§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) military and other personnel, (b) military installations and equipment and (c) nuclear defence devices are based or situated in (i) the Lancashire and Humberside regions, (ii) Kirklees and (iii) West Yorkshire.
§ Mr. PattieThere are 16 defence establishments in Lancashire, 19 in Humberside and six in West Yorkshire, including barracks, training areas, meteorological stations and ordnance factories. There are also careers information offices, Territorial Army centres and married quarter estates in each area.
The approximate numbers of Service and civilian personnel employed are as follows:
- (i) Lancashire 900 Service men, 6,100 civilians.
- (ii) Humberside 1,000 Service men, 850 civilians
- (iii) West Yorkshire 100 Service men, 2,000 civilians—of which about 10 Service men and 10 civilians are employed in the Kirklees area.
The majority of Service personnel are stationed at barracks in the three areas while the majority of civilians are employed at the Royal ordnance factories at Leeds in West Yorkshire and Blackburn and Chorley in Lancashire. It has been the policy of successive Governments neither to confirm nor deny the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any particular location.