§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) frigates, or destroyers and (b) MCM vessels were planned to be made available to NATO in the Mediterranean in a crisis before the 1975 defence review; and how many are now to be made available.
§ Mr. JuddIt is not the normal practice to disclose the numbers of ships planned to be made available to specific areas of NATO in a crisis, but, as announced in the 1975 Defence White Paper, following the Defence Review the United Kingdom will no longer commit maritime forces to the Mediterranean in support of NATO, although as part of national deployments we shall participate in periodic NATO maritime exercises and in the NATO On Call Force in the Mediterranean.