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Armed Forces

I understand the point, my Lords. There is a system in operation to get non-addressed parcels out to as many people as possible, but those are from a recognised charity. Last December I went to Brize Norton and saw the boxes for myself. Many of them contained unsuitable items such as aerosols or liquids that had to be screened before they could be put on an aircraft, and that caused extra difficulties. If a deluge of such parcels means that parcels from wives, husbands, mothers or fathers cannot get through, that can cause difficulty. There is scope for considering whether arrangements can be made for these parcels to go elsewhere—to the families of servicemen or something of that kind—but we cannot afford to have the same backlog build up. We get inundated with unmarked parcels which sometimes contain items that cause difficulties. The noble Lord, Lord Astor, mentioned Chelsea Barracks. The department has made a commitment to use the proceeds from the barracks for accommodation. However, those are specific points and I shall come on to housing later. Nevertheless, the noble Lord, Lord Astor, complained rather strongly about the company responsible for what he called substandard housing. Although I do not want to bring too much politics into this, I should point out that it was the previous Conservative Government who were responsible for the sale of much of the MoD housing stock. We are often bound by these very long-term commitments, which sometimes tie the hands of the department. The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, mentioned the peace dividend, which we had almost forgotten about; there were many hopes there. He said that we entered into wars of choice. I am not sure that they have always been wars of choice, as the consequences of not acting might well have been very severe. I think that everyone in Europe felt that action had to be taken on Kosovo. Although I know that the noble Lord has strong views on Iraq, I would remind him of the words of my noble friend Lord Robertson today on Afghanistan. He has clearly explained that we are there to defend this country. I think that I can recall my noble friend saying at the time that if we did not go to the Taliban, the Taliban would come to us. That is exactly the same situation, although now we might use the words ““al-Qaeda”” rather than just ““Taliban””. It is of course a complex situation. It is true that we have a range of commitments and there is a limit to what we can do by ourselves, which is why we work in alliances and why we have to look carefully at where we can work with others. We work with others on equipment such as the A400M, as I mentioned. I was asked earlier about co-operation with the French. Regardless of whether it is France or any other country or group of countries, we can work collaboratively with others on equipment projects only if all of us have the same requirements, work to the same timescales and have the same financial ability to take on board the contracts. It is not necessarily an easy commitment but, because of the complexity of many items of modern equipment, it is often the only way forward to get the kind of equipment that we need these days. The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, asked about paragraph 2.22, which is on housing. I think that that part applies to homelessness, on which we are trying to do some quite novel and ambitious things. A project in Aldershot is aimed at homelessness among former members of the armed services and it is proposed that we have such projects in other, similar garrison towns. The project can be considered to be a pilot and we are working with both the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly to see what we can do on this. People can often have problems in transition, which is why we have placed so much emphasis on education and on providing opportunities for people once they leave the services. I am afraid that the questions from the noble Lord about helicopter orders, FRES and other items will have to wait until we are ready to announce such things, although the noble Lord, Lord Astor, has a Question on Wednesday and, before too long, it might be possible to say more on a whole range of those issues. I welcome what the noble Lord said on many issues—about recruitment, about the potential for breaking the cycle of deprivation and about the role of the cadet, which we all see as valuable. The noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig, made a number of valuable points, as usual, drawing on his experience and, indeed, on his contacts. He is always extremely well informed on these matters. He said that we have been in Iraq too long and hoped that we would be out soon. I think that we are all pleased at the progress that has been made there. We are discussing the SOFA. We will not allow our troops to stay there without clarity, but we feel that we are making progress. We are making progress on the compensation scheme, which has been welcomed—indeed, everyone should welcome it, because we should not forget that our scheme is another relatively new invention. Previously, there was simply the war pensions scheme, which did not have the lump sums. The doubling of those sums is significant, as is the fact that they should be paid to some people before the year’s end. That is a big step forward, as is the tax-free monthly income that goes with it for the more severely injured. It shows that some things have been delivered, which, again, we should welcome. The external reference group was mentioned, as was the fact that the chair of the committee is from the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office is there to hold other government departments to account. As the initiatives in the White Paper range across government, from education to health, to work and pensions and a whole range of issues, it is appropriate that we should have someone from the Cabinet Office chairing the group and keeping all those departments on their toes. The external reference group is a significant group of people, involving representatives of the Royal British Legion, SSAFA, the Army, Navy and RAF family federations, the war widows and so on. That significant group of people would not be likely to let the Government off the hook on these things. The noble and gallant Lord’s motto, ““Yes we can””, when it comes to delivery on these issues, is one to which we will be held by those who are in that group. They will take it as their responsibility to make sure that we keep up to the mark. My noble friend Lord Robertson used his experience as a former Secretary of State and Secretary-General of NATO to give a wide perspective. I have mentioned what he said about Afghanistan. He is right. We have to remind people time and again that we are in Afghanistan for our own national interest, as well as to improve the lot of that country. Only by improving the lot of that country can we establish there stability, good governance and the rule of law, and tackle corruption, which has been mentioned as well. If we can get that country into a position where it does not provide that threat, it will be a significant step forward. I appreciated the noble Lord’s remarks about the Treasury and the struggles that all departments have with it from time to time. I can say only that the Treasury has been extremely good at finding the money for urgent operational requirements, just as industry has been extremely good in responding to our needs. The noble Lord, Lord Lyell, mentioned the House of Lords Defence Group, which seems to visit a good number of places to get an insight. We try to keep in touch on that. He asked about the JSF budget. Other noble Lords asked whether the JSF will be on the carriers at the appropriate time. The timetable for JSF has never directly coincided with the timetables for the carriers; that has always been the case. So far, we have invested the appropriate amount in JSF. We do not have to make any more investment decisions until next year. The stowable version has flown. We are keeping in very close touch on that. So far, things are going to plan. The noble Lord, Lord Burnett, mentioned personnel. He also mentioned education and training. It is important that we emphasise that people who come into our Armed Forces often receive very good education and training that will stand them in good stead when they leave. He raised some specific points and asked for some figures. I shall have to write to him about those, because I cannot give all the answers off the top of my head. The noble Baroness, Lady Emerton, mentioned the work of the Defence Medical Welfare Service. I know that she has met my right honourable friend Bob Ainsworth about it. We are happy to work alongside it in delivering the Command Paper commitments and recognise the good work that has been done. We are happy to continue to work with the noble Baroness and to hear her concerns so that we can be kept up to date. The noble Lord, Lord James, mentioned two points. The first was case of the RAF Hercules, which is still the subject of an inquest in a coroner’s court. On that basis, I do not think it appropriate to comment. I shall provide him with as much information as possible at the appropriate stage, but I am not sure when that will be. The noble Lord also mentioned asbestosis, which is a significant problem for those who are affected by it and has affected many people in many industries. The MoD is sympathetic to claims made in relation to exposure to asbestos. There is an automatic presumption that Royal Navy personnel who served between 1939 and 1973 would have been exposed to asbestos, so any claim for a war pension can be fast-tracked. Anyone serving later than that would be reviewed as individual cases. We recognise asbestosis as an important issue on which we have to keep a watch. The noble Lord, Lord Lee, mentioned the importance of the MoD in government going down because my right honourable friend Des Browne doubled up as Secretary of State for Scotland. I was stopped in this House the other day by a noble Lord who asked why we now had five Ministers in the MoD. If you are judging it on numbers, there is a bit of divergence of opinion. I do not know whether it was personal or on behalf of the party of the noble Lord, Lord Lee, but I take note of the commitment that the Liberals would spend more on defence. He mentioned the issue of reservists and so did—