trojan

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

CVR(T)

6

0

59

6

30

42

76

2

53

2

0

25

Mastiff

17

0

5

22

2

7

0

0

6

0

13

2

Saxon

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Vector

35

14

1

4

3

0

1

9

3

1

0

8

Warrior

5

35

2

1

3

3

11

10

4

0

1

5

Other

Bulldog

4

6

3

28

8

11

35

7

6

12

1

4

Challenger 2

124

85

58

100

113

94

133

82

166

89

92

73

Titan

9

19

38

91

73

3

35

17

13

16

8

10

Trojan

9

8

13

93

43

4

71

19

28

57

118

50

CVR(T)

46

9

37

24

28

43

10

50

28

41

6

38

Mastiff

25

1

5

8

2

0

0

17

3

2

7

3

Saxon

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

Vector

0

2

1

0

1

1

3

2

7

2

1

0

Warrior

30

33

15

11

22

16

12

58

36

38

30

28

(1) Not deployed

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