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13 July 2009 : Column 26W—continued
Fit for duty has been interpreted as fit for primary role, including personnel listed as having limited deployability, and personnel unfit for duty in their primary role but who can perform a role in an alternative capacity. This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Military Aircraft
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many equipment failure reports have been recorded in respect of each helicopter type in the (a) Army Air Corps, (b) Fleet Air Arm and (c) Royal Air Force in 2009 to date. [284540]
Mr. Quentin Davies: MOD Form 760 (MF760) is the mandated process for the users to report aircraft faults which include accidental damage, maintenance related failures, breakdowns, and the failure of items fitted to the aircraft. Information on the numbers of such reports raised on each helicopter type for the period 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009 is provided in the following table.
| Helicopter type( 1) | Service | Helicopter, number of 760s | Engine type | Engine( 2,) number of 760s |
| (1 )Commodity items have been excluded. As many items are common to more than one platform the information on these items is not held in a format that would be useful for this answer. (2 )Helicopter engines are administered by a single project team and are identified separately, except in the case of Agusta A109A/AM. (3 )In addition there were 41 MF760s applicable to both Army and RN Lynx. | ||||
The data do not incorporate the results of subsequent investigations and do not, therefore, differentiate between what might later prove to have been operator error or damage sustained as a result of operations. Nor do the data indicate the severity of the failure which might have had no discernible impact on operational capability or safety. These figures do not include any instances of equipment defects that have not been formally reported by the user.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many equipment failure reports have been recorded for each aircraft type in the armed forces in 2009 to date. [284541]
Mr. Quentin Davies: MOD Form 760 is the mandated process for users to report aircraft faults which include accidental damage, maintenance related failures and breakdowns, and the failure of items fitted to the aircraft. Information on the numbers of such reports raised on the fixed-wing aircraft fleets for the period 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009 is provided in the following table.
| Aircraft | Number of MOD Form 760s |
The table excludes MOD Form 760s raised for items or equipments that are common to more than one platform.
These data do not incorporate the results of subsequent investigations and do not, therefore, differentiate between what might later prove to have been operator error or damage sustained as a result of operations. Nor do the data indicate the severity of the failure, which might have had no discernible impact on operational capability or safety. These figures do not include any instances of equipment defects that have not been formally reported by the user.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his most recent estimate is of the cost per flying hour of a (a) Tornado and (b) Typhoon jet. [284989]
Mr. Quentin Davies: I will write to the hon. Member.
RAF Lyneham
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his most recent estimate is of the cost to his Department of the closure of RAF Lyneham. [285548]
Bill Rammell: The closure of RAF Lyneham is currently estimated to have no net cost, since the costs of closing the station are anticipated to be more than offset by savings in future running costs.
Somalia: Piracy
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the unclassified version of the Combined Maritime Forces Headquarters daily counterpiracy campaign update slide for each Monday of each month since February 2009. [270942]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Substantive answer from Bill Rammell to Liam Fox:
My predecessor undertook to write to you with the information promised in the reply given to you on 27 April 2009, Official Report, column 1024W requesting copies of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) Headquarters daily counterpiracy campaign update slides. A CD containing these slides at weekly intervals from 17 February to 29 June 2009 will be placed in the Library of the House.
The CMF is a coalition of 23 nations whose mission is to establish and maintain security in the international waters surrounding the Arabian Peninsula by defeating terrorism, preventing piracy, and reducing the illegal traffic of people and drugs. It is also tasked with responding to environmental and humanitarian crises within its area of operations.
The counterpiracy update slides are presented daily to CMF personnel from member navies and coastguards.
Tornado Aircraft
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Tornado aircraft are (a) in operation and (b) undergoing or awaiting repair or service. [284988]
Bill Rammell: The information requested is set out in the following table.
| In service fleet | Aircraft awaiting or undergoing maintenance or upgrade | |
The Tornado fleet is managed to ensure that sufficient aircraft are available to meet operational commitments. To sustain this, at any one time a number of aircraft will be undergoing or awaiting maintenance or upgrade. The figures above are typical for the Tornado GR4 Fleet. For the Tornado F3 Fleet, the figures reflect the reduced maintenance commitment during the fleet drawdown.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the maintenance costs of the Tornado fleet per aircraft were in the last year for which figures are available. [284990]
Mr. Quentin Davies: Based on the logistic support costs of defence equipment and support that can be directly attributed to the Tornado fleet, the average cost of providing logistic support to the Tornado aircraft in financial year 2008-09 was £1.6 million per aircraft. This figure does not include funding for capability upgrades or DE&S staff costs.
Warships: Construction
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK's naval shipyard capacity. [284823]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The Department set out its assessment of the adequacy of the UK's naval shipyard capacity in the 2005 Defence Industrial Strategy (Cmnd 6697). The Department is committed to work with its industrial partners to manage rationalisation of, and performance improvements in, the UK maritime industrial base to create a sustainable, world-class UK maritime sector.
Weapons: Lost Property
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) weapons and (b) rounds of ammunition for which (i) his Department has and (ii) the armed forces have responsibility have gone missing in Scotland in each of the last five years; and what the monetary value was of such weapons and ammunition. [285564]
Bill Rammell: The information requested is not held centrally in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Women and Equality
Domestic Violence
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what representations she has received on the potential effects of proposals in the Equality Bill on specialist domestic violence services for women. [284692]
Maria Eagle: We have received written representations from End Violence Against Women, Women Against Fundamentalism, Southall Black Sisters, Engender, Justice for Women, the Muslim Women's Network and a summary of responses from Women's National Commission partner organisations.
In June 2009 officials from the Government Equalities Office met with representatives from End Violence Against Women, Southall Black Sisters, Women Against Fundamentalism, and the Poppy project to discuss their concerns that the extension of the equality duty to religion and belief might have a negative impact on how local authorities fund specialist domestic violence services for women. The Government firmly believe these concerns are misplaced, and that the duty will encourage public bodies to consider the impact of their decisions on tackling inequality and disadvantage for all groups, including women.
Domestic Violence: Victim Support Schemes
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality if she will make an assessment of the responsibilities of (a) local authorities, (b) police authorities and (c) primary care trusts for (i) the protection of and (ii) provision of advice to female victims of domestic violence by male asylum-seeking partners or former partners; and if she will make a statement. [283989]
Maria Eagle: The authorities referred to are all subject to the gender equality duty and must have due regard for this when developing their services. The duty requires all public authorities when carrying out their functions to have due regard for the need to:
eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, and
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