§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether the establishment of full nuclear refitting and refuel 270W ling facilities in Devonport Dockyard that will be available from 1979 onwards will in any way subsequently affect the workload of Chatham Dockyard for the refitting and repair of these vessels.
§ Mr. DuffyThe load of nuclear submarine refitting and refuelling work will increase as more fleet submarines come into service, and the new facilities at Devonport Dockyard will be required to supplement those at Chatham and Rosyth. Chatham's planned load of nuclear work will not be affected.
§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence why an overall development plan has not yet been approved in the case of Chatham Dockyard when plans have been announced for all the other Royal dockyards in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. DuffyThe modernisation of Chatham Dockyard has been a continuing process since it was first equipped to refit nuclear submarines eight years ago. For this reason, the overall development plan, which is now in a draft stage, is not intended to provide for a further major redevelopment of the dockyard, but rather for the coherent improvement and rationalisation of facilities during the coming years.
§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether the frigate refitting complex in the Nos. 2 and 3 basins and Nos. 5, 6 and 7 dock areas in Devonport Dockyard in use and those which will be available by mid-1977 will subsequently reduce the repair and refitting workload on these vessels in Chatham Dockyard.
§ Mr. DuffyChatham Dockyard's surface ship refitting and repair load will not be reduced because of the modernisation of the frigate refitting facilities at Devon-port.