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Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what provision his Department makes for child care facilities for staff; what subsidy is provided for (a) nursery places and (b) holiday play schemes; if he will list the organisations used by his Department for child care; and if child care vouchers are made available to staff. [30014]
Mr. Spellar: My Department and its agencies currently provide 13 workplace nurseries offering some 500 fulltime places, as well as a number of holiday play schemes. This is in line with Civil Service policy to establish child care support arrangements for staff where there is a business case and value for money justification. This enables us to help many of our staff to combine their working lives with family responsibilities. Child care vouchers are not issued to MOD staff. Parents are required to make a contribution to the running costs of child care facilities. Details of the Department's expenditure on child care support are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Organisations currently providing child care services to the MOD are:
Busy Bees Nurseries Ltd.
Childcare Enterprises Ltd.
Going Solo Ltd.
Kinderquest Ltd.
Little Darling Childcare
Mini Mariner Nursery
Pixieland Daycare Nurseries
Yeovilteenies Nursery.
Mr. Key:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the activities and costs of his Department's defence technology strategy; and if he will make a statement. [29523]
19 Feb 1998 : Column: 840
Mr. Spellar
[holding answer 18 February 1998]: The Department's technology strategy is carried forward by a programme of research and technology demonstration incorporating, wherever possible, collaborative work with industry, academia or allies.
The programme consists of three principle elements:
There are, in addition, some small elements valued at about £17 million in total directed towards collaborative work with academia (joint grants scheme) and Europe (European transonic wind tunnel).
Mr. Swinney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many contracts of a value greater than £10,000 his Department has with companies in (a) London, (b) South East England, (c) England, (d) Scotland, (e) Wales and (f) Northern Ireland; and what is the total value of such contracts for each area. [30073]
Mr. Spellar
[holding answer 18 February 1998]: The information requested is not available in precisely the format requested. The number and value of current prime contracts valued in excess of £10,000 in Financial Year 1996-97 in the following locations is listed below:
1. An Applied Research Programme, ARP, valued at about £420 million. This programme aims to provide technical options at quantified cost and risk for the formulation of operational requirements that best meet the needs of UK armed forces. It applies to equipment planned to enter service over the next 20 years.
2. A Corporate Research Programme, CRP, valued at about £150 million, whose primary purpose is to sustain and develop the defence technology base by building on world-wide science and technology. The research includes technologies needed to underpin the systems-oriented work of the ARP; generic technologies which have wide applications across many environments or users; and innovative research which is speculative in nature aimed at MOD's future capabilities. It also provides the means by which the potential military utility of emerging technologies can be investigated and demonstrated at an early stage.
3. A Technology Demonstration Programme valued at about £50 million which is primarily intended to reduce areas of high technical risk associated with the known requirements for future equipment, through establishing design options. It is largely driven by procurement pull rather than technology push, and is generally in support of identified equipment or systems applications. It is for the most part let competitively with industry.
| Number of contracts | Value of contracts (£) | |
|---|---|---|
| (a) London | 4,122 | 3,010,656,875 |
| (b) the South East of England | 13,337 | 24,966,057,325 |
| (c) England | 44,340 | 62,777,373,141 |
| (d) Scotland | 3,036 | 3,191,535,617 |
| (e) Wales | 1,142 | 511,535,442 |
| (f) Northern Ireland | 342 | 564,437,755 |
This information should be regarded as indicative as it relates only to current defence prime contracts valued in excess of £10,000 in Financial Year 1996-97. It does not include defence sub-contracts or contracts placed by Trading Fund Defence Agencies as this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Swinney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the number of current research contracts of a value greater than £10,000 sourced at sites in (a) London, (b) the South East of England, (c) England,
19 Feb 1998 : Column: 841
(d) Scotland, (e) Wales, and (f) Northern Ireland; and what is the forecast expenditure on such projects in each area. [30129]
Mr. Spellar
[holding answer 18 February 1998]: The information requested is not available in precisely the format requested. The number of current research contracts valued in excess of £10,000 in Financial Year 1996-97 in the following locations are listed:
| Number of contracts | |
|---|---|
| London | 105 |
| The South East of England | 330 |
| England | 844 |
| Scotland | 36 |
| Wales | 5 |
| Northern Ireland | 2 |
This information should be regarded as indicative as it relates only to extant defence research prime contracts valued in excess of £10,000 in Financial Year 1996-97. It does not include defence sub-contracts or contracts placed by Trading Fund Defence Agencies, except for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, as this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Information regarding the forecast expenditure on such research projects in each area is not held centrally. However, the latest figures available from the Defence Analytical Services Agency for the breakdown of defence research and development expenditure by region are contained in Section 1.6 of the UK Defence Statistics 1997, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
Mr. Swinney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many companies based in (a) London, (b) the South East of England, (c) England, (d) Scotland, (e) Wales and (f) Northern Ireland currently supply his Department with armaments; and what was the value of such supplies in each area in the last year for which figures are available. [30130]
Mr. Spellar
[holding answer 18 February 1998]: The information requested is not available precisely in the form requested. The number of defence contractors with current prime contracts in the following locations in Financial Year 1996-97 is as in the table:
| No of contractors | |
|---|---|
| (a) London | 1,526 |
| (b) The South East of England | 3,492 |
| (c) England | 10,518 |
| (d) Scotland | 1,022 |
| (e) Wales | 427 |
| (f) Northern Ireland | 105 |
This information should, however, be regarded as indicative as it relates only to extant prime contracts with defence contractors in Financial Year 1996-97. It does not include defence sub-contracts or contracts placed by Trading Fund Defence Agencies as this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
19 Feb 1998 : Column: 842
Mr. Swinney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the number of his Department's employees by UK region, indicating the wage bill (a) in total and (b) by region in the last year for which figures are available and separately identifying the costs of London allowances and weightings. [30070]
Mr. Spellar [holding answer 18 February 1998]: The following is a breakdown of Ministry of Defence Civilian Personnel by region as at 1 January 1998:
| Region | Number of staff |
|---|---|
| London | 10,189 |
| South East | 24,760 |
| Eastern | 6,736 |
| South West | 24,098 |
| West Midlands | 8,471 |
| East Midlands | 2,819 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 3,265 |
| Merseyside | 969 |
| North West | 1,653 |
| North East | 600 |
| Wales | 5,165 |
| Scotland | 10,203 |
| Northern Ireland | 3,264 |
| Other locations(20) | 7,752 |
| Total | 109,944 |
(20) Including UK-based staff overseas and at sea.
Note:
The figures include full-time, part-time and casual staff.
| Gross salaries | London element | |
|---|---|---|
| London | 371,586,880 | 17,735,370 |
| National | 1,628,929,789 | Nil |
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