§ 42. Mr. Ronald Atkinsasked the Secretary of State for Defence what progress he has made in renegotiating an offset agreement with West Germany on meeting the cost of the maintenance of BAOR.
§ Mr. MasonThe 1971 Anglo-German Offset Agreement expired on 31st March 1976. We are in touch with the Federal German Government about successor arrangements.
§ 44. Mr. Townsendasked the Secretary of State for Defence in the light of recent trials and evaluation of the proposed reorganisation of the command structure in 129W BAOR, what is the basis for his conclusion that eliminating the brigade level of command will increase effectiveness.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownThe aim of restructuring is to improve the effectiveness of the Army as a whole by reducing overheads while manning the same number of front line equipments. The results of the trials which have taken place in Germany to evaluate the new structure have not yet been fully assessed. If they show changes to be necessary we shall certainly make them.