§ Mr. Peter Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he is now in a position to make a statement on the future of the Portsmouth naval base.
§ Mr. NottWe announced last year that the scope and volume of dockyard work at Portsmouth would be reduced and that, subject to further detailed study, the number of personnel would fall from about 7,000 to 1,300. In the light of the Falklands conflict and the revised plans for the Fleet it is clear that additional support will now be needed at Portsmouth. We are, therefore, issuing a consultative document today and we shall be consulting the trades unions on our plans. Subject to a satisfactory outcome to the consultation, and agreement on flexible working practices, we envisage 2,800 civilians being employed at Portsmouth naval base for essential repair and maintenance tasks, including the updating of weapon systems.
The total work force will, therefore, be smaller than at present and some redundancies of industrial staff and transfers of non-industrial staff will still be necessary, but the issue of redundancy notices will not now need to be resumed until towards the end of March 1983. We intend, very early in the new year, to give all non-industrial staff at both Portsmouth and Chatham notice of their future appointments.