§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military staff from(a) Macedonia, (b) Bulgaria, (c) Slovakia, (d) Slovenia, (e) Albania, (f) Romania, (g) Estonia, (h) Latvia and (i) Lithuania have been involved in training in the UK in the last five years; at what cost; and if he will make a statement. [38055]
§ Mr. IngramApproximate numbers of personnel involved in training in the UK through the Outreach programme during the last three years are given below (figures are not held centrally prior 1999). These figures may include some civilian personnel working for the Defence Ministries of the countries referred to, as it is not possible in all cases to differentiate them.
Personnel from countries covered by the Outreach programme come to the UK for a wide variety of training, ranging from Staff courses lasting up to one year, to seminars and short educational visits for as little as three days. Included in these figures is Arms Control training, which in some cases ("Open Skies") involves the use of an aircraft, at high cost.
Indicative costs are shown for 2001 only as detailed costings are not held for previous years. Places on yearlong courses, which by their nature are expensive, are allocated between countries on rotation and those countries shown below with higher costs are likely to have benefited from at least one such course and in some cases from "Open Skies" training during 2001. Not all costs involved in the activities covered in this answer fall to centrally controlled funds (i.e. support to individuals while visiting units), and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
1999 2000 2001 Numbers Numbers Numbers Cost £K Macedonia 20 27 17 126 Bulgaria 57 51 52 300 Slovakia 70 73 46 250 Slovenia 50 37 29 131 Albania 10 27 14 43 Romania 66 85 56 475 Estonia 36 18 24 55 Latvia 28 17 20 190 Lithuania 31 20 19 94 These activities form part of the Outreach programme in central and eastern Europe which, in turn, is part of the wider Defence Diplomacy mission. Outreach contributes to international stability by assisting countries in the region to establish 1461W democratically accountable, cost-effective armed forces capable of contributing both to national and regional security and, increasingly, to international security through participation in peace support operations.