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20 July 2009 : Column 888W—continued
Military Bases: Northern Ireland
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 6 July 2009, Official Report, column 558W, on gifts and endowments, which military bases in Northern Ireland were sold to the Northern Ireland Executive; and at what cost. [287786]
Mr. Kevan Jones: To date, three sites have been sold to the Northern Ireland Executive at market value. They are Grosvenor Barracks, Enniskillen at £15.45 million, Girdwood Barracks, Belfast at £7 million and Clooney Barracks, Londonderry at £12.78 million.
In addition, working in partnership with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the Department of Social Development, Oaklee Housing Association were appointed to take ownership of 112 former Ministry of Defence houses at Pond Park, Lisburn which were sold for £7 million in financial year 2008-09.
Navy
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's plans are for replacing the Royal Navy's mine countermeasures vessels. [287166]
Mr. Quentin Davies: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 March 2009, Official Report, columns 891-92W, to the hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis).
Navy: Manpower
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many naval officers are serving on all ships in commission, including those in refit. [287195]
Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the answers my predecessor gave to the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox) on 13 November 2007, Official Report, column 127W and 4 February 2009, Official Report, column 1257W.
Nuclear Weapons
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether a British nuclear deterrent system consisting of (a) land-based, (b) air-launched and (c) ship-borne nuclear cruise missiles would be compatible with the provisions of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. [287182]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty is a bilateral treaty between the US and Russia. The UK is not a state party to the treaty and our nuclear deterrent is not bound by its provisions.
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his latest estimate is of the lifetime cost of a replacement system for Trident. [288433]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 July 2009, Official Report, column 19W, to the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael).
Parachute Training
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much expenditure on parachute training his Department has incurred in each of the last five years. [284534]
Bill Rammell: The figures provided in the following table show the operating and staff costs for: No 1 Parachute Training School (PTS), RAF Brize Norton; its Parachute Support Wings; and the Joint Service Parachute Centres (JSPC). The training undertaken by the PTS and its support wings provide basic parachute training and specialist high altitude training. The JSPCs undertake freefall parachute training as part of military adventurous training.
| Cost (£ million) | |
The costs include those incurred by the RAF Falcons Display team which cannot be separated. However, the majority of team members are instructors and their display activities are considered to be training in free-fall techniques which they then use in their role as instructors. Military aircraft costs are excluded as they have already been programmed as part of the RAF Management Plan and would be incurred whether the aircraft were used for parachute training or other activities.
During financial year 2005-06 the Parachute Support Wings were restructured, which is a contributory factor in the drop in costs in subsequent years.
Permanent Joint Headquarters
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons there is no permanent representation of (a) the Stabilisation Unit and (b) the Joint Cimic Group at Permanent Joint Headquarters. [287937]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: There are good working relationships between the Ministry of Defence, Stabilisation Unit and the Joint Civil-Military Co-ordination Group at all levels. No requirement has been identified for permanent representation of the Stabilisation Unit or the Joint Civil-Military Co-ordination Group at the Permanent Joint Headquarters given the close engagement that exists on a wide range of issues.
There is an increasingly capable joint effort in Afghanistan brought together through the Civil Military Mission Helmand which is staffed by civilian personnel from across Whitehall and the armed forces.
Piracy
Mr. Holloway:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) of
29 June 2009, Official Report, column 46W, on piracy: Navy, on what authority the Royal Navy has seized weapons during the boarding of pirate vessels in the last 12 months. [287714]
Bill Rammell: In the last 12 months, the Royal Navy has seized weapons from suspected pirates in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Article 105.
Principal Anti Air Missile System: HMS Daring
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated cost to the public purse is of the Principal Anti Air Missile System; and what the estimated cost is of the construction of HMS Daring. [287197]
Mr. Quentin Davies: As set out in the Major Projects Report 2008 (MPR08), the total procurement cost of the Type 45 programme is £6.5 billion. This includes the design and manufacture costs for all six Type 45s to be built and the Principal Anti Air Missile System (PAAMS), renamed Sea Viper by the Royal Navy. These costs are broadly split 60 per cent. for the ship and 40 per cent. for the weapons system. As set out in MPR08, the unit production cost for each Type 45, including PAAMS, is £649 million.
RAF Regiment Field Squadron
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to announce the UK basing arrangements for the new RAF Regiment Field Squadron. [286987]
Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement 'RAF Force Protection Wing' released on 9 July 2009, Official Report, column 51WS. The new RAF Regiment Field Squadron will be based at either RAF Shawbury or RAF Leuchars. The final outcome of the study to determine the optimum basing solution is expected by autumn 2009.
RFA Fort Austin
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how long RFA Fort Austin is planned to remain in extended readiness; and for what reasons it is not being used. [287193]
Mr. Quentin Davies: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahago (Mr. Ingram), gave to him on 3 May 2007, Official Report, column 1854W. It is MOD policy not to publish details of the readiness states of individual Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels or types.
Thermobaric Weapons
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times thermobaric weapons have been used by UK armed forces in each of the last 12 months. [281920]
Bill Rammell
[holding answer 23 June 2009]: UK armed forces use variants of the AGM-114N Hellfire missile, which is an enhanced blast weapon, in Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defence does not classify this weapon as thermobaric. It is, however, sometimes referred to as such in the media. The following table provides details of the number of enhanced blast munitions fired on operations over the last 12 months.
| Number | |
Wind Power: Heysham
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons his Department has objected to the siting of a wind turbine by British Telecom at Heysham, Morecambe. [287993]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Ministry of Defence has objected to the Heysham development on the grounds that the turbines would cause unacceptable interference to air traffic control radar at the nearby Warton airfield. It is believed that this would unacceptably jeopardise flight safety in the airspace around the turbines.
We are working with the developer and hope that we can find mitigation measures to enable us to remove our objection. Failing this, the objection will be maintained.
Treasury
Assets: Sales
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral statement of 29 June 2009, Official Report, columns 21-41, on Building Britain's Future, what categories of asset he plans to include in the proposed £16 billion asset sale. [284414]
Mr. Byrne: Budget 2009 announced that new incentives and mechanisms would be introduced with the aim of realising up to £16 billion of property and other asset sales over the period 2011-14. This comprises fixed asset sales. As announced in "Building Britain's future", the Shareholder Executive will be strengthened by the appointment of a board of external experts to support this agenda.
Banks
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many banks he has visited on official business in the last 12 months. [287955]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 10 June 2009, Official Report, column 901W.
Budget 2009
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many copies of the Budget 2009 Report his Department ordered; and what the cost was of that order. [287947]
Mr. Timms: HM Treasury ordered 1,800 copies of the Budget 2009 report at a cost of £41,000. This figure has been rounded to the nearest thousand pounds and excludes VAT.
Business: Government Assistance
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many applications have been made under the working capital scheme for small and medium-sized businesses to date. [255607]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply.
The Working Capital Scheme is not available directly to businesses. The scheme enables participating banks to increase the amount of working capital they can make available to businesses.
By guaranteeing portfolios of working capital facilities, this will release regulatory capital held by the banks against these portfolios. The banks have agreed they will make commitments to re-deploy this capital in order to increase all types of lending to Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Mid Size Corporates above their current base line.
We have signed £1 billion of guarantees with RBS and Lloyds for portfolios of £2 billion. The financing for businesses it releases has already started from 1 March as a result of the lending agreements based on the Asset Protection Scheme and WCS. We will be allocating from the £10 billion WCS, guarantees for trade credit insurance in response to the constraint to working capital arising from withdrawal of trade credit insurance. We will also be consulting on the viability of using some of these guarantees for letters of credit and other forms of export finance which are also possible areas of constraint for working capital.
Charities
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with charities which have lost money as a result of the collapse of Icelandic banks. [287954]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Government take the problems faced by the charities affected by the Icelandic banking collapse seriously and Treasury Ministers-the Financial Services Secretary and the Economic Secretary-along with the Minister for the Third Sector, have met with representatives of the charities to understand the challenges they face.
Child Trust Fund
Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to publish the Child Trust Fund annual report for 2009. [287319]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: There is no date fixed for the publication of the next Child Trust Fund Annual Statistical Report.
Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of stakeholder child trust funds which have decreased in monetary value since they were taken out; and what estimate he has made of the average monetary value of such decreases. [288178]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: HM Revenue and Customs does not hold data on how many individual child trust fund accounts have fallen or risen in value, nor what the average rise or fall in those values has been. Child trust funds are long-term investments, and the first accounts will not mature until 2020.
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