HL Deb 01 August 1956 vol 199 cc518-9

12. R.N. Armament Depot, Woolwich

To be closed.

13. R.N. Cordite Factory, Holton Heath

To be reduced to care and maintenance.

14. Naval Ordnance Proofing Range

The Naval Ordnance Proofing Range at Kingsclere (near Newbury, Berks) to be disposed of.

15. A considerable number of minor establishments (store depots, engineering depots, boom defence depots. camps, etc.) to be closed down.

LORD TEYNHAM

My Lords, while thanking the noble Viscount the First Lord of the Admiralty for his full and detailed reply, I should like to ask him whether there is to be a clear saving of the 5,000 posts ashore held by uniformed personnel to which he referred, or whether these people are to be succeeded by civilians.

VISCOUNT CILCENNIN

I can assure the noble Lord that the saving of 5,000 uniformed personnel is a real saving. Their places will not be taken by civilians.

LORD TEYNHAM

My Lords, while I appreciate the significance of these economies, I should like to have an assurance from the First Lord that none of these economies will in any way impair the efficiency of the Navy, which is more than ever necessary at the present time.

VISCOUNT CILCENNIN

My Lords, I can give the noble Lord and your Lordships a full assurance that nothing I have said to-day will impair the efficiency of the Royal Navy at this vital time.

LORD HORE-BELISHA

My Lords, may I ask, as I did not hear the noble Viscount say, what the economy amounts to in terms of money?

VISCOUNT CILCENNIN

My Lords, I am afraid that at the moment it is difficult to give the noble Lord the figure in terms of money. The costing has to be done and though I hope it will not be long before I can give a figure, at the moment it is difficult.

VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH

My Lords, the noble Viscount the First Lord has made an exceedingly important statement, for which we are all grateful, but this is the day before the end of this part of the Session and we shall not be able to look at it until to-morrow morning. In the meantime this goes on. I rather suspect, from the noble Viscount's Answer, that these inquiries will include inquiries into economies necessary in the Royal Naval Dockyards. If that is so, I hope that the difficulties in industry to-day from what is sometimes called "streamlining"—which is a word very popular in the Admiralty just now—will be carefully taken into account, and in view of the very great services rendered by the personnel in the Royal Naval Dockyards, I hope that nothing will be done that is likely to lead to the same kind of industrial trouble which has been projected into the motor industry.

VISCOUNT CILCENNIN

My Lords, no. I am very glad to give the noble Viscount my assurance that we are fully aware of the value of the work done in the Dockyards, which have plenty of work to occupy them fully for some years to come. Nothing I have said, I think, as I think the noble Viscount will see when he reads the full statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT, need give him fears of what "streamlining" may do to the Dockyards themselves from the dangerous angle which he mentioned.