§ Mr. Cryerasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the treaties, agreements, memoranda, letters, minutes or any other documents which have been exchanged or submitted by either the United Kingdom or the United States Governments providing the terms under which United States forces are stationed in the United Kingdom; how many of these documents have been presented to Parliament; and how many have been placed in the Library.
§ Mr. Pattie[pursuant to the reply, 11 November 1980, c. 153]: United States Forces are stationed in the United Kingdom under the general provisions of the North Atlantic Treaty, the Agreement regarding the Status of Forces of Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty (1951) and the Visiting Forces Act 1952. The two former documents were presented to Parliament as Command Papers (Cmnd. 7789 and 9363, respectively). More specifically, the use by United States forces of bases and facilities in the United Kingdom is governed by the agreement reached by Mr. Attlee and President Truman in October 1951 and reaffirmed by Mr. Churchill and President Truman in a joint communiqué of January 1952. There are also a number of supplementary undertakings and agreements which either amplify these main documents or relate to the use of individual bases and facilities. Examples are the Exchange of Notes Relating to the Sale of Tobacco by the United States Government and the Construction of Housing and/or Community Facilities by the United Kingdom Government (Cmnd. 9793 dated July 1956) and the Memorandum on a Ballistic Missile Early Warning Station in the United Kingdom (Cmnd. 946 dated February 1960). Other documents in this category range from memoranda of understanding to less formal exchanges of letters between officials. No central record of such material is held, and the research which would have to be undertaken to assemble one would entail disproportionate effort and cost.