Defence written question – answered at on 28 February 2002.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military staff from (a) Macedonia, (b) Bulgaria, (c) Slovakia, (d) Slovenia, (e) Albania, (f) Romania, (g) Estonia, (h) Latvia and (i) Lithuania have been involved in training in the UK in the last five years; at what cost; and if he will make a statement.
Approximate numbers of personnel involved in training in the UK through the Outreach programme during the last three years are given below (figures are not held centrally prior 1999). These figures may include some civilian personnel working for the Defence Ministries of the countries referred to, as it is not possible in all cases to differentiate them.
Personnel from countries covered by the Outreach programme come to the UK for a wide variety of training, ranging from Staff courses lasting up to one year, to seminars and short educational visits for as little as three days. Included in these figures is Arms Control training, which in some cases (XOpen Skies") involves the use of an aircraft, at high cost.
Indicative costs are shown for 2001 only as detailed costings are not held for previous years. Places on year-long courses, which by their nature are expensive, are allocated between countries on rotation and those countries shown below with higher costs are likely to have benefited from at least one such course and in some cases from XOpen Skies" training during 2001. Not all costs involved in the activities covered in this answer fall to centrally controlled funds (i.e. support to individuals while visiting units), and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
1999 | 2000 | 2001 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Numbers | Numbers | Numbers | Cost £K | |
Macedonia | 20 | 27 | 17 | 126 |
Bulgaria | 57 | 51 | 52 | 300 |
Slovakia | 70 | 73 | 46 | 250 |
Slovenia | 50 | 37 | 29 | 131 |
Albania | 10 | 27 | 14 | 43 |
Romania | 66 | 85 | 56 | 475 |
Estonia | 36 | 18 | 24 | 55 |
Latvia | 28 | 17 | 20 | 190 |
Lithuania | 31 | 20 | 19 | 94 |
These activities form part of the Outreach programme in central and eastern Europe which, in turn, is part of the wider Defence Diplomacy mission. Outreach contributes to international stability by assisting countries in the region to establish democratically accountable, cost-effective armed forces capable of contributing both to national and regional security and, increasingly, to international security through participation in peace support operations.
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