§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK ships or aircraft have been(a) refused entry and (b) had additional operational restriction placed on them by the Spanish Government in the last five years with respect to access to (i) ports and (ii) airports after visiting Gibraltar; and if he will make a statement. [17979]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 26 November 2001]: We have no record of any such instances involving military ships or aircraft.
§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what deployments outside Gibraltar have been made in the past five years by the Royal Regiment of Gibraltar; and if he will make a statement. [17978]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 26 November 2001]: In the past five years, units of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment of between platoon and company size have deployed to the UK nine times, Kenya once, Canada once, Cyprus once and Morocco twice, all for training purposes. Individual career development training is also conducted in the UK.
Many individuals from the Regiment have also deployed in support of operational deployments in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo and Sierra Leone.
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§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the visits to HM Base Gibraltar over the past two years by NATO forces; and if he will make a statement. [17974]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 26 November 2001]: In addition to the many UK military visits to Gibraltar, ships and aircraft from other NATO nations visit on a regular basis for training, logistic support and stand-off. Since November 1999, a total of 40 non-UK warships and 59 non-UK military aircraft have visited or operated from Gibraltar. Land forces from non-UK NATO nations also make use of Gibraltar for training purposes.
The only visit to Gibraltar actually under the NATO flag over the past two years was a joint UK/Canadian detachment of Maritime Patrol Aircraft, which operated out of Gibraltar in support of NATO exercise Linked Seas in May 2000.
§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many citizens of(a) Spain and (b) Gibraltar applied to join HM armed forces over the past five years; and if he will make a statement. [17977]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 26 November 2001]: Details are not available for the five year period requested. Since 1998 two citizens of Gibraltar have applied to join the armed forces. In that time there have been some inquiries from Spanish citizens about UK armed forces employment but these people were ineligible because they did not qualify under our nationality entry rules. A number of British citizens have made inquiries and applied to join the armed forces while living in Spain or Gibraltar but records of this are held separately from the recruitment of British citizens living in the United Kingdom.