House of Commons Hansard Debates for 17 Nov 1992

Armoured Combat Vehicles

Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what reductions in armoured combat vehicles and armoured combat vehicle lookalikes are envisaged as a result of the planned reduction in the size of the Army.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The exact quantities of armoured combat vehicles and armoured vehicle lookalikes to be deployed when the planned reductions in the Army have been completed are still under review.

Accommodation

Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many families of British forces personnel have been evicted from his Department's accommodation in each of the last five years.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The numbers of families of personnel currently or formerly serving in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force who have been evicted from Ministry of Defence accommodation over the last five years are set out in the table, by calendar year. The Army has been keeping figures centrally only since April 1992 and these are provided in the table. It would require disproportionate effort and cost to collect the earlier figures.


Year       |Royal Navy|Army      |RAF                  

-------------------------------------------------------

1988       |3         |-         |1                    

1989       |<1>8      |-         |12                   

1990       |14        |-         |1                    

1991       |13        |-         |5                    

1992       |<2>13     |<3>7      |<2>2                 

<1>Includes one physical eviction.                     

<2>To 13 November 1992.                                

<3>Period 1 April to 30 September 1992.                

Note:                                                  

No evictions overseas by Royal Navy and RAF. Number of 

evictions overseas by Army are unavailable.

Battalion Complements

Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what effect "Options for Change" has had on the normal complement of a battalion in the Army ; and what is that complement now.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : Following the implementation of "Options for Change" there will be a small increase in the typical establishment of a battalion in the Army ; that establishment depends upon the type and role of the battalion and currently ranges between 628 and 927.

Iraq

Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if the inquiry by Lord Justice Scott into Ministers' handling of arms sales to Iraq will have access to papers and officials dealing with equipment sales to Chile during the relevant period ; (2) if he will release to the inquiry being conducted by Lord Justice Scott on sales to Iraq the studies undertaken under the auspices of his Department into the Iraqi military procurement network in the United Kingdom and the activities of Matrix Churchill.

Mr. Aitken : Lord Justice Scott will have access to all relevant Government papers.

Column 195

Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what ammunition supplied by British companies was revealed by the analysis of ammunition captured following the end of the Gulf war ; and how much of this ammunition was originally shipped to Jordan.

Mr. Aitken : My Department has not carried out an extensive analysis of the origins of all ammunition captured during the Gulf conflict. However, the analysis that has been carried out has produced no evidence to suggest that Iraqi forces used any ammunition of British manufacture.

British Aerospace

Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what oversight Her Majesty's Government exercised during the period 1985 to 1988 of British Aerospace's role in Arab-British dynamics ; and what representations were made to the company about this role.

Column 196

Mr. Aitken : My Department and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had a number of discussions with British Aerospace on the subject of Arab- British Dynamics over the period in question.

Activity Bulletins

Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to place regular bulletins on developments and activities in (a) Bosnia and (b) the Gulf, which affect the troops deployed there, in the Library ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Rifkind [pursuant to his reply, 27 October 1992, c. 616] : I intend to place a note summarising the activities of British forces in former Yugoslavia and the Gulf at intervals in the Library of each House. Such notes will be placed once a week, on a Thursday, and more often if circumstances require it. The arrangement will begin on 19 November.

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