§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date he received the Crowd Control Technologies report published by the Scientific and Technological Options Assessment Panel of the European Parliament Directorate General for Research; and what measures he has taken to implement the recommendation that an independent and objective social impact study be(a) commissioned and (b) published prior to authorisation of purchase orders for new crowd control technology. [158049]
§ Mr. SpellarI refer my hon. Friend to the answer which the Minister of State, Home Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, South (Mr. Clarke), gave him on 25 April 2001,Official Report, column 283W.
§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those units that are to be equipped with the L21A1 plastic baton round; what his estimate is 715W of the cost of re-equipping each; how many L21A1 baton rounds have been ordered in each force and at what cost; how many L104 anti-riot guns have been ordered and at what cost; how many XL18E3 optical sight mechanisms have been ordered for each force and at what cost; what his estimate is of retraining each unit to be equipped with new equipment; and how many personnel training and trainer hours will be expended on this exercise. [158050]
§ Mr. SpellarArmy units charged with supporting the police in Northern Ireland are to be equipped with the L21A1 baton round, as are the relevant training establishments. Other units may need to be issued with the new baton rounds should circumstances require it, subject to prior training. Sufficient numbers have been ordered to fulfil anticipated requirements. I am withholding details of equipment numbers in accordance with Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. I am withholding information on costs on the grounds of commercial confidentiality in accordance with Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
The units that are to be equipped with the new baton round already undergo regular baton round training. Any extra cost and time associated specifically with the new round will be small, but cannot be separately identified without disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what impact tests were conducted by(a) the Defence Evaluation Research Agency at Porton Down and (b) the Defence Scientific Advisory Council on the L21A1 plastic baton round; how many (i) animals and (ii) human beings were involved in testing; and how many fatalities and what injuries were sustained as a result. [158048]
§ Mr. SpellarFor the medical evaluation of the L21A1 baton round, no physical impact tests were conducted by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency or by the Defence Scientific Advisory Council on living animals or on human beings.
Computer models of the head, thorax and abdomen were used to compare the biomechanical response of the body following the impact of L21A1 and L5A7 baton rounds. In addition, physical impact tests were conducted on excised bovine scapulae to compare the skull fracture patterns of the two projectiles. The bovine scapula is a physical model of skull fracture and the scapulae were obtained from the meat trade.
§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what models of plastic baton round have been tested that would meet the criteria for a penetrating kinetic energy round; and what his assessment is of the lethality potential of such weapons. [158047]
§ Mr. SpellarL5A7 and L21A1 baton rounds are not designed to penetrate the body wall. We are not aware of any incidence of penetration of the torso body wall by polyurethane baton rounds that have been fired in Northern Ireland since the 1970s. No studies were undertaken on the probability of penetration of the torso body wall by these projectiles, prototypes of the L21A1, or commercially available kinetic energy based public order equipment.