Baroness VickersMy 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 whether they will state what consultations have taken place with the Government of Gibraltar in regard to the future of HM Royal Dockyard there.
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, immediately following the announcement on 23rd November 1981 of Her Majesty's Government's decision to close Her Majesty's Dockyard Gibraltar, United Kingdom officials visited the Rock for discussions with the Gibraltar authorities. On 14th December 1981 the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Sir Joshua Hassan, called on the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary in London, and held detailed discussions with the Lord Privy Seal and the Minister of State for the Armed Forces.
Baroness VickersMy Lords, I thank the noble Earl for that reply. I should like to ask the noble Earl the exact date upon which it is anticipated that the dockyard will be closed; how many Moroccans and Gibraltarians are likely to lose their jobs; and have any applications been made by firms to set up further industries to provide employment for the future?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, we are expecting the closure to take place some time in 1983. It is a little early at the moment to give any concrete figure about how many people will be put out of work, but it is thought to be somewhere just under 1,000. As regards the final part of my noble friend's supplementary question, I point out that we very much hope that there will be approaches for a commercial use of the dockyard.