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18 Jan 2010 : Column 11W—continued
Armed Forces: British Overseas Territories
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 14 October 2009, Official Report, columns 1362-3W, on armed forces: foreigners, how many of the 390 British Overseas Territories personnel serving in the armed forces (a) are trained helicopter pilots and (b) serve in the Royal Air Force. [309275]
Bill Rammell: Of the 390 British Overseas Territories personnel serving in the armed forces as at 1 September 2009, fewer than five are trained helicopter pilots. 10 are serving in the Royal Air Force, one of whom is a trained helicopter pilot. All figures are rounded to the nearest five.
Armed Forces: Deployment
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) required and (b) actual strength is of deployable troops of each infantry battalion. [311107]
Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 November 2009, Official Report, column 1150W, to the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox). In that table, the "Number Fit for Task" column represents the actual deployable strength of each infantry battalion.
Just under 89 per cent. of current infantry strength is deployable. This includes those who have some limitations placed on the roles they can perform on operations. The vast majority of the remainder are contributing to military capability in a variety of supporting roles in home locations.
Armed Forces: Health Services
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the average cost per service personnel patient was for (a) below knee and (b) above knee prosthesis follow-up in the (i) Defence Medical Services and (ii) NHS in the latest period for which information is available; [309990]
(2) how often (a) above knee and (b) below knee amputees were routinely followed up in the (i) Defence Medical Services and (ii) NHS in the latest period for which information is available. [309991]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Information on the cost per service personnel patient to the DMS for prosthesis follow-up is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, in general, the long term cost of maintaining an above-knee amputee are considerably more that a below-knee amputee because of the expensive artificial knee components.
As regards frequency of follow-up for DMS patients, on average the numbers of follow-up appointments for above-knee and below-knee amputee patients are equal. The average patient will require diminishing prosthetics input up until year three when only regular servicing is required. Outlined as follows is the average number of follow-up appointments:
| Average number of follow-up appointments | |
NHS information on the cost per patient, whether a veteran or not, for prosthesis follow-up is not held centrally.
NHS assessments for prosthetics are undertaken at any one of 35 prosthetic centres within England with decisions on follow-up and aftercare being included within the assessment. This decision is agreed with an individual to ensure their circumstances and requirements are taken into consideration.
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what rules are in place in respect of routine visits by a regimental associations to soldiers in the military ward of Selly Oak hospital. [310794]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Visits by members of regimental associations would usually be treated as "pastoral" rather than "official" visits. Pastoral visits are always welcome, but are subject to the wishes of the patient and to local hospital visiting rules and hours.
Further, visits by family and close friends take precedence, and consequently there may not always be the capacity to allow visits by regimental associations. For that reason, associations are strongly advised to check first with the Headquarters Joint Medical Command Visits Coordinator in order to avoid conflict with higher priority visitors before travel.
Armed Forces: Hearing Impaired People
Mr. Borrow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many servicemen have suffered hearing loss in the course of their duties in each year since 1999. [304010]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 January 2010, Official Report, column 993W, to the hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell).
Armed Forces: Uniforms
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent progress has been made on the army uniform contract; and if he will make a statement. [311005]
Mr. Quentin Davies: Invitations to tender for the cut and sew contract (for army uniforms) were sent on 11 January 2010 to the six companies/consortia that passed pre-qualification. Responses are due by 17 March 2010 and the contract is scheduled to be awarded by summer 2010.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) requirement, (b) actual number available and (c) percentage shortfall is of each type of armoured vehicle used for pre-deployment training in the latest period for which figures are available. [309235]
Mr. Quentin Davies: I am withholding the information requested to avoid deductions being made about current and future operational capability. Its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability effectiveness or security of the armed forces. However, I can confirm that the number of vehicles available for pre-deployment training continues to improve as procurement programmes deliver against requirements. For example the number of Ridgback vehicles in the training pool increased by 87 per cent. between July and January.
Atomic Veterans Claimant Group
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what dates in 2008, 2009 and 2010 his Department's lawyers met legal representatives of the Atomic Veterans Claimant Group. [311462]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Department's lawyers met legal representatives of the Atomic Veterans Claimant Group on 6 July, 27 July, 15 September, 30 September and 1 October 2009.
Civil Servants: Pensions
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cash equivalent transfer value is of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme pension of each of the 10 highest paid members of staff in his Department and its agencies. [311008]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The total cash equivalent transfer value for the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme pensions (PCSPS) of the 10 highest paid members in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) totals some £4.672 million as at 15 January 2010. Some of these individuals will be named in the Remuneration Reports that form part of the MOD's Resource Accounts in which the cash equivalent transfer values of their PCSPS pensions are reported annually. The Remuneration Reports are in the public domain. These figures relate solely to civilian staff and do not include members of the armed forces.
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of the enhanced early retirement scheme for civil servants in his Department and its agencies has been in each year since 1997. [311009]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: This information is not centrally available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Defence: International Cooperation
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what role the UK has in the NATO Airlift Management Agency. [303005]
Departmental Billing
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in December 2009. [311266]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: In December 2009, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) paid 98.7 per cent. of invoices within 10 days.
This figure relates to invoices processed by the MOD Financial Management Shared Service Centre and the four MOD trading funds:
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
Meteorological Office
Defence Support Group
UK Hydrographic Office.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies plans to sign up to the 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 per cent. in 2010. [311464]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The MOD is committed to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions, and has already met the Government target to reduce emissions from its estate by 12.5 per cent. by 2010-11 relative to the 1999-2000 baseline. There is a programme of work to further reduce our emissions across the entire Defence Estate.
Noting the work already under way in MOD the Secretary of State wrote to staff in October 2009 encouraging them to join 10:10.
Departmental Food
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the quantity of food waste generated by his Department in each year for which figures are available. [310816]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Ministry of Defence does not hold data on the amount of food waste generated. It is included as part of the overall figure for departmental waste arisings.
Departmental Internet
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which websites his Department's staff are blocked from accessing from departmental networked computers. [310055]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The vast majority of MOD's networked computers with Internet connection access the World Wide Web via the Department's Enterprise Gateway Service (EGS). The EGS uses commercial web categorisation software, which places the huge number of websites on the Internet (believed to exceed 100 million) into about 100 categories. MOD then determines which categories can be accessed, and which ones are blocked.
Categories are blocked because they fall into one of the following types:
They contravene the MOD Acceptable Use Policy;
They pose a risk to the technical security of the network, or to broader information security;
They result in excessive consumption of bandwidth or other technical resource, or of staff time.
Also, to safeguard security of MOD networks, MOD does not permit access to sites using mobile code (e.g. Java, Active X).
The attached document, Information Management Protocol 049, is published by the Chief Information Officer on the Defence Intranet, and this explains further detail. A copy of the MOD Acceptable Use Policy (JSP 740) is also attached.
Departmental Pay
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 14 December 2009, Official Report, column 831W, on departmental pay, on what basis £1,860 was paid to two individuals; and to which executive agency or non-departmental public body they were engaged. [310148]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: One payment was made by the Met Office for performance against pre-agreed targets, and one payment was made by the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency for exceptional effort.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 10 December 2009, Official Report, columns 521-2W, on armed forces: costs, what information his Department holds centrally on the amount it has charged (a) other Government departments, (b) private sector companies and (c) foreign governments in employment costs for (i) members of his Department's civilian staff and (ii) military personnel. [310009]
Mr. Kevan Jones: We hold no central information on the amount charged for personnel services. Such information is not accounted for discretely and does not need to be reported centrally.
Future Large Aircraft
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated total cost is of the Airbus A400M project. [308622]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The value of the fixed price acquisition contract for A400M, let on behalf of participating nations, is €20 billion.
The current forecast cost of A400M for the UK, including initial training and support, is £3,285 million, as published in the Major Projects Report 2009.
Haslar Hospital
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to whom Haslar Hospital was sold. [311289]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Haslar Hospital site in Gosport was sold to Our Enterprise (Haslar) Ltd. in November 2009.
Israel: Armed Forces
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what aspects of military co-operation were to have been discussed with the group of military officers from Israel whose proposed visit to the UK was recently cancelled. [311031]
Bill Rammell: The Israeli delegation planned to attend a joint Israeli-Kings College academic workshop. This was not at the invitation of MOD and, therefore, no official discussions of UK-Israel defence co-operation were planned.
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) on how many occasions Israel Defence Forces personnel have been invited to the UK for discussions with (a) Ministers or officials of his Department and (b) members of the armed forces since 2005; and what topics were discussed; [311032]
(2) what areas of expertise of the Israel Defence Forces that have been shared with (a) his Department and (b) members of the armed forces. [311033]
Bill Rammell: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Israel is an important strategic partner of the UK and, as part of that relationship, the MOD has an ongoing and wide ranging dialogue with the Israeli Defence Force and Israeli Ministry of Defence. This engagement is in line with HMG's policy of supporting the Middle East Peace Process by having a balanced relationship with the Israelis and the Palestinians. Recent areas of discussion have included regional defence issues, the Middle East Peace Process, and the UK's role in training Palestinian Authority security forces. However, detailed information is withheld as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and Israel.
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