§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the recent visit of the Under-Secretary of State for Defence for the Royal Navy to Liverpool.
§ Mr. DuffyI visited Western Ship-repairers and CBS Engineering on Merseyside on 29th November and discussed with management, shop stewards, my hon. Friend and my hon. Friend the Member for Bootle (Mr. Mahon) the work which these companies do for the Ministry of Defence in repairing Royal Fleet auxiliary vessels. The need for additional work in order to maintain vital jobs and skills in the area was impressed upon me; and I was convinced by what I saw of the facilities and labour relations that these yards were well able to meet our requirements. I agreed that they had a strong case, and promised to explore means of assisting them. I did, however stress that, because Royal Fleet auxiliary repair contracts are placed by competitive tender, it was in the end up to the companies themselves to attract388W orders by keeping down costs and meeting targets on time.
Following this meeting I visited the 3 Queens Regiment on firefighting duty in Birkenhead.