HL Deb 04 March 1963 vol 247 cc236-7

2.42 p.m.

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what number of officers and ratings will be required to man and support the proposed five Polaris submarines and, in view of present shortages, what measures they propose to obtain that number of qualified personnel.]

LORD CARRINGTON

My Lords, not all the details of the Polaris pro- gramme have yet been worked out sufficiently to enable me to give a firm estimate of the manpower and support requirements. At this stage, and on the noble Lord's assumption of five Polaris submarines., the best estimate I can make is that over the next six or seven years we shall need to build up to a complement of some 2,000 officers and ratings to man and support the programme. There is at the moment a temporary shortage of senior technical personnel, but this will not prevent the build-up of the necessary Polaris numbers.

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, the noble Lord has said that his figure is an estimate. It would strike me as being rather low compared with the manpower required by the United States Polaris fleet. I hope that the Government will bear in mind the time element in making their calculations, because there is a considerable shortage of skilled men as is shown in the Estimate and the difficulty about getting new recruits and officers for the Navy.

LORD CARRINGTON

My Lords, that is much in my mind and in the mind of Her Majesty's Government. But I would just say this, in case there has been any misunderstanding about shortages in the Navy. Last year recruiting was extremely good for the Navy, and in the last three or four months it has been even better. It has been particularly good in the artificer world and we shall be recruiting rather more this year in order to start on the Polaris programme. I am very hopeful that this will be successful.

LORD OGMORE

My Lords, under the Bahamas Agreement is it not a fact that these Polaris submarines are to be manned by multilateral crews? Is there not a multilateral element in these submarines?

LORD CARRINGTON

, No, my Lords.