§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assumptions he makes for the purpose of civil defence plans in the event of nuclear attack about the number of (a) police, (b) fire brigade, (c) ambulancemen, (d) doctors and (e) nurses who will be available in (i) Southwark and (ii) greater London.
§ Mr. HurdThe dispositions of local emergency services for civil defence purposes is a matter for local authorities and the other agencies concerned.
§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assumptions he makes for the purpose of civil defence plans about the number of nuclear attacks that might be made; and if he assumes that there will be no further nuclear attacks after 48 hours;
(2) what assumptions he makes for the purpose of civil defence plans about the level of casualties from (a) fire storm and (b) radiation in (i) greater London and (ii) Southwark in the event of a nuclear attack;
(3) what assumptions he makes for the purpose of civil defence plans about the number of blast casualties in (a) greater London and (b) Southwark in the event of a nuclear attack;
(4) what assumptions he has made for the purpose of civil defence plans about the possibility of an underwater burst in the Thames or adjacent coastal waters in a nuclear attack and the possibility of water surges;
(5) what assumptions he makes for the purpose of civil defence plans about the number and frequency of nuclear hits and the number of targets in the greater London area;
(6) what assumptions he makes for the purpose of civil defence plans about the likely scale and nature of a hostile attack.
§ Mr. HurdI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to a question from the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mr. Parry) on 20 December.— [Vol. 51, c.132.]
§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assumptions he makes for the purpose of civil defence plans about the yield of ground burst or air burst attacks.
§ Mr. HurdWe assume that ground burst weapons might have a yield of 150 to 500 kilotons. Should the enemy choose to use such a strategy, air burst weapons might be up to 5 megatons.
§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assumptions he makes for the purpose of civil defence plans about the likely warning time of a hostile attack (a) nuclear and (b) conventional.
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§ Mr. HurdOur assumptions about warning time are set out in Home Office circular No. ES 1/1981. A copy is in the Library.
§ Mr. Barnettasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce measures to ensure that employees of local authorities who are conscientious objectors are able to object to participation in nuclear war planning and civil defence exercises carried on under the civil defence regulations without prejudice to their employment.
§ Mr. HurdThe involvement of individual local authority employees in civil defence activities is a matter for the local authority as employer.