Royal Navy

Mr. Harper
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of personnel were deemed to have worked excessive hours in the Royal Navy in each year since 2001.

Derek Twigg
The results of recent surveys of working patterns, involving approximately 6,000 Naval personnel, indicate that the proportion of Royal Naval personnel working excessive hours in each year since 2001 were:

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|Financial year                                                                                                            |1RN excessive hours (%)|
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|2001-02                                                                                                                   |23                     |
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|2002-03                                                                                                                   |26                     |
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|2003-04                                                                                                                   |16                     |
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|2004-05                                                                                                                   |16                     |
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|2005-06                                                                                                                   |20                     |
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|1 deemed to be proportion of Naval Service working more than 70 hours per week. The valid response rate was 49.4 per cent.|                       |
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Mr. Hancock
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which Royal Navy ships are at sea (a) without key equipment and (b) with equipment which is not working; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Ingram
Royal Navy ships are permanently fitted with the equipment needed for their envisaged tasking and are adaptable for a wide range of other contingent tasks. The equipment required by ships for specific tasks, and the temporary defects that could affect their operations, would allow an assessment to be made of the operational capability of the fleet and disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness and security of our armed forces.