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25 Nov 2009 : Column 148W—continued
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to his contribution of 15 October 2009, Official Report, column 466, how many Mastiff 2 and Ridgeback armoured vehicles military forces will receive in (a) the UK for re-deployment training and (b) Afghanistan for actual combat missions; and when he expects such vehicles to be issued to forces personnel. [301526]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I am withholding the information requested about how many armoured vehicles military forces will receive in Afghanistan as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of our armed forces.
However, I am able to confirm that there are currently 51 Mastiff 2 and 59 Ridgback vehicles available for pre-deployment training in the UK. Under existing procurement, a further 22 Mastiff 2 for training purposes are due for delivery in third quarter 2010.
A further procurement package is being planned which will provide additional Mastiff 2 and Ridgbacks.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many troops are involved in the training of Afghan security forces in Helmand province. [301528]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: While there are currently approximately 440 UK troops directly involved in the training of Afghan National Security Forces in Helmand Province, over the coming year, as the UK re-configures its force structure in Helmand to fully support COMISAF's partnering plan, the proportion of UK troops in Helmand involved in the training of Afghan Security forces will increase significantly.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he plans to increase the amount of training forces personnel receive in counter-insurgency measures relevant to combat operations in Afghanistan. [301530]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: All forces deploying to Afghanistan receive a comprehensive training package that incorporates up-to-date tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs). These TTPs are constantly informed by a Lessons Learned process ensuring that current counter-insurgency measures being used in Afghanistan are taught to those about to deploy. The amount and content of such training is continuously reviewed and adjusted as and when operational requirements dictate.
Armed Forces: Accommodation
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 10 November 2009, Official Report, column 223W, on armed forces: accommodation, what the maximum sum payable under (a) food and incidental allowance, (b) get you home travel allowance, (c) home to duty travel allowance and (d) recruitment and retention allowance (London) was in the latest period for which figures are available; how many personnel at each (i) staff officer rank and (ii) equivalent civil service payband claimed each allowance in that period; and what the single (A) highest and (B) lowest claim for each allowance as at each rank or payband in that period. [300247]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 23 November 2009]: The allowances mentioned are paid only to Service personnel who meet the relevant eligibility criteria, and not to civilians. Rates of allowances are reviewed annually.
Food and Incidental Allowance is paid at a daily rate of £12.78 (£383.40 per month, pro rata). This is paid to assist single and unaccompanied Service personnel in the UK to meet the necessary costs of food and incidental expenses when they are without access to Service accommodation/messing facilities, but have self-catering facilities, and does not require submission of receipts.
Recruitment and Retention Allowance (London) is paid at a daily rate £3.76 for all Service Personnel who work within five miles of the statue of King Charles I at Charing Cross. This is paid to counter reluctance to serve in designated London locations by contributing to the higher costs encountered during a permanent assignment in London and by compensating for the reduced quality of the supporting infrastructure.
Get You Home Travel, the rate of which is determined by the distance from a family home and the place of duty. The minimum amount payable is £1.07, commencing
at 20 miles, and the maximum amount payable is £13.39 per day. The latter represents a family home being 530 miles away from a place of duty. It is paid to support the mobile nature of the Services and improve retention by reducing the financial impact of separation on Service personnel.
Home to Duty (Public) is paid to those eligible service Personnel who reside in Forces Family Accommodation, to assist with the daily cost of travel between their home and place of duty. In certain circumstances, Service personnel in receipt of Get You Home Travel will not be eligible for concurrent payment of Home to Duty (Public). Dependant on the distance and method of travel used the following maximum rates are payable:
| Miles/£ | |
Home to Duty (Private) is payable to those eligible Service Personnel who do not occupy Service Accommodation, to assist with the daily cost of travel between their home and place of duty. Service personnel in receipt of Get You Home Travel will not be eligible for concurrent payment of Home to Duty (Private). Dependant on the distance and method of travel used the following maximum rates are payable:
| Miles/£ | |
Most allowances are payable on qualifying criteria other than rank held. The status of 'staff officer' has a number of different meanings and could be applied to a specific appointment undertaken by a Junior Military Officer or those officers of starred rank. As a result it would be difficult to obtain information on recipients of 'staff officer' status, as it would require the application of varied parameters to a number of different searches which could be provided only at disproportionate cost. All of these allowances are applicable to commissioned and non-commissioned personnel.
Armed Forces: Body Armour
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what assessment he has made of the protection offered to servicemen's testicles by body armour in current use; [300545]
(2) whether his Department is assessing or commissioning research on the protection which can be provided for servicemen's testicles with relation to blast injuries on operations; and if he will make a statement. [300547]
Mr. Quentin Davies: All of the protective personal equipment provided to armed forces personnel is constantly under review. The Osprey body armour systems are considered to be among the best in the world, and the survival rates are testimony to that. However, a direct by-product of that is that personnel are now surviving with other associated and sometimes life-changing injuries. We are continually seeking ways to further protect our personnel, and work is well under way to research ways of providing additional protection including for the whole perineal area.
Armed Forces: Injuries
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what medical service and readjustment programmes were provided to wounded soldiers returning from Afghanistan in each year since 2001; what his planned expenditure on these services is in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement. [301445]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Defence Medical Services (DMS) provide an extensive range of medical treatment and wider support for wounded Service personnel. Since 2001 we have made numerous clinical and administrative improvements to the treatment that we provide, all of which are intended to improve the quality of care that our wounded personnel receive. Where these are a consequence of operational requirements, they have been funded from the Reserve (Conflict Prevention Fund). The Government have also funded many improvements from within the Defence budget, such as £24 million of additional funding over four years for the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC), Headley Court, announced in 2008.
For personnel on operations, the care starts in the operational theatre, with life-saving medical treatment on the frontline and in our field hospitals. Those who need further specialist care back in the UK are normally returned to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Birmingham's Selly Oak Hospital, which is at the leading edge in the treatment of multiple trauma injuries as commonly sustained by our battle casualties, and has since 2006 had a military-managed ward.
If patients require further rehabilitation care they may be referred to Headley Court, or for outpatient treatment at one of MOD's 15 military Regional Rehabilitation Units. We also provide mental healthcare for those who need it, primarily through our 15 military out-patient Departments of Community Mental Health across the UK (plus centres overseas); in-patient care is arranged for those who need it.
Wider support to those who are injured is overseen by a Welfare Coordinator, who will work with appropriate specialists to offer support and advice in such areas as housing, access to services and counselling if required, as well as providing support through key transition points, such as a move to or from Headley Court.
Medical policy for the DMS is overseen by the Surgeon General's Department. However, the organisational structure of the DMS means that comprehensive budgetary planning information on medical care could be provided only at disproportionate cost as substantial elements are disaggregated and embedded in the budgets of the single Services, individual military units, and overall operational budgets.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many servicemen have lost one or both testicles as a result of injuries received on operations in the last five years. [300546]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Ministry of Defence publishes the numbers of personnel categorised as Very Seriously Injured and Seriously Injured as a result of Operations Telic and Herrick on its website at:
The figures are updated fortnightly. In addition, we are committed to publishing on a quarterly basis the numbers of service personnel who have suffered limb amputations as a result of injuries sustained while on operational deployment. However, in order both to protect the identities of small numbers of patients and to maintain operational security for the effectiveness of our protective countermeasures, we do not routinely publish VSI and SI sub-classified by other types of physical injury.
Christmas
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Christmas parties his Department plans to host in 2009; what has been budgeted for each such reception; what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) lamb, (b) beef, (c) chicken, (d) pork, (e) turkey, (f) other meats, (g) vegetables, (h) fruit and (i) alcohol to be served at each such function which is produced in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [300877]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: In accordance with internal departmental guidance, staff Christmas meals and parties and service mess functions must be paid for by non-public funds or by staff subscription.
Departmental Legal Costs
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenditure his Department and its agencies have incurred on external legal advice and representation in each year since 1997; and for what purposes such services have been commissioned. [300579]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The information with regard to expenditure my Department and its agencies have incurred on external legal advice and representation in each year since 1997 is not held centrally, and due to re-organisation over the period in question could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pay
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much funding his Department has allocated for (a) year-end and (b) in-year bonuses for staff in 2009-10. [300723]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The total paybill for some 50,000 non-industrial and 11,000 industrial staff below the Senior Civil Service (SCS) (excluding Trading Funds) covered by the main pay awards is £1.827 billion of which 2.7 per cent. has been allocated for non consolidated performance awards for year end 2009-10.
The total paybill for permanent members of the SCS is £19.3 million of which 8.6 per cent. has been allocated for non consolidated performance awards for year end 2009-10. This does not include Fixed Term employees at SCS level, who are employed on individual contracts.
0.4 per cent of the total paybill for staff (excluding Trading Funds) has been allocated for in year Special Bonus Payments for year end 2009-10.
European Defence Agency
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the role is of the European Defence Agency; and if he will make a statement. [300503]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The European Defence Agency (EDA) was established in July 2004. The mission of the EDA is to support the European Council and the member states in their effort to improve the EU's defence capabilities in the field of crisis management and to sustain the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) as it stands now and develops in the future. The agency was tasked by the council to:
Develop European defence capabilities;
Promote armaments co-operation in the EU;
Improve the European defence industrial and technological base; and
Promote collaborative defence research across the Union.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has responded to the European Defence Agency's Capability Development Plan. [300506]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The Ministry of Defence supports the European Defence Agency's Capability Development Plan (CDP), which focuses the Agency's and participating member states' efforts on developing European military capabilities in 12 selected priority areas. We participated fully in the development of the CDP and we are currently engaged in a number of the CDP programmes. We will continue to support the CDP as a mechanism for addressing military capability shortfalls across Europe and participate in projects where we see military benefit to the UK.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what funding from the public purse has been provided to the European Defence Agency in each year since 2005; what assessment he has made of its performance; and if he will make a statement. [300507]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The European Defence Agency (EDA) does valuable work developing European military capabilities and works successfully with participating member states on collaborative programmes and projects. The amount paid by the Ministry of Defence to the EDA in each year since 2005 is provided in the following table:
| Calendar year | £ million |
The figures in the table relate to the amounts paid for each calendar year. It should be noted that the answers provided previously to this question on 6 March 2009, Official Report, column 1857W and 20 April 2009, Official Report, column 65W referred to financial years (April to March) but the amounts detailed actually related to calendar years.
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