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APPENDIX 17 TO
ANNEX F
ORAL ANSWERS BY MOD UK TEAM TO WRITTEN ANSWERS
(Relating to Appendices 3 to 16)
1. The MOD UK Team gave the following verbal answers arising from queries from the Hong Kong Government from the written answers supplied at References A, B and C.
2.
3.
General
a.
Income Tax. The approximate total amount of income tax, at present rates of taxation, forecast to be paid by British and Gurkha Servicemen for the reduced Garrison is expected to be in the order of £1.3M.
b. Captitation Rates. Pensions are not included in capitation rates since they are paid out of a different vote. They are not included in any costing given to the Hong Kong Government for the proposed Garrison.
Naval Costs (Appendix 3)
Armaments. The figures for this amount include ammunition, armaments and spares.
a.
b. Fleet Maintenance Unit. The cost of deployment of The Fleet Maintenance Unit from the United Kingdom covers the bringing of specialist personnel out to maintain the Frigate and their element of pay whilst in Hong Kong. This is cheaper than keeping the manpower stationed in Hong Kong.
C.
Prices for Patrol Craft 1979/80, 80/81 The rise of the figures from £.1M to £.2M is accounted for entirely by the need to refurbish the weapons system.
d. Contract Maintenance.
This is the maintenance work put out
to contract because TAMAR do not have the personnel to do it. The work is required during a refit of a Patrol Craft which occurs every two years. The imbalance of cost figures reflects the different number of PCs that are refitted each financial year.
e.
Guardship Operating Costs. Taking a year as a datum, the breakdown of time is as follows:
a.
Deployment (away from HK waters on training exercises, weapon firings and foreign port visits)
30%
Maintenance (alongside in HK, ship closed
20%
down)
C.
Local running (available for HK duties)
50%
A large proportion of deployment time is spent within
48 hours steaming distance of HK.
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