HC Deb 14 February 1984 vol 54 cc119-20
11. Mr. Soames

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the present average tour of duty for Her Majesty's ships in the south Atlantic.

Mr. Stanley

The present average tour of duty for Her Majesty's ships in the south Atlantic is approximately five months, including transit time.

Mr. Soames

Does my hon. Friend agree that the burden imposed by that tour of duty upon the morale of our people is intolerable, as is the burdsn on the defence budget? Does he not agree also that the sooner we can arrive at an honourable and decent agreement with the Argentines, the better it will be for this country?

Mr. Stanley

I certainly agree with my hon. Friend that, within the limits that I described earlier, we would wish to see the restoration of normal relations with the Argentines. However, I cannot agree that the burden is intolerable or that there are difficulties for morale. I speak as one who has visited a number of ships in the south Atlantic. We have basic defence obligations to discharge to the Falkland Islanders and, regrettably, there has as yet been no formal cessation of hostilities in the area.

Mr. Douglas

Will the Minister confirm that he is talking about the surface fleet? Will he disclose the tour of duty of an SSN? Moreover, will he concede that the present tour of duty, especially for frigates, represents an unsatisfactory burden and is bad deployment in relation to our NATO obligations?

Mr. Stanley

I cannot, for reasons which I hope the House will understand, give details of the operational deployment of submarines. These vessels are still assigned to NATO. They are somewhat further removed than they would be in the Mediterranean or the eastern Atlantic, but we deploy ships equal distances away in, for example, the far east from time to time.