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Mr. Neubert : The procedures aimed at ensuring members of paramilitary or extremist organisations are excluded from service in the Territorial Army in Northern Ireland or any other part of the armed forces are kept under constant review.
Photonics
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if any research programmes are under way concerning the use of photonics for communicating with Royal Navy submarines.
Mr. Neubert : It is not our practice to comment on operational matters of this kind.
Transmitters
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the sites of all current and proposed extremely low frequency, very low frequency and low frequency transmitters in the United Kingdom.
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Mr. Neubert : I am not prepared to comment on security grounds, beyond acknowledging the proposed trial of an extremely low frequency transmitter at Glengarry, which has been the subject of several previous answers to the hon. Member.
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what plans his Department has to increase the number of low frequency transmitters in the United Kingdom ;
(2) what plans his Department has to increase the number of VLF transmitters in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Neubert : I am not prepared to comment for security reasons.
Submarine Communications
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what plans his Department has to increase the number of systems available for communicating with the Trident submarine fleet ; (2) what water space management agreements exist to ensure that United States and United Kingdom SSBNs do not encounter each other whilst on patrol.
Mr. Neubert : It is not our practice to comment on operational matters of this kind.
Submarines (Communications)
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the reasons why a TACAMO-type system of very low frequency communication with submarines was rejected for the Royal Navy.
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if there are any plans to equip Royal Navy submarines in order to receive Oscar or Lasercom signals.
Mr. Neubert : It is not our practice to comment on operational matters of this kind.
Tornado Aircraft (Storage)
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Tornado aircraft are currently held in storage at RAF Leeming.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Tornado aircraft are currently held in storage at RAF Coningsby.
Mr. Neubert : No Tornados are held in storage at RAF Coningsby. However, as the RAF's receiving point for new Tornado F3s, at any one time a small number of aircraft may be held there in reserve while awaiting allocation to their operational squadrons.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many Tornado GR 1 aircraft were held in storage on 1 April in each year since 1981 ;
(2) what is the average length of time for which individual Tornado GR1 aircraft have been held in storage since 1981.
Mr. Neubert : No Tornado GR1s were held in storage on 1 April of any year since 1981 with the exception of
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1983 and 1984. Although detailed records are no longer held, it is estimated that seven and 18 Tornado GR1s were held in storage on 1 April 1983 and 1984 respectively, while awaiting allocation to their operational squadrons. The average period in storage of each aircraft is estimated to have been between six to nine months.RAF St. Athan (Aircraft Storage)
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the (a) average and (b) peak total number of aircraft held in storage at RAF St. Athan in each year since 1980.
Mr. Neubert : RAF St. Athan is a major maintenance depot and is used routinely for storing attrition aircraft and aircraft awaiting servicing. Records of the number of aircraft held in storage are not kept in the form requested. However, it is estimated that, on average, about 50 aircraft of various types and ages are held at RAF St. Athan.
Land (Cunninghame, North)
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans exist for acquisition of additional land by his Department in the Cunninghame, North constituency.
Mr. Neubert : There are at present no such plans.
Nuclear Deterrent
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Don Valley of 2 March, Official Report, columns 253-54, if he will make a statement as to what factors Her Majesty's Government consider to be the essential constituents of a fully effective, reliable and survivable deterrent.
Mr. Neubert : I refer the hon. Member to the second memorandum submitted by the Ministry of Defence to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 11 May 1988, which was published on pages 35 to 37 of the minutes of evidence in its third report of the 1987-88 Session (HC280). Paragraphs 6 to 8 in particular contain the information he seeks.
Sea-based Nuclear Weapons
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether Her Majesty's Government have any plans to (a) withdraw some of the sea-based tactical nuclear weapons on Royal Navy vessels and (b) re-evaluate the utility to United Kingdom national defence of sea-based nuclear weapons.
Mr. Neubert : As part of the studies related to modernising the United Kingdom's theatre nuclear weapons capability, consideration is being given to the replacement of the full spectrum of United Kingdom tactical nuclear weapons, including sea-based systems. However, no decisions have yet been taken.
F111 Aircraft
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many United States Air Force F111 aircraft were withdrawn from bases in England in 1988 ; and what was the reason for their withdrawal.
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Who Framed Colin Wallace?"
Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on allegations concerning the forging of CIA documents used by former serving army officers and civil servants reported in the book "Who Framed Colin Wallace?" by Paul Foot.
Mr. Neubert : The hon. Member made allegations as to the forging of CIA documents during the Adjournment debate of 20 June last year, but they are not repeated in Mr. Foot's book. I have nothing to add on this matter to the many answers the hon. Member has already received, for example in the letter sent to him on 15 August 1988 by my predecessor, a copy of which was placed in the House of Commons Library.
Reserve Establishments
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the locations of all Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Marines Reserve establishments in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Neubert : Not all Naval reservist units have their own establishments ; some are accommodated with other service units. The following is a list of all Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Marines Reserve units with their locations :
RNR
HMS Calliope, Tyne and Wear
HMS Cambria, Cardiff
HMS Camberdown, Dundee
HMS Caroline, Belfast
HMS Ceres, Leeds
HMS Claverhouse, Edinburgh
HMS Dalriada, Greenock
HMS Dragon, Swansea
HMS Eaglet, Liverpool
HMS Essex, Shoeburyness
HMS Ferret, Ashford
HMS Flying Fox, Bristol
HMS Forward, Birmingham
HMS Graham, Glasgow
HMS Hallam, Sheffield
HMS Mercia, Coventry
HMS Northwood, Northwood
HMS Palatine, Preston
HMS Paragon, Middlesbrough
HMS Pellew, Exeter
HMS President, London
HMS Salford, Manchester
HMS Scotia, Pitreavie
HMS Sherwood, Nottingham
HMS Southwick, Fareham
HMS Sussex, Brighton
HMS Vivid, Plymouth
HMS Wessex, Southampton
HMS Wildlife, Chatham
RMR
RMR City of London, Bermondsey, with detachments in :
Chatham
Portsmouth
Henley (being established)
RMR Scotland, Glasgow, with detachments in :
Grangemouth
Greenock
Dundee
RMR Bristol, Bristol, with detachments in :
Cardiff
Lympstone
Plymouth
Poole
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RMR Merseyside, Liverpool, with detachments in :Manchester
Birmingham
RMR Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne
Recruitment Offices
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those cities and towns in the United Kingdom which have recruitment offices for (a) the Army, (b) the RAF and (c) the Royal Navy.
Mr. Neubert : The information requested is given in the following tables.
The Royal Navy have recruiting offices in the following towns : England
Barnsley
Birmingham
Blackburn
Brighton
Bristol
Cambridge
Canterbury
Carlisle
Chatham
Chelmsford
Coventry
Derby
Dorchester
Exeter
Guildford
Hartlepool
Hull
Ilford
Ipswich
Leeds
Leicester
Lincoln
Liverpool
London
Central
Blackheath
Croydon
Luton
Manchester
Milton Keynes
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Northampton
Norwich
Nottingham
Oxford
Peterborough
Plymouth
Portsmouth
Preston
Reading
St Helens
Scunthorpe
Sheffield
Shrewsbury
Southampton
Stoke on Trent
Sunderland
Swindon
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