§ 3. Mr. Brewisasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty what cruisers he intends to scrap in the current year; and whether he will give priority to tenders from firms operating or intending to operate in areas scheduled under the Local Employment Act.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-EwingIt is planned to scrap H.M.S. "Kenya" and H.M.S "Swiftsure" this year. It has not yet been decided whether these two ships will be disposed of by competitive tendering or whether they will be handed over to the British Iron and Steel Corporation for breaking-up on an agency basis. If they are put out to tender all firms capable of doing this work, including those in the Scheduled Areas, 439 will be given equal opportunity to tender but I cannot promise, when considering the tenders, to give priority to any particular firm or any particular area.
§ Mr. BrewisWhile thanking my hon. Friend for that reply, may I ask if he does not agree that most of the heavy ships which have been scrapped by the Navy in recent years have been bought by B.I.S.C. and finally broken up by Messrs. Wards or by Metal Industries and that both those firms have plenty of work and smaller firms have not had much of a look-in?
§ Mr. Orr-EwingIt is true that more than half the ships broken up have been broken up in Scotland. It is also true that both these firms, which are in Inverkeithing and Faslane, are in scheduled areas, which would meet the point made by my hon. Friend in his main Question.