I have already visited 24 Member States to discuss EU reform with my counterparts, most recently, Warsaw on 6 March. Leaders across Europe agree that the EU needs to change. We are setting out the case for Britain’s view of the reforms required to make the EU fit for purpose in the 21^st Century. We have already made progress: the June European Council agreed that EU reform was necessary and that the UK’s concerns should be addressed.

There will be no changes to the programme of the Submarine Dismantling Project (SDP) as a result of changes announced to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's management at Sellafield.

The assessment of each shortlisted site for the interim storage of Intermediate Level radioactive Waste arising from the SDP will take account of the site operator's ability to meet and deliver the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) requirement. The site assessment work is at an early stage; no decision has been made as to the final interim storage location.

The MOD will continue to work closely with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on the SDP.

Two beehives were installed on the rooftops of Nobel House on 3 November 2014. Honey production is dependent on the season’s weather conditions. Generally a single hive can be expected to produce a minimum of 25 kg of honey per year. As we are entering the winter period, the Nobel House beehives will not produce honey until summer 2015.

The beehives are managed by a skilled bee farmer, who is a member of the Bee Farmers’ Association. He is aided by an apprentice, who is part of the Defra co-funded Beekeeping Apprenticeship scheme.

Two beehives were installed on the rooftops of Nobel House on 3 November 2014. Honey production is dependent on the season’s weather conditions. Generally a single hive can be expected to produce a minimum of 25 kg of honey per year. As we are entering the winter period, the Nobel House beehives will not produce honey until summer 2015.

The beehives are managed by a skilled bee farmer, who is a member of the Bee Farmers’ Association. He is aided by an apprentice, who is part of the Defra co-funded Beekeeping Apprenticeship scheme.

Two beehives were installed on the rooftops of Nobel House on 3 November 2014. Honey production is dependent on the season’s weather conditions. Generally a single hive can be expected to produce a minimum of 25 kg of honey per year. As we are entering the winter period, the Nobel House beehives will not produce honey until summer 2015.

The beehives are managed by a skilled bee farmer, who is a member of the Bee Farmers’ Association. He is aided by an apprentice, who is part of the Defra co-funded Beekeeping Apprenticeship scheme.

Given the deteriorating security situation in Libya, I have not had the chance to discuss training with my Libyan counterpart, but I continue to discuss the situation in Libya with our regional partners. General purpose force training was designed in 2013 at the request of the Libyan Government. The majority of trainees met the required standards but some did not. That was unacceptable and work is already under way on the report that the Prime Minister has commissioned.

We have decided to change both the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 75 (AFPS75) and the War Pension Scheme (WPS). The changes we have made will ensure that from 1 April 2015, widows, widowers and surviving civil partners of all members of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme will now retain their pensions for life, fulfilling the Government's ongoing commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant.

From 1 April 2015 the spouse or civil partner of all members of AFPS75 and any WPS widows will retain their pension for life if they have not already surrendered it due to remarriage or cohabitation.

For those who have already surrendered their pension due to remarriage or cohabitation, should that relationship end they can apply to have their pension restored for life.

The Department continues to work with the Department for International Development to refine the estimate for costs for the Ebola operation, this work is still ongoing.

The estimated cost of the Early Service Leavers enhanced support under the current Career Transition Partnership (CTP) contract from October 2013 to 30 September 2015 is £1 million.

The estimated cost of continuing this provision and the employment support to spouses (a new requirement) in the CTP contract beyond 1 October 2015 is not yet available as the bidders have yet to submit their tenders.

The provision of mental health services for veterans is a matter for the Department of Health and therefore no such estimate has been undertaken.

You will be aware of the announcement made by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 8 October 2014, announcing new waiting time standards from April 2015 for the treatment of mental health conditions by NHS England. I also understand that the Scottish Government has set a target for the NHS in Scotland to deliver a maximum 18 week wait from referral to treatment for Psychological therapies from December 2014.

We have not undertaken any formal estimates on uprating the military compensation of injured veterans by whichever is the higher of earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent. Our approach, increasing awards with reference to the Consumer Price Index, is in line with other public sector schemes, and consistent with the measure of inflation used by the Bank of England.

The provision of hearing aids for veterans is a matter for the Department of Health (DH) and therefore no such estimate has been undertaken. For veterans of a working age, priority National Health Service (NHS) treatment and access to clinically appropriate digital aids where hearing problems are due to service is already best practice across the United Kingdom. For veterans with hearing loss just below the compensation threshold I have written to my Ministerial colleagues responsible for health in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and have their agreement in principle that these individuals should be able to access NHS supplied digital aids. The DH has advised recently that the NHS England strategy on hearing aids is currently out for consultation with a view to sign off early next year.

The Department for International Development will be funding the net additional cost of deploying RFA ARGUS.

The Improved Access to Services Project Board agreed the high-level schedule for the migration of parliamentary emailboxes to Microsoft 365. The more detailed decision on which days to migrate the emailboxes of hon. Members and hon. Members' staff was taken by the project team, overseen by the Director of Parliamentary ICT, taking into account factors such as: mailbox access rights (so that users accessing a particular mailbox are migrated at the same time); staff who work for more than one Member; and trying to balance the number of emailboxes accessed by BlackBerry devices across the migration days.

In the period 22 June to 16 July, 3,482 mailboxes assigned to hon. Members and their staff had been migrated. In that period, PICT logged 766 cases from hon. Members and their staff – either by phone or at PICT Local – directly related to issues resulting from the migration of their mailboxes. Parliamentary ICT (PICT) acknowledges that the implementation has not been as simple and straightforward as was hoped, and is aware that it has caused problems for some hon. Members.

Since the answer to the hon. Member on 8 July, three hon. Members have given PICT written feedback on the migration of their mailbox. One was complimenting the PICT team on making it a smooth process. One was questioning the process and the distinction between the upgrade to Office 2013 and the migration of a mailbox to Microsoft 365. One had a problem with the limit on the number of people who can be added to a single email distribution list in Microsoft 365.

Two further hon. Members have given positive oral feedback and asked to join the pilot of the wider suite of tools within Microsoft 365. Oral feedback from the teams of House staff who are also piloting the use of this wider suite of tools continues to be positive.

The Director of PICT would be delighted to meet the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife, or any other interested Member, to discuss the feedback in more detail.

(a) Parliamentary ICT (PICT) estimates that, following the migration of a user’s mailbox to Microsoft 365, it takes the user’s computer (laptop or PC) an average of five minutes to reconfigure Outlook.

It can take a user an average of approximately five minutes to reconfigure a mobile device – other than a BlackBerry – that uses ActiveSync to connect to parliamentary email. Following that reconfiguration, it can take up to a maximum of 60 minutes for the device automatically to re-connect to parliamentary email.

BlackBerry devices need to be physically reconfigured by PICT, and this process can take over an hour – the length of time is linked to the age and model of the device. Furthermore, it takes longer to reconfigure a personal BlackBerry device than a BlackBerry issued by PICT. PICT has issued 92 BlackBerry devices for use by hon. Members and their staff to access parliamentary email.

(b) It is not possible to provide a figure for the aggregate time taken to reconfigure the above devices because more than one device can be reconfigured at the same time.

PICT hold records of all contractors who have left PICT since April 2012. Since contractors are not employees – but employed via an agency or their own Limited Company – any records kept are brief. It is not usual practice to provide references and as a result, reasons for their departure are not recorded.

The number of contractors whose contracts ended during this period has been follows:

2012/13 – 29
2013/14 – 48
2014/15 (to 30 June) – 57

The Commission has made no formal assessment of the effectiveness to date of the introduction of Office 2013 and Microsoft 365 email.

Parliamentary ICT (PICT) acknowledges that the implementation has not been as simple and straightforward as was hoped, and is aware that it has caused problems for some hon. Members. PICT is working to resolve most of these problems, the most common of which are described below. The lessons learned from these problems are being implemented to improve deployment and support arrangements. PICT apologises for the inconvenience experienced by hon. Members.

Following the upgrade to Office 2013, PICT received a large number of support calls, including from users who found that the process of upgrading to Office 2013 remotely took much longer than expected. Some Members have also commented negatively on the look and feel of the new product.

Access to 365 requires an update and reconfiguration of both desktops/laptops and mobile devices. In some cases the upgrade to the desktop and user profile has needed adjustment once the migration has been completed. In a greater number of cases hon. Members who have mobile devices have required assistance to reconfigure the devices to receive the 365 services. All BlackBerry owners have needed assistance to do this because it is a technical task and, depending upon the ownership of the model and its software version, some hon. Members have had real difficulty with the migration process.

365 has a limit on the number of people who can be added to a single email distribution list, and some hon. Members have found this causes difficulty. PICT have offered assistance and advice has been offered to work around this issue.

Once successfully migrated, the Office 365 service offers significant benefits to users, including a much larger email box, an easier to use login process, and access to services from any location and device as long as there is an internet connection and a modern browser.

The Clerk of the House is responsible for data security for the House of Commons Service. As Data Controller, the Clerk is obliged by law to process personal data fairly, lawfully and in accordance with the data protection principles of the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Clerk of the House delegates actions relating to data security as follows:

The Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO), the Director General, Human Resources and Change, is the member of the House of Commons Management Board responsible for managing information risk. He oversees information security policy for the House of Commons.

The Director of Parliamentary Information and Communications Technology (D/PICT) has overall Management Board-level responsibility in both Houses for implementing the ICT strategy for Parliament and for providing both Boards with technical security advice. She is responsible for the specification, procurement, operation, security and maintenance of the electronic systems on which the great majority of Parliament’s information is communicated, stored and handled and for providing officials and staff with training and support on their use.

The Parliamentary Security Director advises the SIROs in both Houses and gives strategic and policy direction to D/PICT on cyber security.

Members are the data controllers for all personal data that is handled by their offices and they have responsibility for ensuring that this is done in accordance with the Data Protection Act.