§ Mr. James GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) from which budget the additional costs of Operation Fresco will be drawn; [84105]
482W(2) what discussions he has had about use of the Contingency Fund to pay for Operation Fresco; [84107]
(3) what the estimated extra costs to the defence budget is of Operation Fresco; [84106]
(4) what extra funds (a) Defence Fire Services, (b) RAF Fire Service and (c) RN Fire Services will be granted to cover their contribution to Operation Fresco. [84108]
§ Mr. IngramCosts will initially fall to a wide range of Ministry of Defence budges, reflecting the many different areas of the Armed Forces involved in providing assistance. No extra funds will be made available to these areas, because MOD will recover the additional costs of the operation from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Because the defence budget will be reimbursed, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has had no discussions about use of the Contingency Fund. It is too early to say how much the military assistance will cost, but in preparing for the strike MOD incurred costs of about 8 million, mainly on purchasing major items of equipment such as protective clothing, breathing apparatus and hydraulic cutting equipment.