§ Mr. Blakerasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government in regard to secondments of personnel between the British Forces and the forces of other NATO countries.
§ Mr. MasonThe policy of Her Majesty's Government is to strengthen ties between the British Forces and the forces of other NATO countries wherever this is possible, and one way of doing this is through exchanges of personnel.
§ Mr. Blakerasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the number of secondments of personnel which have taken place between the British Forces and the forces of other NATO countries in the last 12 months, indicating the duration of the secondments in each case.
§ Mr. MasonIn the last 12 months 325 exchange posts were in operation between the British Forces and forces of other NATO countries. These were filled on a reciprocal basis as follows:
Country No. of Exchanges USA … … … … 201 Canada … … … … 92 France … … … … 8 FRG … … … … 11 Netherlands … … … … 8 Italy … … … … 3 Norway … … … … 2 With the exception of two posts between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands which are for one year, the normal period of exchange in each post is two years.