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22 Feb 2010 : Column 9W—continued
Armed Forces: Health Services
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many armed forces personnel Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court is able to accommodate at any one time; [316997]
(2) how many armed forces personnel undergoing a course of rehabilitation at Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court are accommodated outside Headley Court; [316998]
(3) how many armed forces personnel are awaiting appointments at Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court. [316999]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The facilities at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) at Headley Court currently include 66 ward beds and 120 other beds that are available for patients who do not require full ward facilities.
We keep the numbers of beds required at DMRC under regular review. I refer the hon. Member to my written ministerial statement on 10 February 2010, Official Report, column 52WS, which states that we are working on plans to provide up to 30 extra ward beds later this year.
No individuals undergoing a course of residential rehabilitation at Headley Court are housed elsewhere. As part of its services, DMRC also provides a range of out-patient treatment. Personnel attending for a routine out-patient appointment may be offered overnight accommodation in a local hotel if they are unable to travel to and from the unit in a day.
Armed forces personnel requiring residential care or rehabilitation at DMRC are transferred there in accordance with their clinical need at a given date. No patients are awaiting admission because of any shortage in the availability of ward beds. Some personnel undertaking long-term rehabilitation programmes will spend periods of time at home with their families between concentrated periods of treatment at Headley Court. This practice is in accordance with recognised clinical procedures; our experience suggests that patients can often recover better and faster in this way rather than through continuing accommodation in the rehabilitation unit.
Armed Forces: Housing
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) longest, (b) shortest and (c) average period of time taken was to make repairs to forces accommodation after a call out in the last period for which figures are available. [310247]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 11 January 2010]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 July 2009, Official Report, column 552W, to the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox).
Additional information is currently being collated and verified. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
Substantive answer from Kevan Jones to Willie Rennie:
In my answers of 13 January (Official Report, column 995W) I undertook to write to you with details of the number of calls made to the Department's accommodation helplines and details of the longest, shortest and average periods of time taken to carry-out repairs to Service accommodation.
The repair and maintenance of Service accommodation worldwide is carried out under many different arrangements, managed by different areas of the Department. Given this fact, the requested details for Single Living Accommodation worldwide and Service Family Accommodation (SFA) overseas are not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Repairs to SFA properties in the UK are carried out under the Housing Prime Contract (HPC) in England and Wales, the Regional Prime Contract (RPC) in Scotland and separate arrangements exist in Northern Ireland (NI). In all cases, occupants can report faults and request repairs via a freephone helpdesk.
The HPC is being delivered by Modern Housing Solutions (MHS), which is responsible for maintaining some 45,000 properties.
The MHS helpdesk received some 393,656 calls in 2009, of which some 226,889 resulted in work orders being raised. Although the total number of calls regarding SFA in Scotland and NI is not available, the RPC raised 15,424 work orders for Scottish SFA in 2009 and 11,148 were raised for NI SFA.
The longest, shortest and average times taken to carry out repairs on UK SFA in 2009 are as follows:
| Repair time (in days) | ||||
| Emergency repair | Urgent repair | Routine repair | ||
The MOD contracts set the response time for attending emergency repairs as three hours, repairs to remedy or make safe are to be completed within 24 hours and subsequent rectifications in line with urgent and routine timescales. Urgent jobs would include a partial loss of essential facilities such as heating or hot water, and are to be attended within seven working days. All other jobs are classed as routine, and are to be attended within 20 working days.
From the way the data are held, it is not possible to identify the specific reasons why the longest repairs took the time they did to complete. In general, repairs can take longer based on a number of factors, including the complexity of the work, whether accommodation is occupied or the availability of parts and materials that are required to finalise repairs. In many cases the fault is made good at the first visit, but additional work is required to complete the repair.
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 8 February 2010, Official Report, column 654W, on housing, how much his Department spent on those properties in 2008-09. [317117]
Mr. Kevan Jones: It is not possible to separately identify maintenance and other housing costs for individual service family accommodation properties.
Contribution in lieu of council tax is paid on these properties; however the individual cost per property cannot be readily identified.
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent representations he has received on standards of service accommodation for service personnel and their families. [317449]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I have recently received representations from the three armed forces family federations regarding the standards of service accommodation. I will be replying to them shortly, addressing the issues they raise.
In addition, as the House is aware, I regularly respond to questions and correspondence from hon. Members and the public regarding the standard of accommodation.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) service family and (b) single living properties designated as empty were subsequently removed from his Department's housing stock in Scotland in each of the last five years. [317785]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Those service family accommodation (SFA) properties in Scotland that are declared surplus to requirements will be held empty prior to being sold on the open market. To date, the following numbers of properties were sold in each of the last five financial years:
| Financial year | Number of SFA sold |
| (1 )To date. | |
Single Living Accommodation (SLA) is normally located within the wire of a defence establishment and therefore can be sold only as part of a wider disposal. Although details are held of Scottish establishments sold in the last five years, the amount of SLA included could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2010, Official Report, column 810W, on armed forces: housing, who rented each of the 17 properties listed in the last 12 months. [317887]
Mr. Kevan Jones: In accordance with data protection principles and for security reasons, the Department does not disclose the details of service families living in service accommodation.
Armed Forces: Manpower
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many people have been recruited to the Royal Regiment of Scotland in each year since 2007; [317056]
(2) how many Commonwealth citizens have been recruited to the Royal Regiment of Scotland in each year since 2007. [317057]
Bill Rammell: Figures for entrants to the Regular Battalions of Royal Regiment of Scotland (RRS) as a whole are as follows:
| Soldiers | Of which : Commonwealth citizens | Officers | |
These figures reflect the numbers who have passed out of training into the RRS. They therefore exclude those who have rejoined the regiment and those who have transferred into it from other regiments.
No Commonwealth citizens have passed into the RRS as officers during this period.
Armed Forces: Prisons
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times the Prison-in-Reach working group referred to on the service personnel and veterans website has met in the last 12 months. [317634]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Veterans Prison-in-Reach working group meets on a quarterly basis. During the course of 2009, the Group met four times:
19 March
18 June
24 September
3 December.
The Group will next meet on 11 March 2010.
Armed Forces: Reorganisation
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he plans to take to integrate the activities of the three services. [317692]
Bill Rammell: The recent Defence Green Paper recognised that joint operations have become the norm and the benefits arising from our ability to co-ordinate our activities across land, sea and air. The Green Paper suggested that the future Strategic Defence Review would look at how the joint approach could be taken further.
Armed Forces: Salt
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department has a policy on stockpiling of salt and grit by the armed forces for adverse winter weather. [316892]
Mr. Kevan Jones: There is no specific policy on stockpiling of salt and grit by the armed forces for adverse winter weather.
Armed Forces: Cadets
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was spent on assistance to cadet forces in maintained schools in (a) 1997, (b) 2003 and (c) the latest year for which figures are available. [316311]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The information is not held in the format requested. A recent study, however, estimated the overall annual public contribution to the cadet forces to be in the region of £140 million.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to announce the winner of the contract to supply the further elements of the new electronic systems for the Warrior armoured vehicle upgrade programme. [316922]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The competition for Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP), which includes an upgrade to the Warrior's electronic architecture, is ongoing. I intend to make an announcement shortly on the outcome of this competition once the assessment is complete and the investment decision approved.
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to announce his plans for the future of the Future Rapid Effects System contract. [316923]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The Future Rapid Effect System programme has been recast from a single programme into a set of constituent projects, namely: the Specialist Vehicles; the Utility Vehicles; and the Manoeuvre Support Vehicles. The competition for the Specialist Vehicle project is ongoing and I intend to make an announcement on the outcome of this competition shortly, once the assessment is complete and the investment decision approved.
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