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Mr. Sainsbury : There has never been an accident or leak at a United Kingdom naval or AWE establishment which has required a major remedial radioactive decontami-nation programme or has resulted in any need to decontaminate the public environment.
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AERE Harwell is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy.United States (Nuclear Production Facilities)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to offer technical assistance to the United States Department of Energy in the remedial clean-up programme of its military nuclear production facilities.
Mr. Sainsbury : Any decontamination of United States military nuclear production facilities would be a matter for the United States Government.
Falkland Islands (Argentine Yacht)
Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether the Argentine yacht which breached the Falkland Islands security cordon on 29 or 30 January obtained clearance to do so from the British security forces ;
(2) whether he will order an investigation into the alleged breaching of the Falkland Islands exclusion zone by an Argentine yacht on 29 or 30 January.
Mr. Neubert : An Argentine yacht entered Port Stanley harbour on 27 January with a damaged rudder. Following repairs, it was escorted out and sent on its way the next day. It did not obtain the permission of the British Government to be in the area. Security measures in the Falklands are kept under review, and this episode will be taken into account in that process.
Low Flying
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what is the average decibel level created at ground level by (a) Tornado aircraft, (b) Buccaneer aircraft, (c) Harrier aircraft, (d) Jaguar aircraft, (e) Phantom aircraft and (f) Hawk aircraft when flying at 450 mph and at a height of 250 ft ;
(2) what is the average decibel level created at ground level by (a) Tornado aircraft, (b) Buccaneer aircraft, (c) Harrier aircraft, (d) Jaguar aircraft, (e) Phantom aircraft and (f) Hawk aircraft when flying at 450 mph and at a height of 100 ft.
Mr. Neubert : I will write to the hon. Member.
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of low-flying training carried out by the Royal Air Force was undertaken in the United States of America and Canada in each year from 1974 to 1988.
Mr. Neubert : My Department does not keep records of the proportion of the Royal Air Force's training at low level conducted in the countries listed, and it would require disproportionate effort to cull this information from available statistics.
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many low- level sorties were flown by United States Air Force aircraft in the United Kingdom in each year since 1980.
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Mr. Neubert : Records of low-level sorties by the United States Air Force in the United Kingdom were not kept prior to 1985. They flew 25,157 sorties in 1985, 25,217 in 1986 and 21,869 in 1987. The total statistics for 1988 are not yet available.
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many low- level sorties were flown by British military aircraft in the United Kingdom in 1988.
Mr. Neubert : Statistics for 1988 are not yet available.
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the rate of major accidents for Royal Air Force aircraft which occurred during low-level operations in 1988.
Mr. Neubert : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave the hon. Member for Cunninghame, North (Mr. Wilson) on 22 December 1988 at col. 371-72.
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many major accidents have occurred to : (a) Tornado aircraft, (b) Buccaneer aircraft, (c) Harrier aircraft, (d) Jaguar aircraft, (e) Phantom aircraft and (f) Hawk aircraft during the low-flying operations in each year since 1980.
Mr Neubert : Since 16 August 1988, the following aircraft suffered major damage during low flying operations :
|Date
---------------------------------------------------
Gazelle |19 October 1988
Jaguar |7 September 1988
Information on previous such accidents is contained in a letter dated 16 August 1988 from my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr. Freeman), to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Provan (Mr. Wray), a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
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Cash Limits
Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he proposes to make any changes to the defence cash limits and running costs limit for 1988-89.
Mr. Younger : Yes. Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary spring Supplementary Estimates the following changes are being made :
Defence Cash Limits
Class and Vote |Current Cash Limit |Increase/Decrease |£'000s |Revised Cash Limit
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I, 1 |7,775,660 |+72,434 |72,447 transferred |7,848,094
|from I, 3, I, 4
|and I, 5, less
|13 transferred to
|XX, 1
I, 3 |1,101,516 |-12,447 |Transferred to I, 1|1,089,069
I, 4 |1,581,212 |-30,000 |Transferred to I, 1|1,551,212
I, 5 |471,789 |-30,000 |Transferred to I, 1|441,789
These changes allow for transfers within the Ministry of Defence's block cash limit to reflect the pattern of expenditure now expected, and a decrease of £13,000 to offset a corresponding increase in the limit of the Office of the Minister for the Civil Service (class XX, vote 1) for the transfer of costs for recruitment under the direct entry grade 7 competition 1988. These changes will not, therefore, add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Running Costs Limit
This limit is being increased by a net £3,221,000 to £5,411,054, 000. It reflects an increase of £8,033,000 in respect of the running costs element of the restructuring costs of the PSA as it moves towards untying in 1990 ; and a decrease of £4,799,000 to compensate for an overspend in 1987-88. This follows the normal practice of reducing the limit for one financial year by the amount of the previous year's overspend. In addition, a decrease of £13,000 is required to offset the transfer to class XX, vote 1 mentioned above.
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