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15 Mar 2010 : Column 584W—continued
Northern Ireland
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on office refurbishments in each of the last 10 years. [320469]
Mr. Woodward: The amount spent on office refurbishment is not separately costed or invoiced and could be answered only at disproportionate cost.
Expenditure on all maintenance and minor works for each financial year since 1999-2000 is shown in the following table. These figures include the cost of refurbishments, fit out of new accommodation, reactive and planned maintenance, health and safety works, repairs to mechanical and electrical systems, and associated professional fees.
| £000 | |
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) disciplinary and (b) capability procedures have been (i) initiated and (ii) completed in his Department in each of the last five years; how much time on average was taken to complete each type of procedure in each such year; how many and what proportion of his Department's staff were subject to each type of procedure in each such year; and how many and what proportion of each type of procedure resulted in the dismissal of the member of staff. [320626]
Paul Goggins: Details for 2009 and 2010 are shown in the following table.
A breakdown of the information required for the years 2005 to 2008 is not held centrally. We are unable to specify the time taken to complete each type of procedure as this is not recorded.
| Number | ||
| 2009 | 2010 | |
Departmental Domestic Visits
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of travel for his staff between England and Northern Ireland was in each of the last six years. [321269]
Paul Goggins: The cost of flights and ferries for staff from my Department between England and Northern Ireland in each of the last three years is shown in the following table. We do not have complete information for the other three years.
Other expenditure associated with travelling between England and Northern Ireland, such as rail or taxi fares to the airport, can be provided only at disproportionate cost. All travel by staff is undertaken in line with departmental policy.
| £ | |
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2010, Official Report, column 1489W, on the Afghan Campaign Medal, whether he has agreed to the proposed change to the criteria for Aero-Medical personnel Afghan campaign medals; and whether the service chiefs have approved the proposed change. [321623]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Ministry of Defence is aware of the situation regarding Aero-Medical personnel and their eligibility to receive the Afghanistan Campaign Medal. The eligibility of this group and others is currently under active consideration. We hope to reach a conclusion shortly.
Aircraft Carriers
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to his speech in Portsmouth on 25 February 2010, what recommendations of a future defence review could lead to the cancellation of the future aircraft carrier programme. [321413]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 11 March 2010]: I cannot foresee an outcome of the Strategic Defence Review that could lead to the cancellation of the future carrier programme.
Armed Forces: Deployment
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of whether the armed forces are able to undertake a military operation on the scale and complexity of that undertaken for the Falklands War. [321374]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: We take our responsibility to defend the Falkland Islands and the other UK Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic very seriously indeed. We maintain a permanent garrison in the Falkland Islands in order to deter any aggression and regularly deploy other military assets to the region to demonstrate military capability and political resolve. The level of forces required is reviewed regularly. We retain both the commitment and the capability to defend the UK Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic.
Armed Forces: Drinking Water
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department will provide funding for production of the water purification systems ordered by the US administration for deployment in prototype form to Haiti and Afghanistan. [321376]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: We have not received any requests from the Haiti or Afghanistan authorities, or from the US administration, for UK funding for production of water purification systems.
Armed Forces: Food
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the nutritional value of food provided to military personnel serving in combat operations abroad. [320751]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Military Dietary Reference Values published by QinetiQ in 2008 are used as the basis of input for in-barrack feeding in the UK, as the nutritional basis for operational feeding, the future development of operational ration packs, and as a benchmark when assessing the current nutritional value of armed forces feeding.
As part of the benchmarking process, the Surgeon General-sponsored Armed Forces Feeding Project is conducting an evaluation of the actual food and energy intake, and the efficacy of nutritional education, in trained military personnel while in-barracks and on operations. Gender, ethnic and cultural differences in relation to nutritional requirements, intake and dietary habits will also be investigated. The study is due to report in December 2010.
Armed Forces: Private Education
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on education in independent schools for the families of members of the armed forces in each of the last 12 years. [321669]
Mr. Kevan Jones [holding answer 11 March 2010]: Details are only held for financial years 2007-08 and 2008-09. Financial information for earlier years prior to the implementation of the Joint Personnel Administration System is held on single service legacy systems, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
In the armed forces, the allowance paid to service personnel to fund the education of their children in independent schools is known as the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA). The purpose of the CEA is to allow children of armed forces personnel to achieve a stable education against a background of frequent parental postings both at home, and overseas.
In financial year 2007-08, the total cost to the Ministry of Defence was £162,189,373. This includes tax and national insurance on the benefit paid to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs by the Department on behalf of individuals. In financial year 2008-09, the total cost to the MOD was £172,844,735.
Limits apply in respect of the amount that can be claimed per school term by the service person, and all claims are subject to a parental minimum contribution of 10 per cent. per child, per term.
Armed Forces: Rescue Services
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what other aircraft his Department has with the capability equivalent to a Nimrod MR2 in (a) co-ordinating major off-shore incidents and multi-agency rescues and (b) locating vessels that are in distress during adverse weather and low-light conditions. [321325]
Bill Rammell: The Aeronautical Air Rescue Co-Ordination Centre (ARCC), based at RAF Kinloss, is responsible for co-ordinating major off-shore incidents and multi-agency rescues. The ARCC works in consort with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, an Executive agency of the Department for Transport, who has a statutory duty under the coastguard Act 1925 for the initiation and co-ordination of civil maritime search and rescue within the United Kingdom Search and Rescue Region. All requests for assistance from the other emergency services throughout the United Kingdom-police, fire, ambulance and coastguard-are handled by the ARCC.
An on the scene co-ordinator may be designated, if required, by the ARCC. If appropriate, this could be an RAF aircraft. All large aircraft are capable of contributing to a search and rescue operation and are equipped with the long and short-range radios required to communicate with the ARCC. The UK has a range of air assets fitted with radars that can be used to support search and rescue tasks in adverse weather and low-light conditions over water. Additionally C-130 and Sea King Mk 3/3A aircraft can carry crew members equipped with night vision goggles.
Armed Forces: Reserve Forces
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what proportion of the membership of the (a) Territorial Army, (b) Royal Navy Reserve, (c) Royal Marine Reserve and (d) Royal Auxiliary Air Force was available for deployment on the most recent date for which figures are available. [314473]
Bill Rammell: Availability for mobilisation is dependent on a number of factors, in particular which section of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 is being used to make a call-out order. Therefore, while reservists may be unavailable for mobilisation under one section of the Act, they will be available under another. This effectively means that nearly all reservists remain available for mobilisation, dependent upon the nature of the operation.
Army: Lost Property
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many army weapons have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last 12 months. [319720]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I refer the hon. Member to the answer the Secretary of State for Defence gave on 30 November 2009, Official Report, columns 419-20W, to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Willie Rennie).
Army: Manpower
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the (a) required, (b) actual and (c) fit-for-task strength is of each corps of the Army; [312658]
(2) what the (a) required, (b) actual and (c) fit for task strength of each corps of the Army (i) was in 1997 and (ii) is in 2010. [312709]
Bill Rammell: Manning in the Army is currently strong. As at 1 January 2010, the trained strength of the Army, including full-time reserve service personnel, was 101,500, This is the highest figure since 1 January 2006. This good position is due to a greater number of recruits entering training and passing out into the Field Army, coupled with an improvement in retention. While this may be attributed in part to the economic climate, a combination of financial incentives and other retention measures have also had an impact. In September 1998 trained strength was 100,490.
In the following table "required strength" and "actual strength" figures are shown as "funded liability" and "trained strength" respectively.
The latest liability figures are as at 1 January 2010. Comparative figures from 1997 are no longer available. The earliest liability data held are as at 1 September 1998.
1 January 2010 figures have been taken from the Army Personnel Statistics Report (APSR). APSR data is derived from the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system.
Figures for the Regular Army are as follows:
| 1 September 1998 | 1 January 2010 | |||
| Organisation | Funded liability | Trained strength( 1) | Funded liability | Trained strength( 1) |
| (1 )Trained strength figures are rounded. (2) Indicates brace. (3 )These are trained members of the AGC who, due to data input errors in the JPA system, are not allocated to a sub Regimental Corps. | ||||
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