§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence when the work on the third nuclear store due to commence next month in Chatham Dockyard will be completed; and what it will cost.
§ Mr. DuffyThe contract for a radioactive equipment store will be placed in the near future and it is anticipated that it will be completed in the early spring of 1979. The latest estimated cost is £280,000 at January 1978 prices.
§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence what were the total numbers of men and women of all grades employed in Chatham Dockyard in each of the years 1970 to December 1977 inclusive; and what is the estimated work force in each of the next five years.
§ Mr. DuffyThe numbers of Navy Department civilian personnel employed in Her Majesty's Dockyard, Chatham were:
April 1970 6,832 April 1971 6,878 April 1972 6,569 April 1973 6,573 April 1974 6,547 April 1975 6,283 April 1976 6,160 April 1977 6,167 December 1977 6,351 The figures prior to 1975 include 48 personnel who were transferred, together with their tasks, to another element in the naval base in that year. The December 1977 figure includes 171 staff transferred from another element of the base.
The number is expected to remain at about the present level for the next five years.
§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence what types of Royal naval vessels it is intended to repair or refit in Chatham Dockyard in future; and what other Royal naval dockyards will be able to carry out the same work.
§ Mr. DuffyIt is intended that Chatham Dockyard should continue to refit and repair nuclear Fleet submarines, frigates and various other vessels and small craft.216W Facilities for the refitting of Fleet submarines are available at Rosyth and are being provided at Devonport. Frigates can be refitted at all of the Royal dockyards.
§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the existing refit and repair basins in Chatham Dockyard it is intended to close down.
§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence what trades in Chatham Dockyard will become redundant or drastically reduced in each of the next 10 years.
§ Mr. DuffyThe planned programme of work for Chatham Dockyard for the next 10 years will not lead to any trade becoming redundant. Nor is it envisaged that there will be any drastic reduction in numbers in any trade.
§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement concerning the proposed development plan for Chatham Dockyard; and what part of the alleged expenditure of £60 million has already been spent on projects now completed.
§ Mr. DuffyFollowing a detailed review of the facilities and resources available in Her Majesty's Naval Base Chatham a comprehensive development plan was drawn up at the end of last year as a basis for planning the modernisation and rationalisation of the dockyard.
The plan identifies some 60 individual works projects, each of which will be considered for implementation as and when required. The total order of cost is over £60 million. A number of projects are in the preliminary stages of detailed planning but there has been, as yet, no expenditure on construction.