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3 Mar 2009 : Column 1434W—continued
Information on the percentage of hearing for these personnel is not held electronically and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces pensions have been awarded to people who were discharged from the armed forces with defective hearing since 1980. [259867]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 2 March 2009]: The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what compensation is payable to a member of the armed forces discharged with hearing loss of under 20 per cent. if the hearing loss increases subsequently. [259868]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 2 March 2009]: Under War Pension Scheme and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme legislation there is no compensation payable to personnel with noise induced hearing loss of less than 20 per cent. The body of medical opinion confirms that hearing loss caused by excessive noise does not increase once exposure to the source of the noise ceases. Any subsequent hearing loss cannot therefore be due to service.
Armed Forces: Languages
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British military personnel have received training in the (a) Farsi or Dari, (b) Arabic, (c) Urdu and (d) Pashto languages in each year since 2007. [258874]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The information is not held in the format requested. The numbers of exams taken in the years 2007-09, however, are as follows:
| Total | |
| (1) Figures for 2008-09 are to date as the training year is not yet complete. | |
Armed Forces: Manpower
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the current (a) trained requirement, (b) actual strength and (c) numbers fit for duty is for each regiment of the (i) Royal Logistics Corps, (b) Royal Artillery, (c) Royal Signals and (d) Royal Engineers. [258878]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces: Mental Illness
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many and what percentage of armed forces personnel who have served in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan have been diagnosed with a mental health condition; [253720]
(2) how many service personnel who have served in (a) Afghanistan since 2001 and (b) Iraq since 2003 his Department has recorded as having a mental health condition of each type in each year since 2001. [258871]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 3 February 2009]: Since July 2007 the Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) organisation has reported on the Psychiatric Morbidity of the UK armed forces. Quarterly reports for the whole of 2007 are available to view both in the Library of the House and on the DASA website at:
Equivalent verified data prior to 2007 are not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The morbidity report shows the number of new attendances at military Departments of Community Mental Health (DCMHs) during each quarter and the results of the initial mental health assessment. The figures shown in the following table are extracted from the morbidity report and show initial assessments of mental disorder broken down by operational deployment for the calendar year 2007.
| I nitial mental disorder assessments in 2007: ICD-10 groupings by deployment | ||||
| Deployment: theatres of operation | ||||
| Iraq and/or Afghanistan( 1) | Iraq | Afghanistan( 1) | Not known( 2) | |
| ICD-10 description | Patients seen | Patients seen | Patients seen | Patients seen |
| (1) Does not include personnel deployed to Afghanistan during the period January 2003 to October 2005. (2) Records supplied without identifiers. (3) Data for disorders due to use of alcohol are not available for the period January—March 2007. | ||||
DASA’s statistics show that the total number of new patients assessed with a mental health disorder during their first appointment at MOD’s out-patient DCMHs during 2007 is 19.9 per 1,000 strength of the armed forces, or 1.99 per cent. This figure covers all patients, including those who had not deployed operationally. Of the 190,400 regular members of the armed forces in service on 1 January 2008, 56 per cent. had previously deployed on operations to Iraq, Afghanistan or both theatres.
Armed Forces: Pay
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people in (a) the armed forces and (b) his Department receive the X-factor adjustment to military pay, broken down by rank. [258428]
Mr. Kevan Jones: X-Factor is paid in addition to base pay to reflect the relative disadvantage between the conditions of service experienced by members of the armed forces over a full career and conditions in civilian life. It is only paid to service personnel and is for the duration of their Service career regardless of where they are serving.
All Regular, mobilised reserve and full-time reserve service personnel receive full X-Factor, which is currently 14 per cent. of base pay, up to the rank of lieutenant colonel and equivalent. Beyond this point it tapers in recognition of the diminishing impact of the X-Factor components on higher ranks. The level of X-Factor for other reserve personnel is set at either 0 per cent. or 5 per cent. of base pay depending on their level of commitment.
The following table gives approximate numbers, by rank, of personnel who receive X-Factor. For simplicity, NATO ranks have been used.
| Officers | |
| Other ranks | |
Defence: Procurement
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated cost of the Support Vehicle programme was on 31 March (a) 2002, (b) 2003, (c) 2004, (d) 2005, (e) 2006, (f) 2007 and (g) 2008, broken down by (i) direct resource departmental expenditure limit (DEL), (ii) indirect resource DEL and (iii) capital DEL. [257776]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures include the cost of the assessment, demonstration and manufacture phases. There are no records of support vehicle project costs prior to 2003.
| £ million | |||||||
| As at 31 March each year | |||||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
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