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14 May 2009 : Column 944W—continued
I am withholding the information requested on the numbers of vehicles available for deployment for operational security reasons.
Army: Parachuting
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of (a) 2 Para, (b) 3 Para, (c) 7 Para and (d) 9 Para are out-of-date parachutists under the two-year military parachutist in-date rule. [275232]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The percentage of parachutists within 2, 3, 7 and 9 PARA that are out-of-date in accordance with the two-year military in-date rule are provided in the following table:
| Unit | Percentage of trained Parachutists out-of-date |
Defence Medical Services: Manpower
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) required and (b) actual strength of each (i) service and (ii) trade of the Defence Medical Services is. [275043]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Manning statistics for the Defence Medical Services (DMS) are updated twice a year, in April and October. The April 2009 data are currently being collated, but the following table summarises the October 2008 figures. This table provides the required manning level of the DMS, the additional requirement for a manning and training margin (MTM), and the total number of personnel, which has also been split between the trained strength and those in training.
| Requirement | MTM( l) | Personnel trained strength | Personnel in training( 2) | Personnel total | |
| (1) The MTM includes a margin of trained personnel to take account of non-effective trained personnel. Non effective personnel are those who are trained but on terminal leave, long term sickness or mid career training. It also includes personnel who are undergoing speciality training i.e. holding some qualifications but not yet fully accredited. Our manning figures do not separate these elements, and so the table simply details the total requirement and the two constituent groups of personnel into the categories trained and ‘in training’. (2) “Personnel in training” does not include personnel who are already trained in a medical speciality and who are in career directed professional training. | |||||
Tables providing the figures for each medical speciality, that show the requirement and the number of trained personnel, but not personnel in training, in each medical and dental personnel division of the armed forces as at October 2008, have been placed in the Library of the House.
Departmental Data Protection
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many incidents of data loss from his Department involving (a) personal computers, (b) laptops and (c) portable USB devices have been recorded in 2009. [275111]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The MOD takes any loss of information and associated media storage devices very seriously and has robust procedures in place to mitigate against such occurrences. New processes, instructions and technological aids are also being implemented to mitigate human errors and raise awareness of every individual in the Department. The following table shows the number of incidents of data losses from MOD involving (a) personal computers, (b) laptops and (c) portable USB flash memory devices that have been centrally recorded from 1 January to 11 May 2009.
| Total devices lost/stolen | |
Departmental Housing
Mr. Neil Turner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many units of accommodation of (a) one, (b) two and (c) three or more bedrooms his Department retains for the purposes of accommodating
serving (i) officers and (ii) officials on long-term secondment to his Department; and what his most recent estimate is of the average annual (A) gross and (B) net cost of each type of accommodation in each such category. [273432]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I will write to my hon. Friend.
Departmental Mobile Phones
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) BlackBerry devices and (b) mobile telephones have been lost by (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005. [274463]
Mr. Hutton: MOD branches are not required to report centrally incidents of loss or theft of mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) therefore this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. As regards PDA BlackBerry devices, the following table shows losses by year since 2005. The PDA lost in 2009 is the only recorded incident involving a special adviser.
| PDAs lost | |
Departmental Publications
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of each edition of his Department’s in-house staff magazine. [274979]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The principal central MOD publication, Defence Focus is distributed to the Houses of Parliament via the House of Lords Library, who receive a number of copies. We are making arrangements for future editions of Defence Focus to be distributed to the House of Commons Library, and will ask that they hold a copy of each edition in their archive.
Departmental Redundancy
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people he expects to be made redundant from his Department in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010. [275123]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Every effort is made to avoid compulsory redundancies across the Department. A departmental early release scheme will result in 498 volunteers leaving the Department early in financial year 2009-10, but there are no plans for compulsory redundancies.
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his Department's staff have been made redundant in each of the last five years; and how much was paid in redundancy compensation in each such year. [275124]
Mr. Kevan Jones: To provide specific information would require a Department-wide trawl to ascertain total costs for all individuals who have left the Department on redundancy terms on local redundancy schemes. This could be done only at disproportionate cost.
We hold information centrally on Department-wide voluntary early release schemes launched in 2005 and 2008, in connection with the civil service-wide reductions required under the 2004 and 2007 spending reviews. The total liability cost to the Department of individuals who left or are expected to leave on voluntary terms under these schemes is as follows:
| Financial year | £ million | Releases |
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