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DEFENCE
Kirkcudbright Range
12. Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received concerning irregularities at the Kirkcudbright range.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : None--other than those from the hon. Member.
Procurement
13. Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the amount of procurement orders placed with United Kingdom companies by his Department over the last two years.
Mr. Alan Clark : In the financial year 1989-90 we placed some 122, 000 contracts, valued at £5.9 billion ; and for 1990-91, about 90,000 valued at £6.3 billion.
19. Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with industrialists in the defence sector regarding the release of information on his long-term procurement plans.
Mr. Alan Clark : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I regularly meet defence industrialists to dicuss a wide range of issues. Subject to necessary constraints of security and confidentiality, we would always wish companies to be briefed as fully as possible on future requirements in which they may have an interest.
AWE Aldermaston
14. Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on safety at the atomic weapons establishment Aldermaston.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : We place the highest priority on safety at Aldermaston. The establishment has an excellent safety record and the highest standards will continue to apply.
Options for Change"
15. Mr. Robert Hicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what will be the impact of proposals and decisions arising from "Options for Change" on defence establishments and defence-related enterprises within the Plymouth travel-to-work area ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made it clear that we will continue to base Royal naval ships at Devonport. As part of our
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policy of matching training and support to the smaller front line, weapons processing will end at Royal naval armaments depot, Ernesettle and RAF Mountbatten will close. The effect on defence-related enterprises has to be a matter for the management of the companies concerned.Helicopter Maintenance
16. Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence is he can give details of the inquiry into tri-service third-line helicopter maintenance facilities ; and if he will make a statement on the impact the report has concerning the future of the royal naval aircraft workshops, Almondbank, Perthshire.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The inquiry was a wide ranging efficiency scrutiny of helicopter repair work. I cannot say what implications the report might have for staff at RNAW Almondbank until its recommendations have been properly considered. But I can assure my hon. Friend that I fully recognise the skill and loyalty of the Almondbank work force.
RAF Fylingdales
17. Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will pay an official visit to RAF Fylingdales.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : My right hon. Friend currently has no plans to do so, but I visited Fylingdales last March.
Options for Change"
18. Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a further statement on the progress of the "Options for Change" programme in relation to the Army.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The measures affecting the Army are being brought into effect in a phased manner over the next few years in accordance with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence's announcement of 23 July 1991.
Confidence-building Measures
20. Sir Patrick Duffy : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he next expects to meet Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, Defence Minister of the Commonwealth of Independent States to discuss confidence-building measures.
Mr. Tom King : I met Marshal Shaposhnikov on 30 January when he accompanied President Yeltsin on a visit to London. We discussed a wide range of subjects of mutual interest, including ways in which the United Kingdom might provide assistance in the fields of nuclear weapons disposal and defence management.
Nuclear Deterrent
21. Mr. Andrew Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to ensure the effectiveness of Her Majesty's Government's nuclear deterrent.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Government are proceeding with plans to replace Polaris with Trident and intends in
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due course to update Britain's sub-strategic nuclear capability. Taken together, these measures will ensure that our independent nuclear deterrent remains credible and effective well into the next century.Submarines
22. Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he last met representatives of the fishing industry to discuss submarine activities.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence I met fishing industry representatives to discuss submarine issues in June 1991. In addition I discussed the same issues with an all-party group of MPs in November 1991.
Nuclear Weapons
23. Mr. David Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the change in the level of the threat to the United Kingdom posed by nuclear weapons in the former Soviet republics since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Mr. Tom King : The threat of nuclear confrontation in Europe has greatly reduced : but it will take many years to reduce the huge nuclear arsenal of the former Soviet Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States faces an uncertain future and there are risks of nuclear proliferation elsewhere. The Government will therefore maintain an effective, minimum deterrent.
Small Arms Firing Ranges
24. Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he has any plans to publish the guidelines for the construction of small arms firing ranges.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : There are no plans to publish any such guidelines. Broad technical advice on range safety (including range construction) is however provided to civilian shooting clubs through the National Rifle Association and the National Small-Bore Rifle Association.
Household Division
25. Mr. John Browne : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent representations he has received regarding his proposed cuts in the public duties of the Household Division.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : I have received a number of representations regarding the execution of public duties by the Household Division all of which have been noted.
Queen Victoria School, Dunblane
26. Mr. Canavan : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what support his Department gives to the Queen Victoria school, Dunblane, for the education of the sons of people serving in the armed forces.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Queen Victoria school, Dunblane is funded almost entirely from Ministry of Defence votes.
HMS Endurance
27. Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the disposal of the ship's bell belonging to HMS Endurance.
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Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The bell from HMS Endurance is at present held at HM naval base Portsmouth. Applications for the bell have been received from a number of interested parties but no firm decision has yet been made about its future.
Training Land
28. Mr. Burt : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what review is presently taking place of the need to retain all current training land in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : As the planned restructuring of our Armed Forces will mainly result in a reduction in the number of units based in Germany, the need for training land in the United Kingdom is unlikely to diminish. Indeed, it could marginally increase. A number of studies are in progress aimed at setting out our future training requirements including frequency, priority, duration and space and at matching these requirements with our available training facilities. The precise impact of these studies on existing training areas and ranges is not yet clear.
Iraq (Military Equipment)
29. Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what analysis his Department has made of the effectiveness of the military equipment available to Iraq during the Gulf war.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The equipment of the Iraqi armed forces included a wide range of systems of varying age, origin and effectiveness. Examination of recovered equipment in collaboration with the allies is still in progress.
Iraq (UN Inspection)
30. Mr. Robert Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a further statement on the findings of the United Nations team investigating production facilities and stockpiles of mass destruction weapons in Iraq.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The findings of the United Nations special commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency investigating Iraq's compliance with United Nations Security Council resolution 687 were last circulated in United Nations document S/23268 of 4 December 1991, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
The United Nations special commission is still far from satisfied that Iraq has provided all the information required by SCR 687. A report reflecting the Secretary-General's latest assessments of Iraqi compliance will shortly be circulated as a United Nations document ; a copy will be placed in the Library of the House.
Quality Assurance Laboratory Services
Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has completed his studies into the future of his Department's quality assurance laboratory services.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : My Department announced on 6 August 1991 that "Options for Change" reductions had made it necessary to review the plan announced in 1989, to relocate the Ministry of Defence's quality assurance staff
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at the Preston farm site on Teesside. A study was set in hand to compare the costs and benefits of that course with the alternative option of merging the quality assurance laboratory services with those of the Defence Research Agency on sites operated by the latter.The study has now been completed. The impact of reductions in the defence programme for the 1990s is such that the most economical and operationally effective way ahead for the quality assurance technical support division is for it to be dispersed and consolidated into the Defence Research Agency, which will have considerable spare capacity on its existing sites. This will result in capital savings of more than £40 million and running costs savings rising to £9 million a year.
The Ministry of Defence has therefore been able to release the site at Preston farm which will be available, through the Teesside development corporation, for commercial development. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment is today making an announcement about future developments on the site.
Hunting
Mr. Meale : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which organisations and individuals he has consulted in the past 18 months regarding nature conservation on Ministry of Defence land where licences are issued to allow foxhunting and deerhunting.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Ministry of Defence consults the local MOD conservation group where hunting licences cover an area with a nature conservation interest and it is designated as a site of special scientific interest. These groups consist of individuals and organisations representing the specific conservation interests of a particular site.
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Mr. Meale : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 21 January, Official Report, column 185, when the fees payable by fox hunts for licences to hunt on Ministry of Defence land were last increased.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The hunting licences where fees are payable were last increased in 1988.
Mr. Meale : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 21 January, Official Report, column 186, if he will publish the regulations or codes of good conduct attached to or relating to licences issued to hunt on Ministry of Defence land.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Hunts are expected to abide by the respective codes of conduct of the recognised hunting organisations. It is not possible to give details of the regulations applying to each licence as each one is different depending on the establishment concerned and its usage.
Trident
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what effect the United States decision to cancel production of W88 warheads for multiple-warhead nuclear missiles will have on the Royal Navy's Trident programme ; whether W76 warheads of the type that are now to be used in United States Navy strategic submarines are compatible with and available for use in British SSBN boats ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Alan Clark : The United Kingdom's Trident system will use warheads which have been designed, and are being manufactured, in the United Kingdom. The United States decision will not, therefore, affect the United Kingdom Trident programme.
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Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will now review the requirement for Trident following the cancellation of the Trident warhead production programme in the United States.
Mr. Alan Clark : No. Trident is essential if the United Kingdom is to maintain an effective and credible nuclear deterrent into the next century.
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will now make it his practice to release information on (a) the Trident programme and (b) the date on which he will order the SSN 20 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Alan Clark : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence made a statement on the Trident programme earlier today. On the SSN20 order, I have nothing to add to the answer I gave the hon. Gentleman on 29 November 1991 at column 684.
Defence Budget
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has plans to make any further savings in the defence budget ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Government's future intentions for defence expenditure are set out in the 1991 Autumn Statement and provide funding for the new force structure described in the Statement on the Defence Estimates, 1991 (Cm 1559). There are no plans to change these forecasts.
Iraq
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with his United States counterpart regarding the export of equipment to Iraq by the firm Terex.
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the ability of the Iraqi Government to convert civil equipment into Scud missile launchers.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Scud launcher production is subject to United Nations monitoring under Security Council resolution 687, which calls for both the elimination of launchers themselves and of the associated production capability. Although Iraq assembled fixed and mobile launchers for its longer range Scud missiles before the Gulf conflict, it would face some difficulty in converting civil equipment to this purpose. Such equipment would need to be of correct specification which may not be readily available in Iraq and which would be hard to obtain under the current United Nations economic sanctions.
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Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of the military significance of equipment exported to Iraq by the firm Terex ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Alan Clark : My Department has noted recent allegations in the press and is looking into the matter together with the Department of Trade and Industry. But I am not at present aware of any exports of military equipment to Iraq by Terex.
Operation Granby
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes to his policy of chartering merchant vessels have been made as a result of Operation Granby.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Pending the outcome of current work within the Department, no changes have been made.
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the MoD police fraud squad is investigating the alleged fraud in the chartering of merchant vessels to support Operation Granby.
Ministerial Speeches
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department keeps centralised records of all speeches and media interviews given by departmental Ministers speaking in areas of departmental responsibility.
ENERGY
Fuel Exports
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will provide a breakdown of the figures underlying the figures for net exports of fuel in 1991 given in his press notice of 27 January ; and if he will indicate how imported electricity from France is treated in the calculation.
Mr. Wakeham [holding answer 3 February 1992] : The convention used in the balance of payments, when comparing imports and exports, is to record figures on an "f.o.b. basis" (i.e. free on board). The figures used in the Department's press notice of 27 January are consistent with the balance of payments figures published by the Central Statistical Office on the same day. Figures on electricity imports are included and were obtained from Customs and Excise data in the same way as those for other fuels. Figures for 1991 are as follows :
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