§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effect on service morale of his policy on the provision of telephone services for personnel deployed in Bosnia; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HanleyWe are fully conscious of the importance to service morale of regular telephone contacts with relatives and friends. For this reason, we have set up arrangements in Bosnia whereby service personnel at all major locations can make personal calls using commercial networks or, where these are not available, the military operational network. All British troops serving in the forner Yugoslavia receive a telephone allowance of –13.50 per month.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements(a) existed prior to 11 January and (b) currently exist to enable British service personnel in Bosnia to make use of London-based operator services to place reverse charge calls; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HanleyWhere commercial telephone lines are not available, service personnel in Bosnia are permitted to make personal calls using the military network. Calls to the United Kingdom on the military network are routed via an operator in London and the costs within the United Kingdom are billed by means of reverse charges. Since this is an operational network, its use is however limited to times at the local commander's discretion depending upon the operational circumstances. Since 11 January, following the installation of six British Telecom cardphones at Vitez, access to the military network there for personal calls has been withdrawn. These BT telephones take United Kingdom phonecards which can be purchased at reduced rates in the local NAAFI or can be sent by relatives in the post. The call charge rate is cheaper than the normal BT rate for calls from the United Kingdom to Yugoslavia.
§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has as to the policy of other Governments contributing troops to UNPROFOR in Bosnia concerning the retention or passing on of United Nations payments to their personnel; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HanleyWe have no such information.
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§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what rate per day per soldier the United Nations pays the United Kingdom for stationing service personnel in Bosnia;
(2) what payments the British Government receive from the United Nations to cover salary costs of British service personnel in Bosnia;
(3) what payments the British Government receive from the United Nations for stationing their troops in Bosnia; and if he will give a detailed breakdown of those payments.
§ Mr. HanleyThe United Nations pays a standard troop cost of $988 per person per month irrespective of rank, plus a supplementary amount of $291 for a limited number of specialists as a contribution towards salary and allowances. The United Nations also pays $65 per person per month to cover personal clothing, and equipment and $5 per person per month for personal weapons and ammunition. Other claims for reimbursable items of expenditure—for example, vehicles, equipment—depend on the United Nations' ability to pay.
§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British service personnel are currently stationed in Bosnia; what is the total pay bill for those personnel; and what supplementary payments or allowances they receive, on top of normal salary(a) from the British Government and (b) from the United Nations.
§ Mr. HanleyThere are currently some 2,300 British service personnel stationed in Bosnia. The total pay bill varies with the rotation of personnel in theatre who are paid according to their rank, their personal circumstances and the location from which they were posted. In addition to their normal salary, and subject to eligibility, they receive from the British Government a separation allowance of £3.50 per day after 30 days and a proportion of local overseas allowance—70 per cent. for married personnel, 40 per cent. for single personnel. They also receive a telephone allowance of £13.50 per month. All service personnel serving under United Nations auspices in Bosnia receive a United Nations set allowance of $1.28 per day for incidental expenses an a lump sum of $73.50 to cover the first seven days of rest and recreation leave.
§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether payments received by the British Government from the United Nations for stationing service personnel in Bosnia are(a) retained entirely by the Ministry of Defence or (b) passed on in whole, or in part to United Kingdom soldiers.
§ Mr. HanleyIn accordance with an inter-departmental arrangement, the MOD recovers the cost of United Kingdom participation in peacekeeping operations from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. United Nations receipts to Her Majesty's Government are used by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to offest the overall cost of United Nations peacekeeping. All United Nations troops in Bosnia, irrespective of nationality, are entitled to receive the same United Nations allowances, which currently stand at $128 a day each and a lump sum of $73.50 per person to cover rest and recreation; all United Kingdom service personnel serving in the former Yugoslavia receive these United Nations allowances in full.
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