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14 May 2009 : Column 935W—continued
Police: Standards
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken to refocus the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) on its extended role in (a) supporting forces to respond to inspections and (b) assisting forces to improve their performance; and what the timetable for full transition of the NPIA to this new role is. [273034]
Jacqui Smith: The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) is putting in place a new team that will, by June 2009, be able to provide assistance to police forces and authorities that wish to have the agency’s help to improve their performance. This unit will comprise of five elements: a core team, a centre of excellence in performance management, peer teams, existing NPIA expertise and a knowledge resource.
Terrorism
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will hold discussions with representatives of police forces on the application of section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to persons arranging or managing a meeting to be addressed via a video link by a person who belongs or professes to belong to an organisation listed in the Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2001; and if she will make a statement. [274020]
Mr. Coaker: There are no current plans for discussions with police forces on this subject.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the role of the British military is in effecting reconciliation in Afghanistan. [273713]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 8 May 2009]: As the Prime Minister reiterated in his statement of 29 April 2009, Official Report, column 871, a key element of UK strategy in Afghanistan is to support the Afghan Government as they take forward the process of reconciliation.
International forces are in Afghanistan to create the security environment required for a successful Afghan-led political settlement.
Aircraft Carriers
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost to the public purse (a) in total and (b) in interest incurred of the period between the originally announced completion date for the Royal Navy aircraft carriers and the most recent estimate of the completion date. [275188]
Mr. Quentin Davies: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Devizes (Mr. Ancram) on 11 May 2009, Official Report, column 605W.
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence where refits of the new aircraft carriers will be carried out. [275493]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The in-service support solution for the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers has yet to reach its main investment decision point, and so no decision has yet been taken on this issue.
Armed Forces: Empty Property
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of (a) service family accommodation and (b) single living accommodation (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas are void properties. [275013]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The table provided shows the number of void service family accommodation properties held in the UK and Overseas as at 1 May 2009:
| Total void SFA | |||
| Location | Total number of SFA | Number | Percentage |
It is not possible to provide the number of void single living accommodation properties as the information is currently being verified.
Service accommodation is held void for various reasons such as it is awaiting moves of service personnel, improvement or modernisation, demolition or disposal. The Department is making vigorous efforts to reduce the percentage of voids, but there will always need to be a management margin to allow properties to be available for eligible service personnel when required.
Armed Forces: Housing
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the defects at the service family accommodation at Jubilee Buildings, Queens Terrace, St. John’s Wood; what his Department’s remedial plan for this accommodation is; and what the (a) timetable and (b) budget is for its repair. [274748]
Mr. Kevan Jones: As might be expected after decades of underinvestment there are many issues arising from these properties and the accommodation is not of the high standard to which we aspire.
Although essential maintenance and repairs continue to be carried out and issues raised by occupants are addressed, these properties are not required beyond 2011 and accordingly no major modernisation or improvement works are planned.
I have also asked for an update on these buildings and will write following this.
Dr. Murrison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons permission for hon.
Members to visit service family accommodation at Jubilee Buildings, Queen’s Terrace, St. John’s Wood has been refused. [274749]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I wrote to the hon. Member on 25 April 2009 stating that there were some issues with the accommodation and that I would write to him again shortly with details of these and our steps to resolve them.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints Modern Housing Solutions received about accommodation maintenance in each of the last 12 months. [274982]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The number of complaints received by Modern Housing Solutions (MHS) in each of the last 12 months is provided in the following table.
| Total number of complaints received | Number of complaints regarding maintenance( 1) | |
| (1) Total complaints less those about missed appointments. | ||
The figures have been broken down to separate cases where MHS have paid compensation to service family accommodation (SFA) occupants for missed appointments.
MHS are responsible for the maintenance and repair of approximately 45,000 SFA properties in England and Wales and carry out over 200,000 response repair jobs each year.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of units of (a) single living accommodation and (b) service family accommodation at each location in England there are at each grade. [274983]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The table provided as follows shows, as of December 2008, the number and percentage of single living accommodation (SLA) broken down by grade. Grade is an assessment of the size, amenities and condition of the SLA.
| Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Grade 3 | Grade 4 | ||||||
| Region | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Grand total |
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