| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
14 Sep 2009 : Column 2121W—continued
Bob Russell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of food consumed by members of the armed forces in Helmand province
consisted of locally-grown agricultural products in the latest period for which figures are available. [291016]
Mr. Quentin Davies: No locally produced food has been procured for British troops in Helmand Province by the MOD Food Supply Contractor.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Tornado airframes deployed to Afghanistan have been unserviceable for more than 30 days since the date of deployment since 2001. [291075]
Mr. Quentin Davies: One Tornado aircraft deployed to Afghanistan has been unserviceable for more than 30 days; this has had no operational impact.
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many helicopter journeys have been made to transfer civilian staff to and from the provincial reconstruction team base in Lashkar Gar in the last 12 months; how many of these were for the transport of civilian staff (a) stationed at and (b) visiting the base; and if he will make a statement. [291097]
Mr. Quentin Davies: This information is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much of the budget of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom was spent in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) Wales in each of the last 12 months. [290782]
Mr. Quentin Davies [holding answer 9 September 2009]: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces: Afghanistan
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has received requests for UK troops to be deployed to Afghanistan from (a) NATO and (b) individual NATO member states in the last six months. [290836]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 9 September 2009]: As announced by the Prime Minister at the NATO summit on 3-4 April, the UK deployed an additional 700 troops to Afghanistan following a request from NATO earlier in the year for forces to support the Afghan presidential elections.
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel have served in Afghanistan since 2001. [290887]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 9 September 2009]: As at 1 August 2009, 71,560 members of the UK armed forces have been identified as having deployed to Afghanistan. This includes UK regular forces, Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel and mobilised reservists.
Armed Forces: Bullying
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many cases of bullying in each of the armed forces have been reported in each year since 1997. [291046]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The following table reflects the number of bullying complaints reported since October 2006 for each service. Some tri-service defence organisations do not record the service to which the complainant belongs. Statistical data prior to October 2006 are not held centrally.
| Royal Navy | Army | RAF | Tri-service organisations with placed military | |
Armed Forces: Health Services
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much of the budget of the Defence Medical Services was spent in Scotland in each of the last five years. [290780]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 9 September 2009]: Medical policy for the Defence Medical Services (DMS) is overseen by the Surgeon General's Department (SGD). However, the organisational structure of the DMS means that comprehensive costs by location can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
In Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, the majority of secondary health care is provided in NHS hospitals. The single service medical services are responsible for delivering primary health care to their respective service commanders-in-chief. This includes local medical centres (including GP surgeries), Regional Rehabilitation Units (including one in Edinburgh) and military Departments of Community Mental Health (including three in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness). Owing to the number of different internal budgets to which costs would be attributable, any detailed analysis of the budget spent in Scotland would incur disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces: Higher Education
Angus Robertson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenditure his Department incurred on postgraduate education for serving members of the
armed forces normally based in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Ireland in each year since 1997. [291179]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces: Housing
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was charged to occupants of Modern Housing Solutions housing for damage to that housing in each financial year since 1997. [291045]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Details of the total amounts charged are only available from November 2007 and represent the charges for all service family accommodation (SFA) in Great Britain (up to 31 March 2008) and the UK thereafter. The charges were as follows:
| Period | Total amount charged (£) |
| (1) GB SFA only. (2) UK SFA only | |
These charges also cover SFA properties in Scotland, which are not maintained by Modern Housing Solutions.
Armed Forces: Indonesia
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the future training for members of the Indonesian Kopassus Special Forces by the UK Joint Counter-Terrorist Training and Advisory Team; and if he will make a statement. [290913]
Bill Rammell: [holding answer 9 September 2009]: The MOD provides military advice and assistance to Indonesia as part of normal security cooperation and wider UK Government relations, as the Government do with many countries worldwide.
Armed Forces: Mental Health Services
Mr. Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he plans to take to improve the provision of mental health services to serving and former members of the armed forces. [291119]
Mr. Kevan Jones:
MOD takes very seriously its responsibility to provide high-quality mental healthcare to its personnel, and Defence Medical Services' mental health practitioners remain in touch with the latest advances and developments in treatment in order to ensure that patients receive the most effective and efficient management, subject to proper scientific evaluation and comparison with current effective treatments. We sponsor research and epidemiological studies that address aspects of the mental health of both the in-service and veteran populations. We also maintain a close dialogue with the military medical services of our principal allies, to share understanding and best practice. Additionally,
our Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health, based at King's College London, is constantly reviewing the development of new treatments across the national and international spectrum and producing advice accordingly.
Diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders in members of the armed forces are performed by trained and accredited mental health personnel. In Afghanistan, we deploy uniformed mental health nurses to provide in-theatre care and treatment for our personnel. If personnel need to leave the operational environment, then their care continues either on an out- or in-patient basis in the UK or their permanent base overseas.
In the UK, our mental health services for military personnel are configured to provide community-based mental health care, primarily through our 15 military Departments of Community Mental Health (DCMH) across the UK (plus centres overseas), which provide out-patient mental healthcare. The DCMH mental health teams, comprising psychiatrists, mental health nurses, clinical psychologists and mental health social workers, have particular expertise in treatments for psychological injury.
For the relatively small number of military patients who need it, in-patient care is currently provided by a group of seven NHS trusts located throughout England and Scotland, led by South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust (SSSFT) through a central MOD contract.
When personnel leave military service their healthcare becomes the responsibility of the NHS. Ex-Service personnel receive good treatment from their GPs but we recognise that many health professionals have limited experience of dealing with veterans who have mental health symptoms arising from their Service experience. The MOD, the four health departments and the Combat Stress charity have been working together with clinical experts and the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HASCAS) to develop a new model of community based mental healthcare that will address assessment and treatment of veterans' mental health problems in the long term.
The community mental health model is NHS-led and reflects NHS best practice. Two-year pilots, tailored to local circumstances, are operating at Staffordshire and Shropshire Foundation Healthcare Trust, Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, Tees Esk and Wear NHS Trust, Cornwall NHS Partnership, and NHS Lothian (led by the Scottish Executive). Evaluation of the pilot areas is now underway; early results from all six are encouraging, with evidence that veterans feel able to access and use the service with confidence. Informed by the results of the evaluation the service will be rolled out across the UK. In the interim, for areas not yet involved in the pilots, veterans with operational service after 1982 who are concerned about their mental health can attend our Medical Assessment Programme based at St. Thomas' hospital, for specialist mental health assessment by a consultant psychiatrist with extensive military experience.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel normally based in Scotland were referred to the Priory Clinic as (a) inpatients and (b) outpatients in each year since 2003. [291175]
Mr. Kevan Jones: An interim arrangement for the contracting of service mental health provision was signed with the Priory Group commencing in December 2003. The full contract, whereby the Priory Group became the primary provider of in-patient mental health provision, commenced on 1 April 2004.
The available data are anonymised for reasons of patient confidentiality. Therefore, it is not possible to identify which patients from all those treated would be categorised as service personnel normally based in Scotland.
From the available information the following numbers of in-patients were treated at the Glasgow Priory Clinic since 2003 but referrals could have included patients from locations outside Scotland:
| Number of patients treated | |
Out-patient care is usually provided by the MOD's military departments of Community Mental Health, of which there are three in Scotland located at Leuchars (Edinburgh), Faslane (Glasgow) and Kinloss (Inverness). The only specific out-patient only referrals that we contract for is the provision of psychology treatment. This element of the Priory contract commenced in 2006 and the total number of patients referred can be found in the table:
| Number of patients treated | |
| (1) Indicates a number less than 5, and is used to protect patient confidentiality, in line with our standard practice for very low numbers of patients. | |
The contract with the Priory Group has been replaced by a new one, awarded in November 2008 following open competition, with a partnership of seven NHS trusts led by South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust.
Armed Forces: Recruitment
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what grounds applications to join the armed forces may be rejected. [291044]
Bill Rammell: The armed forces' aim is to recruit the required numbers of high calibre personnel, irrespective of their race, ethnic origin, religion or gender and without reference to social background or sexual orientation, into the Naval Service, Army and Royal Air Force, in order to meet operational requirements. However, applications may be rejected for the following reasons:
Age
Medical
Security vetting e.g. nationality and residency rules
Education/qualifications
Suitability at interview
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |