Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 9 February 2010
Defence
Afghanistan: Injuries
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance his Department provides to assist service personnel seriously injured in Afghanistan to return to work. [316411]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The MOD is committed to giving seriously injured personnel every opportunity to maintain their military careers. All sick and injured personnel receive first-class medical care and rehabilitation to give them the best chance of doing so.
The Defence Medical Services already manage 15 regional rehabilitation units in the UK and Germany and 51 primary care rehabilitation facilities, in addition to our premier Defence medical rehabilitation centre at Headley Court. These units provide rapid access to assessment and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders in order to return personnel to fitness in the most expeditious way. In addition to this, in August 2009 the MOD launched the Army recovery centre pathfinder at Erskine Home, Edinburgh. The concept behind the Army recovery capability (ARC) is to meet the need for injured and sick soldiers between or after the excellent clinical care they currently receive and it is intended that the ARC will help these soldiers to return to duty or to make a smooth transition to civilian life.
Those who are able to remain in the Services will continue to receive medical treatment from the Defence Medical Services as required. Suitable adaptations will be made to both working and service-provided living accommodation if necessary. Ongoing welfare support is also available from the individual's chain of command, through the single service welfare services, and from service charities. There is a range of roles open to individuals who are no longer capable of fulfilling their original employment. These can include office-based roles, training, and various supporting roles in units. We attach particular importance to the role of the rear party i.e. those that do not deploy with their unit but provide, for example, welfare support for the families. Those who are medically discharged are entitled to the full resettlement package. For the seriously injured the focus will be on identifying what opportunities are open to them and then on facilitating retraining and the acquisition of new skills to enable them to take up gainful employment. Single service resettlement staffs and the Career Transition Partnership provide advice on selecting training and other services that best support individual resettlement plans, be it MOD contract funded courses, Government agencies such as Remploy or charitable organisations like Portland College or Skill Force, or accessing civilian work attachments through commercial companies like Soldier On.
We shall be announcing further relevant initiatives shortly.
Armed Forces: Housing
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the 20 most expensive properties were which were rented by members of the armed forces with a rank of Brigadier or equivalent and above in the last 12 months. [316390]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 8 February 2010]: As part of the MOD value for money programme, which I chair, the entitlements of MOD personnel, service and civilian, are being reviewed.
Substitute service family accommodation (SSFA) and substitute service single accommodation (SSSA) is rented from the private sector as a last resort in cases where suitable service family and single living accommodation, respectively, is not available.
Only 17 SSFA properties have been rented for the use of officers of 1-star rank (Brigadier and equivalent) and above in the last 12 months, the details of which are as follows:
| Location | Rent per calendar month(£) |
It should be noted that SSSA properties may accommodate more than one service person. Details of the 20 most expensive SSSA properties used by 1-star officers and above are as follows:
| Location | Rent per calendar month (£) |
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of his Department's housing stock in Scotland was (a) void and (b) uninhabited in each of the last five years; and what the estimated monetary value of such properties is. [316512]
Mr. Kevan Jones: While details of uninhabited service family accommodation (SFA) properties are not maintained separately, the Department does record those which are 'void' (not in use). According to the UK Defence Statistics, the following numbers of properties in Scotland were void in each of the last five years.
| Total number of SFA (to nearest hundred) | Number of void SFA (to nearest hundred) | Percentage of total | |
These figures represent a snapshot on a given date, and it is therefore not possible to identify specific properties, for how long each was void and what the value was of each property. However, an assessment of a property's market value is usually only made for disposal purposes when it is surplus to defence requirements.
While a 'management margin' of voids will always be required to ensure houses are available for service families, the current number of voids is recognised as being too high and the Department is working hard to reduce this to 10 per cent. by 2012.
Although the figures for 2010 have not been finalised, the latest available information indicates that some 16 per cent. of homes worldwide are void.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on substitute accommodation in Scotland for (a) service family accommodation and (b) single living accommodation in each of the last five years. [316513]
Mr. Kevan Jones: It will take more time to collate and verify the information requested. I will write to the hon. Member.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) single living accommodation and (b) service family accommodation units in Scotland are awaiting demolition. [316514]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I can confirm that there are no Single Living Accommodation (SLA) or Service Family Accommodation (SFA) units in Scotland awaiting demolition.
Chemical Weapons: Animals
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department has (a) conducted and (b) commissioned tests involving biochemical weapons using animals in each of the last five years. [316351]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The UK is a state party to both the convention on the prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and on their destruction, commonly referred to as the chemical weapons convention (CWC), and the convention on the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of bacteriological (biological) and toxin weapons and on their destruction, commonly referred to as the biological and toxin weapons convention (BTWC) or the biological weapons convention (BWC).
Therefore, the UK does not hold any chemical or biological weapons. However, in accordance with the conventions, the UK does maintain small quantities of chemical and biological warfare agents for research purposes to ensure that UK forces are adequately protected in the event that chemical or biological weapons are used against them. This research includes hazard assessment, the development of protective materials and the development of medical countermeasures. The research that supports hazard assessment and the development of medical countermeasures will by necessity involve the use of animals. It is UK policy to develop safe, licensed and efficacious medical countermeasures to chemical and biological agents that may pose a hazard to the UK or deployed UK forces overseas.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many (a) pigs, (b) primates, (c) dogs and (d) goats were used in tests (i) conducted and (ii) commissioned by his Department in each of the last five years; [316352]
(2) how many animals have been used in tests (a) conducted and (b) commissioned by his Department in each of the last five years. [316353]
Mr. Quentin Davies: In accordance with UK legislation Dstl Porton Down submits annual returns to the Home Office detailing the number of procedures undertaken which involve the use of animals as defined in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
In the years 2005 to 2009 the annual returns to the Home Office, broken down by dog, goat, mouse, pigs and non-human primates are detailed in the following table together with the total numbers of animals used.
| Dogs | Goats | Mouse | Pig | Non-human primate | Total | |
Departmental Research
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on research and development in respect of each technology sector in each year since 2004-05; and which five projects in each such year received the most funding. [314178]
Mr. Quentin Davies: Defence Research and Development (R and D) expenditure by both technology sector and individual project team is not held centrally and providing the information could be done only at disproportionate cost. I can however state the total net R and D expenditure each year since 2004-05. This information is as follows:
| £ billion | |
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