Previous Section Index Home Page

Overall, these changes will improve the operation of the asset freezing regime, ensure that it remains fair and proportionate and help facilitate effective compliance by ensuring that prohibitions are more tailored and clearer in how they apply. The Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order will come into effect on 10 August 2009.

Children, Schools and Families

Schools Capital

The Minister for Schools and Learners (Mr. Vernon Coaker): It has become apparent in recent months that some local authorities are facing sudden and sharp increases in demand for primary pupil places. I am today announcing that £200 million of capital funding will be made available in the next financial year to authorities with exceptional need to assist them in building additional permanent primary school places by September 2011.

Detailed guidance on applying for this funding will shortly be made available by my Department. Local authorities will have four weeks to apply and I aim to announce allocations in September.

This funding is in addition to the £1.75 billion of additional investment being made available through the Primary Capital Programme over the next two years, which is supported by significant additional investment committed by local authorities. It is also in addition to the £939 million of capital investment which has been brought forward from 2010-11 to 2009-10 to accelerate thousands of school modernisation projects across England and support jobs and local businesses.


15 July 2009 : Column 21WS

I am also announcing today that the following six local authorities will enter the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme this month: Barnet, Bolton, Hampshire, Peterborough, Sunderland and Wigan. Five of these authorities are new to BSF in line with our aim of getting all authorities into the programme as soon as is practicable.

These six authorities have now demonstrated satisfactorily to Partnership for Schools (PfS) that they are fully ready to start the full development of their projects. Another six local authority projects will join the programme in three months time, with a further six three months after that. This rate of starts will maintain the current rate of delivery of BSF.

This is a prudent and affordable rate of progress for our major strategic programme to renew our schools infrastructure, and which brings benefits for the wider community as well as children.

Communities and Local Government

Fire and Resilience

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr. Shahid Malik): I would like to inform the House about progress on the FiReControl project-part of our major programme of work to ensure that the fire and rescue service is fully equipped to meet the challenges and demands of the modern world.

Recent events, in both Camberwell and Edinburgh, have reinforced the very real significance of doing all we can to ensure the safety of the public and firefighters. FiReControl will provide the public and firefighters with very substantial safety benefits by establishing, for the first time, a linked national network of nine regional fire control centres across England. These will replace the current 46 stand-alone control rooms, operated in each fire and rescue authority (FRA) area.

On a day-to-day basis, the new system will improve firefighter safety, the management of incidents and both the efficiency and responsiveness of the service. Firefighters will have access to safety information and incident details through mobile data terminals, and satellite navigation and automatic tracking of fire appliances will enable more efficient use of resources. Emergency calls from the public will be automatically located and managed using spatial data right down to property level. Control rooms will share calls across the network to manage even the highest call volumes and thereby be more resilient in emergencies. The new network will also improve the country's ability to respond to terrorism, large-scale industrial accidents and natural disasters such as flooding.

FiReControl is a complex and demanding project that involves significant change to operating practices in the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) as well as the development and installation of a major new national IT system. In November 2008 my predecessor informed the House that the project was being rescheduled due to slower than expected progress with development of the new IT, and that we would continue to monitor
15 July 2009 : Column 22WS
progress carefully as there could only be certainty on final timings once we had made progress through the earlier stages.

Good progress is being made on the building of the nine regional centres and the setting up of the local authority controlled companies that will manage the centres. The delivery and installation of equipment in local fire stations is also on track. However, in recent months it has become clear that technical problems with developing the IT system in a way which will meet all our and FRS requirements mean that further time is needed to complete the project.

I am proposing therefore to extend the delivery schedule by 10 months. This means that the first FRSs will switch over to the regional control centres in spring 2011 and the last will switch over by the end of 2012. We have discussed this in detail with the representatives of FRSs and local government, and we believe that this is a realistic timetable. Key Olympic authorities will switch over in time to prepare for the games, and the network will provide robust fall-back arrangements for all FRSs over the Olympic period. I am today publishing a full revised schedule for switch over of all FRSs in all regions and copies will be placed in the Library of the House.

To ensure consistent progress on this revised timescale, we have agreed with EADS, our main supplier, and with key stakeholders, a new approach to delivery to give greater assurance on short-term milestones and closer engagement with FRSs.

We remain committed to meeting all the upfront costs associated with the project and to the principle that no FRA will bear any additional cost as a result of FiReControl implementation. Once the new network is established, many FRAs are expected to make savings. These can be reinvested in local priorities and frontline services. We will be updating the cost figures contained in the FiReControl business case in due course to reflect today's rescheduling.

FiReControl continues to form an important part of the fire and resilience programme, which has already delivered very substantial benefits for the FRS. The new dimensions project has given the FRS new vehicles, equipment, and training to respond to terrorism and natural disasters. The Firelink project is delivering new digital communications technology, which is giving the FRS access to a world class communications system. FiReControl will build on this successful delivery.

Defence

Afghanistan Troop Levels (Autumn 2009 Roulement)

The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Bob Ainsworth): My right hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furness (Mr. Hutton), announced in his statement to the House on 29 April 2009, that Headquarters, 6 (UK) Division would command the International Security Assistance Force's Regional Command (South) from November 2009 to November 2010, Official Report, column 46WS.


15 July 2009 : Column 23WS

The next routine roulement of UK forces in Afghanistan will take place in October 2009. The force package that we plan to deploy will see the current lead brigade, 19 Light Brigade, replaced by 11 Light Brigade which will be committed to Afghanistan until April 2010.

The forces deploying include:


15 July 2009 : Column 24WS

Headquarters, 6 (UK) Division

11 Light Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron (261)

Headquarters, 8 Force Engineer Brigade

Headquarters, 101 Logistic Brigade

Elements of 845 Naval Air Squadron

Elements of 846 Naval Air Squadron

Elements of 857 Naval Air Squadron

Elements of Fleet Diving Unit III

The Household Cavalry Regiment

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery

28 Engineer Regiment

1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards

2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment

1st Battalion The Royal Welsh

3rd Battalion The Rifles

10 Queen's Own Ghurkha Logistic Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps

33 Field Hospital

104 Force Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

160 Provost Company Royal Military Police

Elements of 1 st Royal Tank Regiment

Elements of 2nd Royal Tank Regiment

Elements of 5th Regiment Royal Artillery

Elements of 12th Regiment Royal Artillery

Elements of 16th Regiment Royal Artillery

Elements of 19th Regiment Royal Artillery

Elements of 32nd Regiment Royal Artillery

Elements of 39th Regiment Royal Artillery

Elements of 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal)

Elements of 39 Engineer Regiment (Air Support)

Elements of 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic)

Elements of 101 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) (Volunteers)

Elements of 170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group

Elements of 2 (National Communications) Signal Brigade

Elements of 1st (United Kingdom) Armoured Division Headquarters & Signal Regiment

Elements of 7th Signal Regiment

Elements of 10th Signal Regiment

Elements of 14th Signals Regiment (Electronic Warfare)

Elements of 21st Signal Regiment (Air Support)

Elements of 1st Battalion The Coldstream Guards

Elements of The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland

Elements of 4th Battalion The Lancashire Regiment

Elements of 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment

Elements of 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh

Elements of 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh

Elements of 3rd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment

Elements of 4th Battalion The Rifles

Elements of 1 Regiment, Army Air Corps

Elements of 3 Regiment, Army Air Corps

Elements of 4 Regiment, Army Air Corps

Elements of 9 Regiment, Army Air Corps

Elements of 9 Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps

Elements of 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps

Elements of 24 Postal Courier and Movement Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps

Elements of 27 Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps

Elements of 29 Postal Courier and Movement Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps

Elements of Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps Support Battalion

Elements of 6 Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

Elements of 7 Air Assault Battalion Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers

Elements of 102 Military Working Dog Support Unit

Elements of 1 Military Intelligence Brigade

Elements of the Joint Civil Military Co-operation Group (CIMIC)

Elements of 148 Expeditionary Force Institute Squadron (Volunteers), The Royal Logistic Corps

Elements of Joint Medical Command

Elements of 253 Medical Regiment (Volunteers)

Elements of 254 Medical Regiment (Volunteers)

Elements of 205 Field Hospital (Volunteers)

Elements of 256 Field Hospital (Volunteers)

Number 1 Royal Air Force, Force Protection Wing Headquarters

Number 2 Royal Air Force, Force Protection Wing Headquarters

Number 3 Royal Air Force, Force Protection Wing Headquarters

Number 8 Royal Air Force, Force Protection Wing Headquarters

Elements of Number 3 Royal Air Force Police Wing

2 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment

27 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment

Elements of 3 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment

Elements of 34 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment

9 Squadron, Royal Air Force

31 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 5 (Army Co-Operation) Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 12 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 14 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 18 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 24 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 27 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 28 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 30 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 78 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of the Tactical Supply Wing, Royal Air Force

Elements of 1 Air Mobility Wing, Royal Air Force

Elements of 1 Air Control Centre, Royal Air Force

Elements of 90 Signals Unit, Royal Air Force

Elements of 2 (Mechanical Transport) Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 5001 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Elements of 3 Mobile Catering Squadron

Elements of Tactical Medical Wing

Elements of 93 (Expeditionary Armaments) Squadron

Elements of Tactical Imagery Wing


Volunteer and regular members of the reserve forces will continue to deploy to Afghanistan as part of our integrated force package, and we expect to issue around 710 call-out notices to fill some 650 posts. On completion of their mobilisation procedures, the reservists will undertake a period of training and, where applicable, integration with their respective receiving units. The majority will serve on operations for six or so months. As part of this commitment, we expect up to 21 members of the sponsored reserves to be in theatre at any one time.


15 July 2009 : Column 25WS

I shall make a further statement on the units we expect to commit under 11 Light Brigade's planned replacement formation, 4 Mechanized Brigade, nearer the time of their deployment.


Next Section Index Home Page