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22 Mar 2010 : Column 11W—continued
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2010, Official Report, column 849W, on departmental internet, what the cost was of the website redesign. [321932]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The costs of the redesigns were as follows:
| Website and URL | Cost (£) | |
|
MOD corporate website http://www.mod.uk | ||
|
Royal Navy http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk | ||
|
British Army http://www.army.mod.uk | ||
|
Royal Air Force http://www.raf.mod.uk | ||
| (1) The British Army website redesign launched on 30 May 2008; the redesign project launched in 2006 and preparatory design work was carried out between 2006 and 2008. | ||
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many designs for its (a) internal website and (b) intranet his Department has commissioned since 2005; and what the cost was of each such design. [321994]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The following designs have been commissioned since 2005.
A number of other internal websites are run by different parts of the Ministry of Defence, but these are not managed centrally. Information on these sites could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Ministry of Defence is progressively reducing the number of internal websites and migrating their content across to the Defence intranet.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how much his Department spent on maintaining its Flickr channel in 2009-10; [322526]
(2) how many people his Department employs to maintain its social media and social networking sites; and at what cost in the latest period for which figures are available; [322529]
(3) how much his Department spent on maintaining its Twitter feeds in the latest period for which figures are available; [322530]
(4) how much his Department spent on maintaining its YouTube channel in the latest period for which figures are available. [322607]
Mr. Kevan Jones: There is no one MOD employee whose main role is to maintain social media and social networking sites, Twitter, YouTube or Flickr, although there are some for whom it is a small part of their role alongside their other duties.
My Department has spent $30 on a single Flickr 'Pro' licence, for the Royal Military College Sandhurst.
The official, sponsored and affiliated social media presences of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces are listed at
Departmental Manpower
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many civilian staff are employed principally to operate his Department's White Fleet of vehicles. [322848]
Mr. Kevan Jones: A Contract Management Team comprising 15 civilian posts manages the UK White Fleet contract on behalf of the MOD. Other civilian staff are involved in managing White Fleet activity at a local level across MOD; this information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Surveys
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the benchmark results of the Civil Service People Survey for his Department and its agencies. [322576]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Yes. The document-October 2009 MOD Your Say Survey results (part of the Civil Service People Survey)-will be placed in the Library of the House.
These results are also available on the MOD website:
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FreedomOfInformation/PublicationScheme/SearchPublicationScheme/HrStrategy CivilianContinuousAttitudeSurveys.htm
The document for UK Hydrographic Office results will also be placed in the Library of the House shortly. No other trading funds participated in the 2009 survey.
Departmental Travel
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on travel for its civilian staff between (a) London and Edinburgh, (b) London and Glasgow and (c) London and the rest of Scotland in each of the last five years. [321701]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Travel between London and Scotland may be undertaken by a number of methods of travel (e.g. road, rail, air, coach). This information is not recorded by location and this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Devonport Dockyard
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when his Department will make a decision on the future base-porting of frigates currently base-ported in Devonport Naval Base. [323267]
Mr. Quentin Davies: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 January 2010, Official Report, column 890W, to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock).
Future Rapid Effect System
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when he expects to announce his decision on the preferred bidder for the Future Rapid Effect System armoured reconnaissance vehicle contract; [323169]
(2) what advice his Department received from the Treasury in connection with the choice of design for the Future Rapid Effect System armoured reconnaissance vehicle. [323170]
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. An announcement on the competition for the Specialist Vehicle project has been made today in a written ministerial statement by the Secretary of State for Defence.
HM Treasury has provided no advice to the Department regarding the choice of design for the Specialist Vehicle capability. The MOD reached its own decision on the choice of design based on the advice of expert assessment panels.
Group 4 Securicor
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions his Department has had with Group 4 Securicor on its proposals to have outsourced to the private security industry those services which are detailed in the unprinted paper reported to the House by the Defence Committee on 10 February 2010; and if he will make a statement. [322507]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 17 March 2010]: The Ministry of Defence has a number of existing agreements with Group 4 Securicor for the provision of Defence services. We are aware of the range of services that the company offers and it is, of course, free to compete for additional Ministry of Defence business through established procedures. My officials engage with Group 4 Securicor on both current business and potential future opportunities as required.
HMS Gannet
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many search and rescue call-outs there were from HMS Gannet between 1 March 2009 and 28 February 2010. [322857]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 18 March 2010]: The numbers of search and rescue call-outs from HMS Gannet between 1 March 2009 and 31 January 2010 are as follows:
| Month | Callouts |
Official Statistics guidelines do not allow the release of data prior to their official publication. The Official Statistics for February 2010 are due to be released by Defence Analytical Services and Advice on Monday 29 March. Search and rescue statistics can be found at:
Hotels
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on (a) renting accommodation and (b) hotel costs for its civilian staff attending meetings in Scotland in the last 12 months. [321702]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Civilian employees are unlikely to use or stay in rented accommodation for a business meeting. Employees may rent accommodation temporarily as a result of a transfer but information on this or hotel costs for meetings in Scotland is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Members: Correspondence
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 4 November 2009, Official Report, column 704W, on helicopters, when he plans to write to the hon. Member for Woodspring. [314287]
Bill Rammell: I wrote to the hon. Member on 5 March.
Middle East: Military Attachés
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to which countries in the Middle East a UK defence attaché is posted. [320967]
Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister for Veterans (Mr. Jones) on 20 October 2009, Official Report, column 1366W.
Navy: Scotland
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many naval vessels are permanently based in Scotland; and how many have been permanently based in Scotland in each year since 1997. [317783]
Bill Rammell: The Royal Navy currently has five submarines and eight surface vessels based in Scotland. The details for each year since 1997 are shown in the following table.
| Number of RN vessels base port in Scotland | ||
| Surface | Submarine | |
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