§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many service men are attending training courses run by the Services in this country from Chile, South Africa and Oman respectively; what type of training course is undertaken; what is the period of training; what are the circumstances under which this country accepts service men for training from these particular countries; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Robert C. Brown, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 8th December 1975; Vol. 902, c. 37], gave the following information:
At 5th December 1975 the number of service men attending training courses run by the Services in this country from Chile, South Africa and Oman, together with the type and duration of such training, was as follows:
Chile 19 Approximate Duration On the job training in submarines 3 weeks Engineering/equipment From 2 months up to 23 months South Africa 1 Artificer instrument 17 months Oman 24 Platoon commanders 2 months Nursing 24 months Education 5–6 months Technical 4–9 months Standard military 6 months Secretarial 3 months Basic flying training 8 months Requests from these countries for places on Service training courses are considered in the light of vacancies available and of the political, defence, sales and other relevant factors.
The courses being provided for Chileans are all related to sales contracts for ships of the Chilean Navy. The one South African is due to complete next month a course arranged in 1973.