House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 15 July 2008 (pt 0020)

Departmental Internet

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's policy is on updating the (a) Defence News and (b) Defence News Blog section of the Ministry of Defence Website during off-duty hours and at weekends. [217256]

Derek Twigg: The Defence News section of the MOD website and the Defence News Blog aim to provide the latest news and information about UK armed forces and MOD activity to the defence community and the public. Both can be updated outside of office hours and at weekends through a "duty officer" system.

Out-of-hours updates are generally confined to (i) important, unplanned developments such as operational fatalities and (ii) coverage of significant, pre-planned events and announcements which occur outside of office hours, such as Remembrance Sunday.

Although closely interlinked, the Defence News section of the MOD website and the Defence News Blog are separate websites, and hosted separately. If one site is unavailable for any reason, any necessary updates can be added to the other, giving a capability which is robust to technical outages, planned or unplanned.

Exservicemen: Pensions

Mr. Mates: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the Government will offer ex-servicemen who retired from the armed forces before 31 March 1973 the opportunity of buying their wives a forces family widows pension at half-rate on an actuarially calculated, no cost basis. [215086]

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Derek Twigg: No. It would be difficult, in equity, to extend the half rate pension to widows whose husbands had left the service before 31 March 1973 because they had not contributed financially towards the improvement. It has also been the long-standing policy of successive governments that discretionary changes to improve the benefits offered by public service pensions schemes should be implemented for future service only.

Home Information Packs

Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many home information packs have been commissioned by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies to market a residential property; for which properties; at what cost; and whether a voluntary home condition report was purchased as part of the packs. [219011]

Derek Twigg: This Department has commissioned two Home Information Packs in respect of the disposal of 7 and 9 Ladysmith Road, Ashton-under- Lyne, Greater Manchester at a cost of £250.00 each. No voluntary home condition reports were provided.

Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average number of flying hours for each (a) aircraft and (b) helicopter type operating in (i) Iraq and (ii) Afghanistan was in each of the last 12 months. [216234]

Des Browne: I am withholding the information requested as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of our armed forces.

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Hercules flights there have been between Iraq and Afghanistan in each of the last three years. [218488]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: We do not run a regular schedule of C130 Hercules flights between Iraq and Afghanistan. Statistics on those flights which have taken place are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Military Aircraft: Training

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) RAF, (b) Fleet Air Arm and (c) Army personnel completed training for (i) fast jet and (ii) rotary types in each year since 2001. [216255]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The information requested is provided in the following table:

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	Financial year
Service	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Fleet Air Arm
Fast-Jet	5	8	7	10	4	2	3
Rotary	56	62	64	76	52	46	64
Army
Rotary	41	46	43	41	50	46	45

RAF^{( 1)}
Fast-Jet	65	62	72	72	51	55	58
Rotary	58	79	83	76	50	63	93

^{(1 )}These figures include all RAF personnel who completed training for fast-jet and rotary aircraft (i.e. pilots, navigators and crewmen) as appropriate. The figures for rotary aircraft include Chinook, Merlin and Puma.

Military Attaches

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to his Department was of each defence section in each (a) city and (b) country outside the UK in each year since 1997. [214351]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The following table shows the cost of each Defence Section by city and country outside the UK in each year since 2000.

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		Financial year
Capital	Country	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Kabul⁽¹⁾	Afghanistan	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Abu Dhabi	UAE	189,693	199,178	249,295	261,760	268,304	275,012	242,928	249,001
Abuja	Nigeria	191,675	201,259	214,364	225,083	230,710	236,477	305,844	313,490
Accra	Ghana	184,814	194,055	279,299	293,264	300,595	308,110	236,758	242,677
Addis Ababa	Ethiopia	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	212,000	217,300	222,733	224,702	230,320
Algiers	Algeria	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	170,547	174,811
Astana⁽¹⁾	Kazakhstan	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	204,417	214,638	220,004	225,504	294,360	301,719
Amman	Jordan	367,846	386,238	537,108	563,963	578,062	592,513	421,334	431,867
Ankara	Turkey	356,948	374,795	427,786	449,175	460,404	471,915	517,932	530,880
Athens	Greece	627,865	659,258	603,346	633,513	649,351	665,585	536,096	549,498
Baghdad	Iraq	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	212,000	217,300	222,733	239,220	245,201
Bahrain	Bahrain	156,197	164,007	183,023	192,174	196,978	201,903	183,703	188,296
Bangkok	Thailand	203,861	214,054	220,409	231,429	237,215	243,145	279,972	286,971
Beirut	Lebanon	153,354	161,022	165,376	173,645	177,986	182,436	155,408	159,293
Belgrade	Serbia	11,326	175,000	273,920	287,616	294,806	302,177	329,473	337,710
Berlin⁽²⁾	Germany	788,428	824,527	934,481	977,714	1,002,157	1,027,211	828,874	849,595
Berne	Switzerland	184,073	193,277	194,773	204,511	209,624	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—
Bogota	Colombia	208,448	218,870	258,718	271,654	278,446	285,407	310,662	318,429
Brasilia	Brazil	501,808	526,898	532,212	558,822	572,793	587,113	378,896	388,368
Bratislava	Slovakia	135,088	141,842	299,034	313,985	321,835	329,881	303,752	311,346
Bridgetown	Barbados	222,646	233,778	241,552	253,630	259,970	266,469	292,571	299,885
Brunei	Brunei	136,695	143,530	181,450	190,522	195,285	200,167	183,739	188,332
Brussels	Belgium	276,079	289,883	286,189	300,498	308,011	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—
Bucharest	Romania	198,631	208,563	318,589	334,519	342,882	351,454	469,934	481,682
Budapest	Hungary	172,674	181,308	293,507	308,182	315,887	323,784	20,618	21,133
Buenos Aires	Argentina	557,661	585,544	520,081	546,085	559,737	573,730	456,978	468,402
Cairo	Egypt	456,405	479,225	456,473	479,297	491,279	503,561	438,708	449,676
Canberra	Australia	626,953	658,301	683,106	717,262	735,193	753,573	572,273	586,580
Caracas	Venezuela	283,181	297,340	244,939	257,186	263,616	270,206	239,416	⁽³⁾—
Colombo	Sri Lanka	178,941	187,888	189,813	199,303	204,286	209,393	235,737	241,630
Copenhagen	Denmark	181,806	190,896	227,882	239,276	245,258	251,389	250,964	257,238
Damascus	Syria	186,906	196,251	221,892	232,986	238,811	244,781	201,688	206,730
Dhaka	Bangladesh	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	235,737	241,630
Doha	Qatar	209,145	219,602	236,936	248,783	255,002	261,378	237,372	243,306
Dublin	Irish Republic	177,349	186,216	221,239	232,301	238,108	244,061	302,758	310,327
Freetown	Sierra Leone	40,972	175,000	219,420	230,391	236,151	242,055	228,533	234,246
Guatemala City	Guatemala	175,587	184,366	248,116	260,522	267,035	273,710	385,289	⁽³⁾—
Harare	Zimbabwe	178,498	187,423	207,815	218,206	223,661	229,253	303,579	311,168
Helsinki	Finland	207,844	218,236	228,121	239,527	245,515	251,653	261,280	267,812
Islamabad	Pakistan	359,497	377,472	447,857	470,250	482,006	494,056	511,127	523,905
Jakarta	Indonesia	233,195	244,855	211,035	221,586	227,126	232,804	292,955	300,279
Kampala	Uganda	173,364	182,032	217,646	228,529	234,242	240,098	241,298	247,330
Kathmandu⁽²⁾	Nepal	185,540	193,188	228,191	237,889	243,836	249,932	214,893	220,265
Khartoum	Sudan	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	280,416	287,426
Kyiv	Ukraine	297,983	312,882	400,506	420,532	431,045	441,821	412,478	422,790
Kingston	Jamaica	270,737	284,274	273,938	287,635	294,826	302,197	265,719	272,362
Kinshasa	D R Congo	24,560	175,000	213,815	224,506	230,118	235,871	317,747	325,691
Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	433,868	455,561	432,855	454,498	465,861	477,507	350,558	359,322
Kuwait City	Kuwait	183,948	193,145	259,257	272,220	279,025	286,001	217,231	222,662
Lisbon	Portugal	206,256	216,569	218,169	229,078	234,804	240,675	228,375	234,084
Ljubljana	Slovenia	108,967	114,415	187,836	197,228	202,158	207,212	8,749	⁽³⁾—
Luanda	Angola	⁽²⁾—	213,000	247,640	260,022	266,523	273,186	2,592	⁽³⁾—
Madrid	Spain	440,822	462,863	436,130	457,936	469,385	481,120	464,945	476,569
Manila	Philippines	175,321	184,087	229,939	241,436	247,472	253,659	259,532	266,020
Mexico City	Mexico	139,483	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—	⁽³⁾—
Moscow	Russia	1,083,882	1,138,076	1,391,127	1,460,684	1,497,201	1,534,631	1,515,168	1,553,047
Muscat	Oman	419,755	440,743	530,007	556,508	570,420	584,681	410,639	420,905
Nairobi	Kenya	234,453	246,176	225,371	236,639	242,555	248,619	271,064	277,841
New Delhi	India	523,478	549,652	546,489	573,814	588,159	602,863	670,420	687,181
Nicosia	Cyprus	164,787	173,026	192,453	202,075	207,127	212,305	221,578	227,117
Oslo	Norway	326,758	343,096	277,432	291,304	298,586	306,051	277,425	284,361
Ottawa	Canada	647,670	680,054	710,315	745,831	764,477	783,588	815,899	836,296
Paris⁽²⁾	France	957,228	1,004,242	1,038,243	1,089,266	1,116,498	1,144,410	1,154,068	1,182,919
Peking	China	518,015	543,916	573,869	602,563	617,627	633,068	674,372	691,231
Prague	Czech	178,249	187,161	319,558	335,536	343,925	352,523	313,924	321,772
Pretoria	South Africa	365,346	383,613	500,221	525,232	538,363	551,822	468,996	480,721
Rabat	Morocco	205,322	215,588	254,545	267,272	273,954	280,803	235,313	241,196
Riga	Latvia	179,916	188,912	239,349	251,317	257,600	264,040	68,608	⁽³⁾—
Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	641,613	673,694	734,485	771,210	790,490	810,252	544,790	558,410
Rome	Italy	587,920	617,316	681,572	715,650	733,541	751,880	609,012	624,237
Sana'a	Yemen	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	119,094	122,071
Santiago	Chile	221,694	232,779	211,494	222,069	227,620	233,311	272,950	279,774
Sarajevo	Bosnia	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	173,063	177,390
Seoul	Korea	432,661	454,294	489,467	513,940	526,788	539,958	525,757	538,901
Singapore⁽²⁾	Singapore	468,843	490,171	410,111	428,396	439,106	450,083	413,728	481,563
Skopje	Macedonia	159,269	167,232	166,750	175,088	179,465	183,952	203,007	208,082
Sofia	Bulgaria	211,873	222,467	341,988	359,088	368,065	377,266	411,539	421,827
Stockholm	Sweden	268,112	281,518	216,108	226,914	232,586	238,401	244,880	251,002
Tallinn	Estonia	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	204,231	214,443	219,804	225,299	101,317	⁽³⁾—
Tashkent	Uzbekistan	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	267,244	280,606	287,621	294,812	47,139	⁽³⁾—
Tbilisi	Georgia	130,028	136,529	246,018	258,319	264,777	271,396	222,118	227,671
Tel Aviv	Israel	393,970	413,669	531,212	557,772	571,717	586,010	451,078	462,355
The Hague	Netherlands	314,374	330,093	309,323	324,790	332,909	341,232	481,676	493,718
Tirana	Albania	1,127	190,000	155,644	163,427	167,512	171,700	219,991	225,491
Tokyo	Japan	492,466	517,089	334,361	351,079	359,856	368,852	406,964	417,138
Vienna	Austria	255,226	267,987	320,292	336,307	344,715	353,332	321,096	329,123
Vilnius	Lithuania	15,958	189,000	165,516	173,792	178,137	182,590	232,973	238,797
Warsaw	Poland	351,595	369,175	447,302	469,667	481,409	493,444	441,306	452,339
Wellington	New Zealand	81,982	189,000	177,558	186,436	191,097	195,875	230,926	236,699
Zagreb	Croatia	155,625	163,406	194,215	203,926	209,024	214,250	254,499	260,861
New York⁽³⁾	USA	—	—	—	—	—	—	407,522	417,710
Washington	USA	887,279	910,151	1,024,892	1,055,439	1,177,608	1,390,170	1,479,383	1,572,000
⁽¹⁾ From November 2006, previously Almaty ⁽²⁾ No Defence Section ⁽³⁾ Closed Notes: 1.The Defence Section in Afghanistan opened in November 2007. There are no costs available from that date as the Defence Section is funded through Operational funds which cannot be disaggregated from the overall budget. 2. These costs include estimated costs for personnel funded by the single service funds which cannot be disaggregated from their overall budgets. 3. Costs are not available prior to financial year 2006-07. 4. All the costs in the table exclude pre-post preparation training costs that fall to the single service budgets; these are assessed to be in the order of £8.7 million at FY 2007-08 prices. 5. All the costs in the table are at their respective financial year prices. 6. The costs in paragraph 2 do not include the personnel funded by the single services, the pre-post preparation costs and the UKMIS New York costs.

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