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7 July 2009 : Column 656W—continued
| Dari | |||||
| SLP1 | SLP2 | SLP3 | SLP4 | Total | |
| Farsi | |||||
| SLP1 | SLP2 | SLP3 | SLP4 | Total | |
The figures in the table do not include figures for the Special Forces and do not include personnel who have left the services since their language training and whose details are no longer available. The figures for 2009 are to date and do not include expected outputs for the remainder of the year.
Entries are made against the year when qualifications were achieved. SLP levels can be defined as follows: SLP1—Survival, SLP2—Functional, SLP3—Professional and SLP4—Expert. Qualifications in speaking and listening skills have been used to determine the SLP level against which personnel are listed.
The figures for Pashto do not include personnel who received SLP1 level training but were not examined, or did not pass the exam, at this level. It is estimated that up to 200 personnel fall into this category.
In addition to this, all military personnel deploying to Afghanistan receive a little training from native speakers in very basic phrases, words and responses, and are issued with an aide-mémoire. Approximately 14,000 personnel have received this very basic training in the last year.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to his speech given at Wilton Park on 15 January 2009, NATO at 60: towards a new strategic concept, how many additional helicopters have been delivered to forces in Afghanistan as a result of the UK-French Helicopter Fund established in the March 2008 Franco-British Summit Communiqué. [284554]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: A number of nations have benefited from the UK-FR helicopter initiative to make their helicopters more deployable. The first three helicopters will deploy to Afghanistan as a direct result of the initiative from December this year. We expect a further five to deploy in 2010 and up to three more by end 2011. Additional contributions to the fund would further increase these numbers.
Armed Forces: Families
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the (a) travel and (b) accommodation costs of families visiting service personnel in hospital have been met by his Department in the last two years. [283202]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Travel and accommodation at public expense for families visiting service personnel in hospital is covered by the Dangerously Ill Forwarding of Relatives (DILFOR) scheme. This scheme provides for two people to receive the full cost of accommodation and travel, including overseas travel, at public expense. This is usually provided to the individual's emergency contact or next of kin plus one other.
Armed Forces: Training
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many army recruits passed through phase (a) 1 and (b) 2 training without achieving entry level 3 in (i) literacy and (ii) numeracy in the most recent period for which figures are available. [284521]
Bill Rammell: The following table provides training phase 1 and 2 information for the period 31 October 2008 and 30 June 2009.
| Not recorded as achieving entry level 3 | |||||
| Literacy | Numeracy | ||||
| Training phase | Total cohort | Number | Percentage | Number | percentage |
However, some phase 2 trainees conduct apprenticeships, remedial training at Army education centres, or utilise external training providers, and their achievement of entry level 3 standard may not yet be on their personnel file. The figures provided above may therefore be higher than the true position.
Additional measures to support the delivery of basic skills were introduced in 2008, the benefits of which we expect to see in 2009 and beyond.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armoured vehicles of each type are (a) in service with the UK Land Command, (b) fit for purpose, (c) undergoing repair and (d) unavailable for operations for other reasons. [284531]
Mr. Quentin Davies: Headquarters Land Command became Headquarters Land Forces on 1 April 2008. The vehicle holdings, as at 3 July 2009, are provided in the following table.
| Vehicle type | In service | Fit for purpose | Undergoing repair | Unavailable |
Some vehicle platforms have been undergoing radio conversion work, repairs and overhauls and have therefore been taken temporarily out of service on a rolling basis. This has affected the number of fit for purpose vehicles, which can change on a daily basis.
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Government plans to purchase the Avaris 4x4 protected vehicle. [284598]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The Government have no current plans to purchase the Aravis vehicle.
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