§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Warrington, North constituency, the effects on Warrington, North of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [152315]
§ Dr. Moonie[holding answer 6 March 2001]: The Ministry of Defence has wide-ranging presence throughout the UK in terms of defence establishments and the service and civilian personnel they employ. This presence brings benefits to many communities, local economies and jobs Also, 60,000 new defence contracts are placed each year that provide support to industry and create and sustain defence-related employment.
The Ministry of Defence has maintained a large number of personnel in the Warrington area: within a 25-mile radius distance of the constituency, MOD direct employees totalled some 4,150 personnel as of 1 October 1999 (service and civilian).
Since 2 May 1997, around 440 contracts with a total value of nearly £50 million were placed with prime contractors in the 1 Warrington area1.
I draw attention to the Defence Analytical Services Agency report "UK Defence Statistics 2000", which contains a wealth of defence statistical information, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.
1The decision as to where work under a particular contract will be undertaken rests with the contractor, therefore work on a contract placed with a prime contract in the Warrington area may well be done elsewhere: similarly contracts placed with contractors outside the Warrington area could lead to sub-contracts on companies in Warrington.13W