HC Deb 26 June 1964 vol 697 cc135-6W
Mr. Grant-Ferris

asked the Secretary of State for Defence, in view of the fact that certain major oil companies are taking steps to avoid the discharge of oil into the sea, what action the Royal Navy intend to take on this matter.

STANDARD RATE OF RETIREMENT PENSION EXPRESSED AS A PERCENTAGE OF AVERAGE EARNINGS* IN EACH YEAR SINCE 1951
Date Percentage of men's average earnings Percentage of women's average earnings
Pension at single rate Pension for a couple
October— 1951† 18.1 30.1 33.3
1951‡ 15.7 25.3 28.9
1952 18.2 30.3 33.7
1953 17.2 28.5 31.7
1954 15.9 26.4 30.0
1955 17.9 29.2 34.7
1956 16.8 27.3 32.5
1957 15.9 25.8 30.9
1958 19.5 31.2 37.3
1959 18.4 29.5 35.5
1960 17.2 27.5 33.7
1961 18.7 30.1 37.2
1962 18.1 29.2 35.8
1963 20.2 32.5 40.1
* Based on the Ministry of Labour's half-yearly inquiries into the earnings of manual workers in manufacturing and some of the principal non-manufacturing industries.
† For pensioners over age 65 (60 for women) on 1st October, 1951.
‡ For pensioners who reached age 65 (60 for women) after 1st October, 1951.

Mr. Hay

Royal Fleet Auxiliary tankers carry only refined oil, to which the proposals announced by certain oil companies are not intended to apply. The Navy Department have, however, always been well aware of this problem, and our present policy is to fit separators, which remove the necessity to discharge oil into the sea, to tankers constructed for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service. In addition all Navy Department oil depots possess facilities for the reception and disposal of oil sullage and the provisions of the 1954 Convention on Oil Pollution are observed.