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5 Nov 2009 : Column 1156W—continued
The Royal Marines has one regiment-Commando Logistics Regiment, and no battalions.
Further information on the Royal Marines structure is available on the Royal Navy website at the following address:
BAE Systems
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what recent discussions he has had with representatives of BAE on defence procurement matters; [293838]
(2) what visits he has made to BAE factories in the last three months. [293839]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I have not visited any BAE Systems sites in the last three months. I met Ian King, chief executive officer of BAE Systems on 17 June 2009, to discuss defence procurement matters.
My predecessor held the following discussions with BAE Systems representatives, and also visited their Barrow site on 24 March and Warton and Samlesbury sites on 8 April.
| Name | Position | |
Ian King also attended meetings of the National Defence Industries Council chaired by my predecessor on 25 February and 3 June 2009.
Civil Contingency Reaction Force
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what budget has been allocated to the Civil Contingency Reaction Force in each year since 2002. [297525]
Bill Rammell: £1.8 million per year was allocated to the Civil Contingency Reaction Force between 2002 and March 2009 to fund role-specific training. The Civil Contingency Reaction Force was never mobilised, primarily because regular forces have been able to respond to crises in a shorter timescale, and its role has therefore now been discontinued. A framework of Joint Regional Liaison Officers and Brigade Reinforcement Teams continues to ensure effective liaison between regional army headquarters, local authorities and the emergency services.
Colombia: Armed Forces
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which official of his Department is responsible for monitoring the compliance with human rights standards of members of Colombian military forces which have received training or other assistance from the UK. [296717]
Bill Rammell: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 12 March 2009, Official Report, column 621W, by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington).
Departmental Official Visits
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what official visits he has made to (a) Royal Navy ships other than Type 42 destroyers and (b) Royal Navy bases in the last six months. [293816]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I visited the following Royal Navy ships in the last six months:
| Date | Royal Navy ship | |
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will consider the merits of securing accreditation of his Department's helplines to the Helplines Association's quality standard; and if he will make a statement. [295727]
Mr. Kevan Jones: There are no current plans to accredit helplines with any organisation. Should there be a business need to do so, we will consider the merits of all organisations, including the Helplines Association, that offer accreditation.
Members: Correspondence
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons the letters sent to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak from (a) the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Veterans) dated (i) 7 October 2009, reference D/Min(Veterans)KJ MC04309/2009, (ii) 15 August 2009, reference D/Min(Veterans)KJ MC03750/2009 and (iii) 28 July 2009, reference D/Min(Veterans)KJ MC03332/2009 and (b) the Secretary of State, dated 26 February 2009, reference D/Min(AF)BA MC00669/2009 were printed on only one side of paper; if he will make it his Department's policy to use two-sided printing for its correspondence; and whether he has made an estimate of the potential savings in respect of paper use consequent on the implementation of such a policy. [296862]
Mr. Kevan Jones: It is MOD's aim to procure equipment, including printers, with sustainable development aims firmly in mind. The MOD is rolling out a single Defence-wide information technology infrastructure called the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) to some 2,000 sites worldwide. As DII rolls out, it is providing printers that automatically facilitate two-sided printing by default. This encourages two-sided printing at all times when appropriate, and reduces the amount of paper used. However, there are of course occasions when two-sided printing is not appropriate for the task.
On the issue of ministerial correspondence, I have considered the possibility of using two-sided printing, and have concluded that in this particular process, the probability of more wastage is likely to outweigh the benefit.
Somalia: Piracy
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assets the Royal Navy has seized from suspected pirates around the coast of Somalia since January 2009. [296894]
Bill Rammell: Since January 2009 the Royal Navy has seized, and where appropriate disposed of, a total of 25 weapons (19 assault rifles, three rocket propelled grenades and three pistols), a quantity of ammunition, five ladders, several grappling hooks, numerous fuel barrels and four skiffs.
South America: Foreign Relations
Colin Burgon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what dates Ministers from his Department met representatives of the Government of (a) Brazil,
(b) Argentina, (c) Venezuela, (d) Ecuador, (e) Chile, (f) Cuba, (g) Bolivia, (h) Paraguay and (i) Colombia to discuss defence relations in (i) 2008 and (ii) 2009. [297920]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Minister for the Armed Forces met with the Brazilian Minister for Long Term Planning on 18 March 2008. He met to discuss defence relations and other topics with the Colombian ambassador on 20 July 2009, and he met with Brazilian Government representatives during his visit to Brazil from 2-4 September 2009. The Minister for International Defence and Security met with a delegation from Chile, headed by the Chilean Under-Secretary of Defence for the Chilean Air Force, on 7 July 2009; she also hosted a dinner in the evening.
Territorial Army: Training
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of allowing Territorial Army units to continue to train on drill nights until 1 April 2010. [296148]
Bill Rammell: As the Secretary of State for Defence announced on 28 October 2009, Official Report, column 354, £20 million has been found from the Treasury to ensure that the full range of normal training activities, including drill nights, can now continue for TA members.
Trident
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent progress has been made on the design of the next generation of the nuclear deterrent; what schedule has been prepared for its development and introduction into service; and if he will make a statement. [296940]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 3 November 2009]: Work on the Concept Phase for the future deterrent programme is progressing well. The Defence Board will be considering this work later this year. As we have previously said, we will update Parliament after the Concept Phase has been completed. We are currently planning on an In Service Date of 2024.
Health
Cancer
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the full response of his Department to the report by the Rarer Cancers Forum entitled Off limits, published on 14 August 2009; what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the recommendations of the report; what steps he is taking to assist NHS organisations in making decisions on the funding of off-label treatments for (a) cancer and (b) other conditions; and if he will make a statement. [297414]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: We have made no such response. To help primary care trusts (PCTs) improve the quality of their decision-making on the funding of drugs and treatments, including off-label treatments, where there is no positive National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance, we have commissioned a number of measures to support the introduction of improved local processes:
a set of public-facing principles to inform PCT decision-making was published in January 2009 available at:
a set of Directions to PCTs making explicit their public law responsibilities for putting in place processes for making decisions on new drugs and treatments, came into force on 1 April 2009 available at:
a handbook of good practice guidance for the national health service was published in March 2009, covering both funding policies on new drugs and processes for considering individual funding requests available at:
and
strategic health authorities have been asked to review the way in which PCTs in their area collaborate to support effective decision-making on new drugs.
In addition, the National Prescribing Centre has embarked on a major programme of work to provide support and a bespoke and continuing training package for key PCT staff, to help ensure that local processes are able to develop in the way we want.
Cancer: Consultants
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS oncologists were employed in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) Tees Valley and (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each year since 1997. [297229]
Ann Keen: Medical and clinical oncology staff numbers within England and the North East Strategic Health Authority (SHA) from 1997-2008 are shown in the following table.
Data for the two primary care trusts (PCTs) and one NHS trust, which make up the Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland constituency are also shown as far back as numbers are available.
Data are not collected by general geographical area, only by administrative entities (PCTs/trusts/special health authorities) and SHA area, therefore it is not possible to give numbers for Tees Valley.
| National health service hospital and community health services (HCHS): Medical staff within the clinical and medical oncology specialties as at 30 September each year | ||||||||||||
| Headcount | ||||||||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
| n/a = Not applicable (1) These PCTs were created in 2002. (2) This organisation was created in 2002. It was created from two organisations, one of which merged only in part; due to this part merger equivalent data for years prior to 2002 are not available. (3) Not available. Source: The Information Centre for Health and Social Care Medical and Dental Workforce Census | ||||||||||||
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