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RAF Fylingdales
4. Mr. Norman Baker (Lewes): If he will make a statement about the purpose of RAF Fylingdales. [122642]
The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon): RAF Fylingdales provides the United Kingdom with early warning of potential ballistic missile attack against the United Kingdom and western Europe, and the United States with early warning for north America. It has performed that function since 1963.
Mr. Baker: Does the Minister agree that many people believe it to be foolish and dangerous to allow RAF Fylingdales to be used to make the UK a sitting target by basing a national missile defence system there that will protect US but not UK airspace? Why does he say that the anti-ballistic missile treaty is solely a matter for the parties who have signed it? If UK land is to be used to break that treaty, surely it is a matter for him. Will he confirm that the decision to allow the deployment of the national missile defence system at Fylingdales is a matter for him, and not for the US Government? Will he rule out that deployment today? If not, will he give us a date when the decision will be taken?
Mr. Hoon: The hon. Gentleman makes a considerable number of points, some of which, I regret to have to tell him, are quite wrong. I will not go through them in detail, save to say that, clearly, if two parties are signatories to a treaty, it is for them, and not any other nation, to interpret it. He is right to this extent: it is for the United Kingdom to decide what should happen at RAF Fylingdales. As yet, there has been no specific request for
the use of those facilities from the US, not least because it has made no decision about whether to deploy national missile defence.
Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York): Will the Secretary of State confirm that, if such a request is made, RAF Fylingdales will have to be upgraded to perform that role?
Mr. Hoon: If such a decision were made by the President of the United States and if, as a result of that decision, a request were made to the United Kingdom for the use of RAF Fylingdales, yes, the facilities would have to be upgraded.
Battalion Duty
5. Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate): How many men were at battalion duty on 15 May with (a) 1 Para, (b) 2 Para and (c) 3 Para. [122643]
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr. John Spellar): The trained strengths of 1 Para, 2 Para and 3 Para as at 1 April 2000--the latest date for which figures are available--were 584, 551 and 620 respectively. These figures are for UK trained army personnel only and include attached arms.
Mr. Blunt: I take it that that answer does not reflect the deployment to Sierra Leone, which I asked about in a question on 15 May, or the fact that more than a company of the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, had to reinforce the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, in Sierra Leone. That reflects the woeful state of understrength infantry battalions, not just in the Parachute Regiment but across the board. What does the Minister expect the undermanning to be in the Scottish Division in six months' time? Will he undertake not to try to blame the previous Conservative Government, because Labour has now been in office for more than three years, which is longer than a soldier's standard engagement?
Mr. Spellar: I am more than happy to blame the Conservative Government, and will continue to do so, for leaving us a deficit of more than 5,000 in the Army. We have had to add 3,000 additional posts to fulfil the strategic defence review and our assessment of the requirement. The total trained strength of the three regular Parachute Battalions is 1,755, and that is 153 higher than at the same time last year. I shall announce later, in answer to other questions, the increase in the Army overall. However, we are not complacent. We are pleased by the levels of recruitment, especially at a time--thanks to the policies of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer--of record employment. We are considering the issue of retention and we have made some improvements, but we can go much further.
Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham): After the Americans had to scuttle out of Somalia and the French left Brazzaville to burn, is not it a matter of some pride that British paratroopers can go in and restore order in Sierra Leone, working with the United Nations? Is not it a matter of some shame that all the Conservatives can do, having left the Army grievously undermanned for this Government to put right, is to undermine the Army in
every way with constant criticisms of what our men are achieving abroad for the Government and for the international community?
Mr. Spellar: I thank my hon. Friend for that question. In spite of the Opposition's earlier performance, they have improved a little recently, probably in response to the spectacular success of our armed forces and the great national pride that is taken in their performance. As my hon. Friend knows, the Parachute Regiment has returned to the timetable that we initially announced and its job is now being performed, equally professionally, by the Marines. We are proud of them and, in our discussions with our international counterparts, we have learned that they have been impressed by the speed with which our forces reacted and the professionalism with which they perform their jobs.
Mr. Gerald Howarth (Aldershot): I am glad that the Minister had the opportunity to visit the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, on Thursday morning and to take breakfast with it to congratulate the men on their magnificent achievements in Sierra Leone. I am only sorry that he was not able to inform me in advance, because I would have been happy to have joined him in that trip to my constituency. The Minister will know, from his close connections with that regiment, of the enormous pride that it has, so it is unfortunate that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate (Mr. Blunt) pointed out, the 1st Battalion recently had to be reinforced. I understand that a Gurkha company is also with the Paras. Does the Minister agree that it would be advisable, and beneficial to the Government, if the Parachute Regiment could be brought up to full strength?
Mr. Spellar: Certainly, the Parachute Regiment is working on that. As the hon. Gentleman knows, there are always more applicants than there are places available, and the training regime is extremely rigorous. When I spoke to officers of the regiment on Saturday, I was pleased to see the work being done to rectify the problem.
I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman was unable to get a free breakfast on Saturday, and I apologise for the fact that my officials did not notify him of my visit. However, given the speed of the withdrawal of our troops from Freetown, he will understand that the timing of my visit was slightly uncertain until the last moment.
The hon. Gentleman is right about the skills of the Parachute Regiment. I only wish that he would not overlay the constructive points that he makes with so much carping criticism. Members of the Parachute Regiment are enormously, and justifiably, proud of the role that they played in the crisis.
KFOR
6. Mr. Gordon Marsden (Blackpool, South): What logistical support his Department is continuing to offer KFOR in Kosovo. [122644]
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr. John Spellar): We have some 650 personnel deployed to provide support for our own forces, including logistic, medical and equipment specialists.
In addition, we are providing the commanding officer for KFOR in Macedonia, we are responsible for operations at the airport near Pristina, and we are assisting KFOR with the movement of its personnel and equipment within Kosovo.
Mr. Marsden: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. It underlines the nation's great pride in the success of British troops in KFOR in maintaining an even-handed approach in Pristina and in apprehending war criminals in the area. However, does he agree that one of the problems during the conflict was the lack of surveillance and intelligence information on the ground? Will he therefore look at improving our reconnaissance and surveillance capacity as a matter of urgency? That is important, given the local elections to be held in Kosovo in the autumn and the fact that, as is reported in today's edition of The Guardian, moderate Serb leaders have already asked European officials to beef up anti-terrorism measures in Kosovo.
Mr. Spellar: It is certainly a matter of some pride that the upsurge of insurgency in the Presevo valley has been dealt with very well by allied forces there. My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the need to support and assess information. We have deployed Phoenix to the area to conduct observation for that reason, and the Astor programme, which the Government have ordered, in due course will enhance enormously our capability in that respect.
Mr. Menzies Campbell (North-East Fife): May I commend the Government on their exercise of open government with regard to today's publication of the report entitled "Kosovo: Lessons from the Crisis"? Is it not clear that many of the shortcomings identified in the report result from systematic reductions in the defence budget dating from about 1989? In truth, when the then Conservative Government made the proposals, neither Labour nor Liberal Democrat Members sought vehemently to oppose them. However, if we are to have an expeditionary strategy and assert the moral obligation to intervene on humanitarian grounds, is it not clear that we must be able to intervene in the first instance with sufficient capability? Also, must not we be able to sustain the forces that we deploy so that they can cope with what, inevitably in some cases, will be a long haul? As long as the shadow of the Chancellor continues to threaten the Ministry of Defence budget, how do the Government think that they will achieve that?
Mr. Spellar: I am always in favour of pleas from Opposition Members for additional funding, but the right hon. and learned Gentleman's analysis closely resembles that of the strategic defence review. The effectiveness of the SDR was demonstrated clearly in Kosovo, where we were able to respond rapidly. We have also managed to sustain that operation with forces in Bosnia and Kosovo, and they are doing a tremendous job extremely professionally.
With reference to an earlier question, I should like to point out that, at the same time as running those operations, we were able to intervene in Sierra Leone with spectacular speed--more rapidly, I believe, than almost any other country in the world. Obviously, we need to enhance that capability, which is precisely why my right
hon. Friend the Secretary of State has announced the heavy-lift programme, which will start with leasing four C-17 aircraft and include the A400M. Naturally, a programme of that size will have been agreed with the Chancellor and the Treasury. That demonstrates the commitment of all Departments to the implementation of the SDR.
Mrs. Alice Mahon (Halifax): Is the Minister aware that German soldiers in Kosovo have been told not to eat local produce after fears that deposits of uranium from NATO's use of depleted uranium might have contaminated the soil? Similarly, there have been reports that the United Nations has warned its officials that the water supply could be contaminated. What warnings have been given to the civilian population and to British troops serving there?
Mr. Spellar: I have had no indication of any of that. The problems of water supplies are more to do with traditional pollution, which is why our forces have substantial supplies of bottled water. The argument about depleted uranium seems to have been greatly exaggerated. As for pollution, the United Nations investigation demonstrated that most of the problems stemmed from before the military engagement in Kosovo, and are down to the reprehensible policies of the Milosevic regime.
Mr. Robert Key (Salisbury): Progress in Kosovo for both the military and the civilian populations continues to be hindered by the danger from unexploded ordnance. I understand that there have been 100 deaths and 400 other casualties as a result, many of them, regrettably, from unexploded allied cluster bombs. However, 40 per cent. of the area at risk has still not been cordoned off. Given the Government's commitment to humanitarian de-mining, why did NATO not co-operate with the United Nations mine action co-ordination centre in Pristina, when last August it asked for help in locating cluster bomb drops? Why did Kofi Annan have to write last month begging Lord Robertson for help? Why, after all this time, have only 4 per cent. of the minefields in Bosnia been cleared?
Mr. Spellar: I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman would be congratulating our forces which, as a priority on entering Kosovo, cleared many public buildings, notably schools, so that some 90 per cent. of children were able to get into their schools. I should have thought that extremely important.
In Kosovo, we are undertaking, as we do in all countries with similar problems, a lot of work in alerting people--not just our own troops, allied personnel and non-governmental organisations, but the local population--to the dangers of unexploded ordnance. Our troops are also working with local organisations to deal with clearing them. It is a major job, as we have found in all such countries. Indeed, as we all know, even today we are still finding unexploded ordnance in this country. We should recognise the considerable work that has been undertaken to enable Kosovo to return to a degree of normality, rather than simply carp about what still requires to be done.
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