Chiswickite - formerly The Croydonian

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many sheep farms in Scotland he has visited in an official capacity in the last 12 months.

Mr. Jim Murphy: I have not visited a sheep farm in Scotland in my official capacity.

Which begs the question, has Murphy been sheep worrying in an unofficial capacity?

Might there be a lesson for Miliband here:?

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many members of staff in his Department and its agencies were dismissed (a) for under-performance and (b) in total in each of the last 10 years.

Gillian Merron: 19 members of Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff have been dismissed for inefficiency (which covers failure of sick absence procedures and poor performance) and eight members of FCO Services (FCOS) staff have been dismissed for under-performance. 43 members of FCO staff have been dismissed since 2004 and 24 members of FCOS staff have been dismissed in total over the last 10 years.

And hurrah for St Kitts & Nevis:

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the number of persons who walked out during the speech of the Iranian President at the UN Durban 2 anti-racism conference; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The Government are aware that all EU delegations who attended the Durban review conference, and the representative of St. Kitts and Nevis, left the hall when the Iranian President made comments deemed to be offensive.

And 101 damnations for all of the delegates who thought that Ahemedinejad was just engaging in a bit of banter.

Meanwhile, going on active service is not exactly remunerative:

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what levels of Operational Allowance are payable to troops in (a) Afghanistan, (b) Iraq and (c) each other country in which Operational Allowance is payable.

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The operational allowance is paid at the same rate for all qualifying locations. The allowance amounts to £2,380 for a six month operational tour, equating to £13.08 per day.

I would look up per diems for Parliamentarians, but I am too lazy.

Has Mark Lancaster spotted the new property hotspot?

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated value is of each of his Department's properties on Ascension Island; and when the last valuation was carried out. [276174]

Mr. Kevan Jones: The Ministry of Defence has some 200 individual property assets on Ascension Island recorded on its asset registers ranging from stores to accommodation blocks. Valuations are carried out on a rolling five-year basis based on the depreciated replacement cost of the assets. The last formal valuation of the assets was carried out in 2005-06 and the next will take place during 2010-11.

How, one wonders, does one go about valuing property on Ascension Island? I do not suppose there are that many residential sales each year there, let alone commercial property transactions. A market price can only be established if there is a buyer.

Labels: arms and the man, furry creatures and similar, Parliament

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