To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on (a) acquiring and (b) maintaining hand-held mine detectors in each of the last 10 years. (319157)

The Ministry of Defence has procured a range of hand-held metal detecting equipments that can be used for detecting mines and IEDs. Costs are only available from financial year 2006-07, the year of initial purchase, for the current primary equipment and are broken down as follows:

In addition, approximately £3 million in total over the last 10 years has been spent on a range of specialist metal detectors. To break this figure down further, could be done only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of his Department's hand-held mine detectors are (a) in service and (b) fit for purpose. (319158)

100 per cent. of the Department's hand held metal detectors are in service and approximately 91 per cent. are available (i.e. fit for purpose).