HC Deb 02 July 1974 vol 876 cc196-7
8. Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Secretary of State for Defence when he next plans to visit defence establishments in Scotland.

Mr. Mason

I recently visited RAF Lossiemouth and I hope to visit other defence establishments in Scotland in due course, although I have no immediate plans to do so.

Mr. Taylor

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the concern in Scotland about the recent mischievous and highly dangerous activity of Soviet naval vessels operating close beside oil rigs? What reply have the Government received to their protests in this matter, and have they received an assurance that it will not happen again?

Mr. Mason

The hon. Gentleman must know that Lossiemouth and Kinloss in particular are playing a very intent operational rôle in the surveillance of the coastline and the seas to which he referred. Therefore, watches are kept and records are made of incursions by the Soviet naval fleet and by these trawlers with their technical equipment. We have studies in hand on how best we might be able to combat most of the offshore activities of alien forces.

Mr. William Hamilton

May I ask my right hon. Friend for an assurance on the future of Rosyth Dockyard, which although not in my constituency employs a lot of my constituents? Does he appreciate that if there were a separate Scottish Government, under the proposals of the Scottish National Party Rosyth, employing over 6,000 people, would be redundant?

Mr. Mason

I thank my hon. Friend for drawing that point to my attention. I am not aware that there is any danger to Rosyth. If my hon. Friend has any other worries or concerns and will let me know, I will look into them and write to him in due course.

Mrs. Winifred Ewing

I assure the Minister that an independent Scottish Government would need all the conventional bases that we have in Scotland, although they would not for one moment put up with the base on the River Clyde beside the industrial population of Scotland. As the right hon. Gentleman so recently visited my constituency, may I ask whether he drew any conclusions about the housing situation for the personnel at the two bases and the number of separated families and whether there is any intention of adding to the stock of RAF houses to solve the problem?

Mr. Mason

I am sorry that I am not fully aware of or conversant with the problem to which the hon. Lady refers. It did not come before me. I spent a whole day in Lossiemouth and at the RAF station to which she referred, but that problem was not presented to me. Nevertheless, as she has raised it I will look into it.

Mr. Peter Walker

Is the right hon. Gentleman able to give the House any information on the recent incident when a trawler was reported to be photographing one of our oil rigs? How soon will it be before we can make sure that such incidents as that described in the Press will not occur again?

Mr. Mason

I can only generally indicate to the right hon. Gentleman that it was Soviet trawler activity that breached the safety regulations by going too near the rig and taking photographs. As I indicated earlier, we have studies in hand on how best to look at what is a major exercise because of the increasing dangers to rigs and pipelines in the North Sea.