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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what provisions have been made to ensure family contact on 25 December, 31 December and 1 January 2001 for those members of the armed forces who will be separated from their families on these dates; and if he will make a statement. [139758] Mr. Spellar: We attach great importance to service personnel deployed on overseas operations being able to keep in touch with their families throughout the year. It is for this reason that personnel deployed on operations are given 20 minutes publicly funded telephone time each week. Previous concerns about the adequacy and reliability of the welfare telephone services in some overseas theatres have been resolved by the introduction of Project Welcome. This welfare telephone service is deployed in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Kosovo, Bosnia and Sierra Leone and aboard some of the operationally deployed ships and RFAs (Royal Fleet Auxiliaries). Free blueys (aerogrammes), e-blueys and concessionary parcel rates are also provided. We are also in the process of introducing free access to e-mail facilities. Meetings have been held with the contractor responsible for providing the operational telephone welfare service (Project Welcome) to ensure that it is robust enough to cope with the extra demand that will be placed on it over the Christmas period. Measures to give service personnel on operations extra concessionary rates over the Christmas period, for calls beyond their free allowance, are also under consideration. For ships at sea who are not covered by Project Welcome funding has been secured to provide personnel with 10 minutes free call time over the Christmas period.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

357 c724W; 139758

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Armed forces Christmas Concessions Deployment Families Festivals and special occasions Public holidays Postal services Telephones

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk