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Birds (Shetland)
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what information he has of the level of breeding success for the red-throated diver, Arctic skua, great skua, puffin and kittiwake in Shetland in 1988 ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what was the total population size of Arctic terns in Shetland in 1980 ; and what proportion this represents of the British and EEC populations, respectively ;
(3) what information he has on research conducted or commissioned to identify the key factors that have influenced the breeding success of Arctic terns in Scotland ; and if he will make a statement ; (4) if he will list the estimated number of young that the Shetland Arctic tern population has successfully reared in each of the last five years ; and what the breeding success of this bird has been in other areas in the United Kingdom over the same period.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 9 February 1989] : The Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) commissioned Durham university to conduct a short preliminary study on arctic terns in Shetland in 1985. This found some evidence of breeding failure. In 1986, NCC and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds jointly
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commissioned Glasgow university to carry out further studies on arctic terns in Shetland, and specifically to examine the role of food supply in breeding performance. This project is still in progress, but results indicate that there has been a shortage of a specific size class of sandeel in surface waters of Shetland during a crucial phase of the Arctic tern breeding cycle.The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland are collaborating with other interested parties on co-ordinated research to investigate sandeel mortality and factors affecting the availability of sandeels for food. They are to increase substantially their effort on sandeel research in 1989-90 including, exceptionally, three research ship cruises.
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total population size of Arctic terns in Shetland in 1980 ; and what proportion this represents of the British and EEC populations, respectively.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 9 February 1989] : According to the Nature Conservancy Council the population was about 32,000 pairs. This represented some 43 per cent. of the British population and some 37 per cent. of the EEC population.
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what information he has of the level of breeding success for the red-throated diver, Arctic skua, great skua, puffin and kittiwake in Shetland in 1988 ; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 9 February 1989] : The Nature Conservancy Council has supplied the following information :
Red-throated diver--poor breeding success
Arctic skua--poor breeding success
Great skua--poor breeding success
Puffin--mixed breeding success
Kittiwake--very poor breeding success
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will list the estimated number of young that the Shetland Arctic tern population hs successfully reared in each of the last five years ; and what the breeding success of this bird has been in other areas in the United Kingdom over the same period.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 9 February 1989] : The Nature Conservancy Council has advised me that, on the basis of sample monitoring of Shetland Arctic tern colonies between 1984 and 1988, a low breeding success has been achieved. The species' breeding success in other areas in the United Kingdom over the same period was mixed.
DEFENCE
World in Action" Programme
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will seek from the producers of Granada Television's "World In Action" programme on Aldermaston, broadcast on 20 February 1989, a copy for his Department's library of a videotape and transcript of the programme.
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Chemical Weapon Agents
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Newport, West, 9 February, Official Report, column 765, he will set out the reasons for the policy of the non- disclosure of locations of chemical weapon agents held in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Sainsbury : MOD does not disclose such information for security reasons.
Nuclear Plant (Clean-up)
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member for Clwyd, South-West, (Mr. Jones) 9 February, Official Report, column 764, on the financial costs of environmental clean- up at Springfields, Capenhurst, Sellafield, Aldermaston, Burghfield and Caerwent, if he will state the annual cost of clean-up for each of the plants operated for his Department, and the proportion of the contractual finances paid to British Nuclear Fuels for nuclear materials processing comprised by the component for environmental clean-up ;
(2) if he will give consideration to the publication of a report on all Ministry of Defence, Atomic Weapons Establishment or British Nuclear Fuels contracted establishments involved in the production and processing of military nuclear materials in regard to the costs of environmental clean-up similar to that produced by the United States Department of Energy and Senator Glenn for the United States military nuclear facilities in 1988.
Mr. Sainsbury : No. For reasons of national security, it has not been our custom to disclose costs of the procurement and processing of defence nuclear materials, either in part or in aggregate.
Plutonium and Tritium
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if any (a) plutonium or (b) tritium was exported on 21 February under agreement or order of his Department from Barrow on the PNTL ship Pacific Sandpiper destined for Hampton Rhodes, in Virginia, and thereafter Baltimore in the United States of America.
Mr. Sainsbury : It has been the practice of successive Governments neither to confirm nor deny the presence of defence special nuclear materials at any particular place or time, nor to reveal details of the kind requested.
Bird Strikes
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the number of bird strikes suffered by military aircraft in 1988, updating the figures provided in his answer to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire on 18 July 1988, Official Report, columns 501-02.
Mr. Neubert : The information requested is as follows :
|1988
--------------------------------
Royal Air Force |746
Army |41
Royal Navy |39
Procurement Executive |10
|--
Total |836
Skyguard
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the locations and dates of deployments of the Skyguard radar system in the Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency since 1987.
Mr. Neubert : The Skyguard radar system has not been deployed in the Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency.
Low Flying
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the reasons for the increases in the proportion of United Kingdom low flying which took place over southern Scotland, listed in his replies to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire on 13 July 1988, Official Report, columns 238-39, and 6 February 1989 Official Report, column 512 ; and if these trends are planned to continue.
Mr. Neubert : The amount of flying activity in particular areas is influenced by several factors, some of which are unpredictable. These include the weather, the location of major exercises and the availability of range and other facilities. The aim is to spread low flying training as widely and evenly as possible throughout the entire country to ensure that, as far as is practicable, no area receives an undue share of the training.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire on 6 February 1988, Official Report, column 512, if he will now publish figures for low flying movements in, and complaints from southern Scotland, including those within low flying area 13, for each calendar year from 1979 to 1988.
Mr. Neubert : No, the major part of low flying area 13 falls within northern England.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many low-level flights were conducted over the United Kingdom by aircraft of the Federal German armed forces not normally based in the United Kingdom in (a) 1987 and (b) 1988.
Mr. Neubert : The information requested cannot be provided without disproportionate effort. However, over 98 per cent. of low flying training in the United Kingdom is carried out by British military or United Kingdom based USAF aircraft, with under 2 per cent. being carried out by other NATO allies.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements have been made with the Federal German authorities since September 1988 for the transfer of low flying by Federal German military aircraft to Britain.
Mr. Neubert : None. Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he had during 1988 with his Belgian counterpart, Monsieur Guy Coe"me, on the subject of low flying.
Mr. Neubert : My right hon. Friend has had no such discussions.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what agreements were reached on the reduction of
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low flying over West Germany during his discussions with his West German counterpart, Dr. Rupert Scholz, on 30 January.Mr. Neubert : None. Discussions did, however, take place on ways in which it might be possible to ease the impact of low flying training on the population.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many low-flying sorties took place in 1988 and 1989 to date which originated or terminated at RAF Finningley ;
(2) how many low-flying sorties took place over the county of Yorkshire in 1988 ; how many have taken place in 1989 to date ; and how many of these sorties originated or terminated their sorties from airfields in Yorkshire.
Mr. Neubert : Central records are not held in a form which would enable the information requested to be provided.
Armoured Personnel Carriers (Vauxhall)
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give the reasons for two armoured personnel carriers or similar vehicles being at Vauxhall at 5.15 pm on Sunday 19 March.
Mr. Neubert : The vehicles referred to are from a TA unit based in London. The two APC's were returning to their unit lines in Westminster on return from weekend training.
Tornado Sales
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) to what extent the cost of purchasing Saudi Arabian oil under Ministry of Defence sponsored arrangements are used in payment for Tornado aircraft by the Saudi Arabian Government ;
(2) to what extent costs to the Jordanian Government of Tornado aircraft in excess of that price being paid by the United Kingdom Government for Tornado are supported by official credit support facilities from the ECGD ;
(3) what arrangements are or will be maintained by the Ministry of Defence for programming payments to British Aerospace for the purchase of Tornado aircraft and other defence equipment by the Jordanian and or the Saudi Arabian Government.
Mr. Sainsbury : It has never been the practice of this or previous governments to publish details of individual defence exports for reasons of commercial and customer confidentiality.
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether, following upon or during discussions representatives of Her Majesty's Government or Ministers have had on the sale of Tornado aircraft to Jordan or Saudi Arabia, he has received information as to the level of commission payments being paid in the supply of Tornado aircraft to those countries.
Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has been informed by the West German Government as to what extent commission payments to citizens of Saudi Arabia or Jordan have
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influenced the decision by the West German Government not to provide more than 23 per cent. of official credit support towards the construction of Tornado and other defence equipment for supply to the Jordanian or Saudi Government.Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what work was undertaken by the Defence Export Services Organisation in support of the negotiations for the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to (a) Saudi Arabia and (b) Jordan.
Mr. Sainsbury : The negotiation of Government-to-Government agreements in connection with the sale of defence equipment are undertaken by staff of the Defence Export Services Organisation. This practice was followed for the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to Saudi Arabia and the prospective sale of Tornado to Jordan.
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he had with his West German and Italian counterparts relating to the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to (a) Saudi Arabia and (b) Jordan.
Mr. Sainsbury : As with any collaborative project my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has naturally had occasion to have discussions with collaborative partners ; in the case of Tornado with the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy in connection with prospective sales to third parties.
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what payments were made to cover the cost of negotiating the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Mr. Sainsbury : The only costs incurred by the Ministry of Defence in the negotiation of the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to Saudi Arabia and the prospective sale to Jordan were the salaries, travel and related costs of the MOD staff involved in the
Government-to-Government negotiations.
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total amount of expenditure incurred by the Defence Export Services Organisation in promoting the sale of Tornado aircraft and other defence equipment to middle eastern countries in (a) 1985, (b) 1986, (c) 1987 and (d) 1988.
Mr. Sainsbury : DESO costs are not apportioned to individual sales prospects. However, the annual costs of the regional marketing division responsible within DESO for the middle east are approximately £400,000.
US Forces (Deployment)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what representations his Department has received from his United States counterpart, or any service or agency responsible thereto, regarding possible deployment of (a) European distribution system warehousing facilities or (b) aircraft from the United States Air Force 10th Military Airlift Squadron or similar unit at RAF Greenham Common ; (2) what representations his Department has received from his United States counterpart, or any service or
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agency responsible thereto, regarding possible redeployment of warehousing or maintenance facilities from RAF Kemble to RAF Greenham Common.Mr. Neubert : RAF Greenham Common has been designated as a NATO stand-by operating base for many years and we envisage that this role will continue after the cruise missiles have been withdrawn. No decisions have yet been taken on additional roles thereafter, though we anticipate that the base will remain available to the United States authorities for military use. It is not our practice to speculate on alternative future uses for military installations.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations his Department has received from his United States counterpart, or any service or agency responsible thereto, regarding possible deployment of United States Air Force C-130 aircraft.
Mr. Neubert : United States Air Force C-130 aircraft are stationed at RAF Mildenhall. These and other C-130 aircraft deploy to and from the United Kingdom routinely. The hon. Member may be referring to the forthcoming Air National Guard exercise Volant Golpher, which has recently been approved by the Ministry of Defence. This will take place between 4-17 June, when 9 C-130 aircraft of the 109th tactical airlift squadron will deploy to RAF Abingdon.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations his Department has received from his United States counterpart, or any service or agency responsible thereto, regarding possible deployment of United States Air Force RF-4Cs at RAF Alconbury.
Mr. Neubert : The Ministry of Defence has recently approved the planned deployment of 12 United States Air Force (USAF) RF-4C aircraft to RAF Alconbury during the period 8-11 April for exercise Coronet Hoop. This exercise is part of the annual programme of short term deployments designed to provide experience to USAF reservist aircrew of locations in which they might operate in time of war.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has about whether the maintenance facilities for RF-4Cs at RAF Alconbury were dismantled when the 10th tactical reconnaisance wing of the United States Air Force at RAF Alconbury ceased using these aircraft.
Mr. Neubert : I understand that the maintenance facilities at RAF Alconbury used to support the RAF-4Cs of the 10th tactical reconaissance wing were removed after the wing left the base in 1987.
Military Lands
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will specify the dates that (a) the Lydd Camp and Lydd Range Byelaws 1988, (b) the RAF Edzell Byelaws 1988, (c) the RAF Welford Byelaws 1988 and (d) the RNAS Yeovilton and Merryfield Airfield Byelaws 1988 were (i) made and (ii) came into operation ; and when the signs were placed around the affected areas stating that the byelaws were in force ;
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of each of the byelaws listed in the answers of 18 May 1988, Official
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Report, column 509, 29 July 1988, Official Report, column 577-8 and 3 March 1989, Official Report, column 358, together with any other byelaws not listed in these answers in force on 1 March 1989.Mr. Neubert : I shall write to the hon. Member.
RAF Sculthorpe (Air Traffic Zone)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence why the military air traffic zone around RAF Sculthorpe is to be activated later in the current year.
Mr. Neubert : I shall write to the hon. Member.
USAF Vehicles (Salisbury Plain)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence why United States air force vehicles, based at RAF Greenham Common, in transit to Salisbury plain in the early hours of the morning of 14 March in the current year were carrying neither a registration number nor a distinctive nationality mark, as required by article V of the NATO status of forces agreement 1951.
Mr. Neubert : I shall write to the hon. Member.
Visiting Forces (Markings)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he proposes to take to ensure that all vehicles belonging to visiting forces and civilian components thereof that are stationed in the United Kingdom, including those of the United States, are carrying (a) a registration number and (b) a distinctive nationality mark, as required by article V of the NATO status of forces agreement 1951.
Mr. Neubert : I shall write to the hon. Member.
Peace Symbols
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list for each of the last five years any recorded incidents in which symbols of peace displayed by members of the public have caused harassment, alarm or distress to members of the armed forces, including members of visiting forces.
Mr. Neubert : There have been numerous incidents over the last five years in which symbols of peace have been displayed by members of the public. I am not aware of any records as to whether they caused harassment, alarm or distress to members of the United Kingdom armed forces or members of visiting forces. If the hon. Member has any particular incident in mind, I should be happy to investigate.
Rating Reform
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will seek powers to exempt RAF personnel who are posted, without families, to Scotland for less than six months from paying the community charge.
Mr. Neubert : I do not anticipate that married service personnel serving unaccompanied in Scotland for periods of less than six months, while retaining a family home elsewhere, will be regarded as having their sole or main residence in Scotland. They will therefore not be liable to pay the personal community charge there.
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Small Arms (Price)
Mr. Clay : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the current purchase costs of the following (a) one infantry pistol automatic L9A1 with one 13-round magazine, (b) one 7.65 mm pistol automatic Walther type PP Z447E1 and one 8-round magazine, (c) one 5.56 mm M16 rifle and 30-round magazine, and (d) one 7.62 mm L3 0A1 rifle and 10-round magazine.
Mr. Sainsbury : It is no longer our practice to publish unit production costs.
Aldermaston and Burghfield (Audit)
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether, pursuant to his reply of 16 February, Official Report , column 335 , any information on the status at that time of the four major projects under review was provided by the BNFL team carrying out the programme audit at Aldermaston and Burghfield (a) in the course of the eight meetings between the team and his officials and (b) at any time in the month of January 1986.
Barracks (Security)
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times in the last 10 years security has been tested and evaluated at (a) Tern Hill barracks, (b) Aldershot barracks, (c) Colerne barracks, (d) Driffield barracks and (e) Leconfield barracks.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : I shall write to the hon. Member.
Perimeter Fencing
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the annual capital expenditure on perimeter fencing at all Ministry of Defence establishments in England, Wales and Scotland for each year since 1979.
Mr. Neubert : I have nothing to add to the answer that my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces gave the hon. Member on 23 February at column 760.
Private Security Guards
Mr. Sean Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the number of private security guards employed at Ministry of Defence establishments, in each year between 1979-80 and 1985-86, inclusive.
Mr. Sainsbury : No figures are available for the years 1979 to 1985- 86. I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Dumbarton (Mr. McFall) on 1 March at column 222 for the figures for later years.
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