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Written Answers
7 MAY 1975
be meeting the Chairman of the British Steel Corporation.
Mr. William Ross: I have no early plans to meet the Chairman of the British Steel Corporation in the near future. My hon. Friend the Minister of State, Scottish Office, attended the tripartite discussions in relation to Scotland on 17th and 18th April.
Refuse Collection (Paper Sacks)
58. Sir John Gilmour asked the Secre- tary of State for Scotland what proportion of the paper sacks used by Scottish local authorities for the collection of refuse is made from waste paper.
Mr. William Ross: This information is not readily available.
DEFENCE
Forces Personnel (Civilian Employment Rating)
Mr. Litterick asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the Armed Forces are trained to a level sufficient to merit being classified as
skilled manual in civilian life.
"
Mr. William Rodgers : The term "skilled manual" is not easily applied to Service tradesmen, who are often trained for jobs which have no exact counterpart in civilian life. By agree ment some trades unions and professional bodics recognise Service men with cer- tain technical qualifications as eligible for admission on leaving the Armed Forces. About 54,000 Service men have such qualifications.
Expenditure
Mr. Wigley asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his latest esti- mate for defence expenditure for the cur- rent financial year. together with the actual outturn for the year 1974-75 and the broad planning estimate for the year 1976-77.
Mr. Robert C. Brown: I would refer the hon. Member to Table 1A of the Memorandum by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Cmnd. 6009). The figure for 1976-77 has since been reduced by f10 million at 1974 Survey prices, as announced in the Budget Statement of 15th April.-[Vol. 890, c. 295.]
24 O 28
Written Answers
Flying Accidents
458
Mr. Tom Ellis asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will now consider publishing statistics of flying accidents in the three Services.
Mr. John: Yes. For the calendar year 1974, the military flying accident rates per 10,000 flying hours, together with the total assessed costs, were as follows:
Accident rate
(Per 10,000
flying hours)
Assessed
cost
£ million
1
Royal Navy Army...
1.48
3.57
0.40
0.27
0.32
12.9
Royal Air Force
The differing rates between the three Services reflect the different types of flying and aircraft involved.
In par- ticular, the figures for the Royal Navy reflect the short duration of most of the flights, and the higher risk of acci- dents occurring over water resulting in the loss of, or major damage to, the aircraft.
For this purpose an accident is defined as an occurrence where the aircraft is missing, destroyed, damaged beyond repair or is not repairable on site.
It is our intention in the future to publish an annual table of accident rates similar to that for 1974 given above.
Hong Kong
Mr. Mike Thomas asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the estimated difference in cost in maintaining a British battalion and a Gurkha battalion in Hong Kong; and what are the reasons for any difference in cost.
Mr. Robert C. Brown: The estimated difference is about £2§ million a year and is due principally to higher costs of pay and allowances for the British battalion.
Atomic Bombs
Mr. Blaker asked the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has about recent scientific developments which would make the manufacture of materials for the construction of atomic weapons cheaper and more simple and in particular about techniques involving the
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