§ Mr. Wallasked the Secretary of State for Defence what ships, and by what amount, have had their long refits lengthened by industrial disputes, shortage of spare parts, etc.
§ Mr. SpeedIndustrial disputes over the past 18 months have resulted in a loss of about one-quarter of the total annual capacity of the dockyards. As a result there have been major changes in refit programmes and more work has had to be put out to contract. The effects on operational capability have been alleviated by running on ships that would normally have gone to refit. It is not the practice to disclose the details requested by my hon. Friend as these directly concern operational availability.