§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the schemes and initiatives sponsored by his Department and its agencies which are not the subject of national roll out, showing(a) the authorities or areas covered by the scheme and (b) the budget of the scheme in the last year for which information is available. [75668]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Ministry of Defence has two central schemes, which have not been subject to a national roll out. In the last academic year the Department rolled out its Skill Force programme to 11 pilot locations: Ashfield (Nottinghamshire), Birmingham, Bristol, Great Yarmouth (Norfolk), Knowsley (Merseyside), North Lanarkshire, Leicester, Rochdale, Newcastle, West Norfolk, Islington (London). The budget for the Skill Force programme was approximately £1 million funded by the Treasury's Invest to Save Budget, Ministry of Defence and co-funding from local partner organisations. The initiative is expanding to 23 schemes with a start date of November 2002. This expansion is being co-funded by the DfES and Welsh Assembly.
The Army Cadet 'Outreach' programme is being undertaken by 25 counties within the UK: Berkshire, Bristol, Bucks, Cheshire, Cleveland, Dorset, Durham, Dyfed, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Gwent, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Northumbria, Oxfordshire, Powys, Surrey, Yorkshire, Perthshire, Lancashire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, and Wiltshire. The cost for this programme is some £150,000.
The Ministry of Defence has a number of other schemes/initiatives, which have not been rolled out nation wide, such as Ministry of Defence base specific conservation projects. However, details of these types of scheme are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.