House of Commons Hansard Debates for 13 Jun 1989

71. Mr. Wareing : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proposals have been made for additional nuclear weapons to be based in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The proposals for restructuring and modernising NATO's nuclear forces which are under consideration within the Alliance would create scope for further significant overall reductions in NATO's European stockpile of land-based nuclear weapons.

Naval Rules of Engagement

5. Mr. Galloway : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he has had with his United States counterpart regarding possible changes to naval rules of engagement.

Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he has had with his United States counterpart regarding possible changes to naval rules of engagement.

33. Mr. Allen McKay : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he has had with his United States counterpart regarding possible changes to naval rules of engagement.

Mr. Younger : I have not had any discussions with Mr. Cheney regarding possible changes to naval rules of engagement, although I have had some with his predecessor, Mr. Carlucci and other NATO Allies. The Alliance naturally reviews and updates its rules of engagement from time to time, but it is not our practice to comment on the detail of such matters.

Lance Missile

11. Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current number of Lance missiles deployed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in West Germany.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : There are currently 88 Lance missile launchers deployed in Europe by NATO, compared with some 1,500 Warsaw pact nuclear- capable short-range missile launchers. Detailed deployment information is classified.

57. Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current number of Lance missiles deployed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in West Germany.

59. Mr. Ray Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current number of Lance missiles deployed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in West Germany.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe).

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Warsaw Pact (Dissolution)

14. Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the prospects for dissolution of the Warsaw pact.

Mr. Younger : There is no evidence that an early dissolution of the Warsaw pact military alliance is likely.

Nuclear Weapons (First Use)

19. Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what circumstances Her Majesty's Government's policy encompasses the first use of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what circumstances Her Majesty's Government's policy encompasses the first use of nuclear weapons.

87. Mr. Flannery : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what circumstances Her Majesty's Government's policy encompasses the first use of nuclear weapons.

88. Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what circumstances Her Majesty's Government's policy encompasses the first use of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Younger : The possibility of first use of nuclear weapons in response to a conventional attack is central to NATO's strategy of deterrence. However, it would undermine deterrence to spell out in advance the precise circumstances in which nuclear weapons would or might be used.

75. Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the consequences for NATO's strategy of the adoption of a policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : A policy of "no first use" would be fundamentally incompatible with NATO's strategy of flexible response.

NATO (Nuclear Weapons)

21. Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he has had with his Italian counterpart regarding the modernisation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's short-range nuclear forces.

47. Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he has had with his Italian counterpart regarding the modernisation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation short-range nuclear forces.

77. Mr. Buckley : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he has had with his Italian counterpart regarding the modernisation of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation short-range nuclear forces.

Mr. Younger : I last met the Italian Defence Minister at the meeting of the defence planning committee last week when we discussed a range of defence and security matters affecting the Alliance.

Staff Relocation (Cleveland)

22. Mr. Holt : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether it remains his policy to relocate Ministry of Defence staff to Cleveland ; what representations he has

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received from the unions with regard to the move ; and what consideration he gave to the adequacy of road transport links with Cleveland when deciding his policy.

Mr. Sainsbury : Yes. It remains our intention to relocate the directorate general of defence quality assurance to Preston farm, Teesside. The trades unions have asked for further information and clarification of a number of points and consultation with them continues. Road transport links with Teesside are recognised as excellent.

Low-flying Aircraft

23. Mr. Canavan : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints he has received so far this year about low-flying military aircraft.

Mr. Neubert : Between 1 January 1989 and 30 april 1989 the Ministry of Defence received 1,912 inquiries and complaints about military low- flying training in the United Kingdom.

Women (Recruitment)

25. Mrs. Gillian Shephard : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what further steps he is taking to recruit women to the armed services.

Mr. Neubert : We are seeking to widen the opportunities for the employment of women in the armed forces and we expect the number of service women to increase over the next few years. In 1988-89 the number of women recruited into the armed forces rose by 15 per cent. to 3,001. We plan a further increase in the number of female recruits this year.

West German Defence Minister

26. Mr. Denzil Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has any plans to meet in the near future the Defence Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany ; and what matters he proposes to discuss.

53. Mr. Dykes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he next plans to hold talks with his counterpart in the Federal Republic of Germany on mutual defence subjects.

Mr. Younger : I met Dr. Stoltenberg at the meeting of NATO's defence planning committee on 8-9 June, and we also met in London on 26 May for substantive discussions on a wide range of subjects of mutual defence interest. I have no immediate plans for a further bilateral meeting, but I expect to see Dr. Stoltenberg when the independent European programme group meets at ministerial level later this month.

Takeovers (National Interest)

28. Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what criteria he uses to define the national interest when a United Kingdom defence contractor is the subject of a takeover bid from a non-United Kingdom company.

Mr. Sainsbury : Any factors which could affect the supply to the armed forces of the equipment they need to operate effectively would be taken into account. These factors could be judged only in the context of any specific takeover proposal.

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Soviet Union (Force Reductions)

29. Mr. Parry : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the Soviet Union's latest planned cutbacks in its European conventional forces as announced during the recent visit of United States Secretary of State, James Baker.

55. Mr. Clay : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the Soviet Union's latest planned cutbacks in its European conventional forces, as announced during the recent visit of United States Secretary of State, James Baker.

56. Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the Soviet Union's latest planned cutbacks in its European conventional forces as announced during the recent visit of United States Secretary of State, James Barker.

Mr. Younger : I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave earlier today, to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Mr. Michie).

39. Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration he has given to the defence implications of the Soviet proposal to thin out front-line forces in Europe.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : Reductions in the Warsaw pact's massive concentrations of forces in Europe would be very welcome. However, their current zonal proposals would make it very difficult to sustain NATO's strategy of forward defence. Nevertheless, we are studying them with care.

BAOR (Nuclear Weapons)

30. Mr. Andrew Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the consequences for the British Army of the Rhine of having no nuclear weapons.

43. Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the implications for the British Army of the Rhine capacity for defence of the removal from its armoury of short-range nuclear weapons.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : NATO's strategy of deterrence and defence requires a mix of conventional, theatre nuclear and strategic nuclear forces. Removal of the theatre nuclear component would undermine deterrence and leave our conventional forces very vulnerable to attack.

Soviet Union (Nuclear Weapons)

31. Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department will be responding to the Soviet proposal to withdraw 500 nuclear warheads from eastern Europe.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : We welcome the Soviet announcement that they will withdraw 500 nuclear warheads from eastern Europe, but believe that this probably represents as little as 5 per cent. of the total number of Soviet nuclear warheads deployed within the European theatre. In contrast, since 1979 NATO has

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withdrawn 2,400 nuclear weapons from Europe, leaving only approximately 4,600 within the theatre. The Soviet Union will, therefore, have to make further very substantial reductions if they are to come down to the size of NATO's nuclear stockpile in Europe.

Malaysia

32. Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether there was any reference in any of the correspondence concerning the sale of arms to Malaysia that preceded the signing of the memorandum of understanding in 1988, to United Kingdom overseas aid to Malaysia.

Mr. Sainsbury : Following the expression of Malaysian interest in United Kingdom overseas aid in early exchanges, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence made it clear to the Malaysian Finance Minister that it would not be acceptable to Her Majesty's Government to link aid with the defence sales package. As I stated at column 191 on 17 May, the memorandum of understanding makes no mention of overseas aid to Malaysia.

Royal Naval Personnel (Radiation)

Dr. Moonie : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what further radiation checks have been carried out on Royal Navy sailors and personnel exposed to nuclear weapons and reactors ; and what were the findings.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : Medical records of all naval personnel are analysed annually, and any health trends are identified. There have been no special surveys to determine whether there is any evidence of medical disorders arising from exposure of Royal Navy nuclear submarine personnel to radiation. However, routine medical surveillance is carried out for those Royal Naval personnel designated as radiation workers in accordance with the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1985.

Radiation dose records are kept for Royal Naval radiation workers, and statistics of doses received were published in the replies I gave to the hon. Member for St. Helens North (Mr. Evans) on 20 March at columns 477-478 and on 2 May at columns 61-62 this year. Regular radiation surveys are carried out on board nuclear-powered submarines to ensure that personnel not designated as radiation workers do not receive any significant radiation doses.

Deterrent Strategy (Training)

35. Miss Widdecombe : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what training is given at staff college level on the components of an effective deterrent strategy.

Mr. Neubert : The concept of deterrence pervades all Service officers' staff training. The staff colleges' syllabi require students to be conversant with the current threat, the principles of nuclear and conventional deterrence and the defence strategies and military capabilities of NATO and the United Kingdom. Possible alternative strategies, the effects of arms control and the influence of political will are also studied.

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Z-Berths

36. Ms. Gordon : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he has any plans to revise the system of allocating Z-berths.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : No.

Nuclear Deterrent

Mr. Carrington : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he has taken to ensure that the United Kingdom nuclear deterrent is credible.

Mr. Younger : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier today, to my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Mr. Riddick).

Short-Range Nuclear Weapons

40. Mr. Cash : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is Her Majesty's Government's response to the policy of the West German Government to the modernisation of short-range nuclear weapons.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : At the recent summit all NATO countries, including West Germany, agreed that for the foreseeable future there would need to be deployed in Europe land, sea and air-based nuclear systems, including ground-launched missiles. They also agreed that to remain effective these systems would have to be kept up to date where necessary.

Short Bros.

41. Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the defence implications of the privatisation of Short Bros.

Mr. Sainsbury : The MOD welcomes the return of Short Bros. to the private sector. We look forward to dealing with Shorts under its new owners on the same commercial basis as with our other suppliers of defence equipment.

Trident

42. Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a further statement about penalty costs associated with the Trident programme.

Mr. Sainsbury : The Trident programme includes a wide range of contracts. In accordance with MOD policy, all provide where applicable for payment of liquidated damages by the contractor to compensate MOD for the consequences of late delivery of equipment. Equally, provision is made for the prime contractor to recover incurred expenditure and additional costs arising if the MOD cancels a contract. The level of recovery possible will vary, and will depend on a number of factors, including the timing and circumstances of the cancellation.

West Germany

44. Mr. Beaumont-Dark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will outline the United Kingdom military contribution to the defence of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The British Army of the Rhine and RAF Germany are important parts of the overall

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United Kingdom contribution to NATO and they have an essential role to play in the defence of the European mainland. Full details of their composition and roles are contained in the 1989 Statement on the Defence Estimates (Cm. 675-I).

Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he last met his counterpart in the Federal Republic of Germany ; and what matters were discussed.

Mr. Younger : I last met Dr. Stoltenberg at the meeting of NATO's Defence Planning committee in Brussels on 8-9 June. We also met bilaterally in London on 26 May for substantive discussions on a wide range of subjects of mutual defence interest.

Flexible Response

45. Mr. Quentin Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the consequences for the strategy of flexible response of a third zero.

48. Mr. Hague : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the consequences for the strategy of flexible response of a third zero.

54. Mr. Patrick Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the consequences for the strategy of flexible response of a third zero.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : I share the assessment made by NATO Heads of Government at their recent summit that for the foreseeable future there is no alternative to the Alliance strategy of deterrence and that this strategy requires a mix of nuclear forces, including Europe-based ground- launched missiles. I therefore welcome the summit's rejection of a third zero.

78. Mr. Neil Hamilton : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the strategy of flexible response in the light of recent proposals on short-range nuclear weapons.

Eastern Atlantic (Naval Defence)

46. Mr. Evennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will outline the United Kingdom's contribution to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation naval defence of the eastern Atlantic.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : I refer my hon. Friend to paragraph 302 of volume 1 of the Statement on the Defence Estimates 1989 (Cm. 675-I).

Nuclear Weapons and Reactors

49. Mr. Haynes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide an estimate of the number of nuclear weapons and defence reactors currently on sea and ocean floors.

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50. Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide an estimate of the number of nuclear weapons and defence reactors currently on sea and ocean floors.

74. Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide an estimate of the number of nuclear weapons and defence reactors currently on sea and ocean floors.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : We can be confident that there are no nuclear weapons or nuclear reactors on the sea floor within United Kingdom territorial waters. There are no United Kingdom nuclear weapons or reactors on the sea floor anywhere in the world. Nuclear weapons or reactors which belong to other nations and which present no significant threat to the United Kingdom are not the responsibility of the United Kingdom Government.

United States Secretary of State for Defence

52. Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he last met the United States Secretary for Defence ; and what matters were discussed.

Mr. Younger : I met the United States Secretary for Defence at the ministerial meeting of the NATO defence planning committee last week when we discussed a wide range of matters of mutual interest.

Expenditure

58. Mr. McCartney : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total amount of defence spending proposed in his defence White Paper ; and what will be the cumulative defence expenditure from 1979.

66. Mrs. Beckett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total amount of defence spending proposed in his defence White Paper ; and what will be the cumulative defence expenditure from 1979.

76. Mr. Skinner : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total amount of defence spending proposed in his defence White Paper ; and what will be the cumulative defence expenditure from 1979.

86. Mr. John Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total amount of defence spending proposed in his defence White Paper ; and what will be the cumulative defence expenditure from 1979.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Defence budget for 1989-90 is £20,143 million. Total expenditure on defence between 1979-80 and 1988-89 has amounted to some £154,000 million.

NATO Secretary General

60. Sir Russell Johnston : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he last met the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ; and what matters were discussed.

Mr. Younger : I last met Dr. Woerner at the meeting of NATO's Defence Planning committee on 8-9 June. We discussed a range of matters of mutual interest.

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CND

61. Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has recently received from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ; and whether he will make a statement.

69. Dame Jill Knight : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has recently received from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ; and whether he will make a statement.

70. Mr. Knapman : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has recently received from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : Since my right hon. Friend last replied to this question on 7 March, at column 737, he has received less than a dozen letters from CND which reflects, no doubt, the continuing decline in support for that organisation.

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