HC Deb 27 October 1981 vol 10 cc335-6W
Mr. Needham

asked the Secretary of State for Defence

  1. what savings Her Majesty's Government expect as a result of the closure of No. 5 maintenance unit, RAF Kemble;
  2. what procedures the Royal Air Force is adopting for its study of the proposed closure of RAF Kemble; and whether the staff's opinions are being invited;
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  3. when the staff side will be invited to comment on the proposals to close RAF Kemble;
  4. whether he is satisfied that the entire If Kemble engineering task can be accommodated by surplus RAF Service personnel at the other two maintenance units;
  5. how many technical Service men, now surplus to RAF requirements, will take on the task currently performed by the No. 5 maintenance unit at Kemble;
  6. who in future will carry the surface finish tasks for the Queen's Flight;
  7. if he is satisfied that the quality of work carried out by the surface finishing section at RAF Kemble can be matched elsewhere within the Royal Air Force or by outside contractors;
  8. (8) what will be the capital costs if all work at RAF Kemble is transferred to other areas;
  9. (9) what are the alternative bases being considered to which work from RAF Kemble might be transferred, including contract work.
Mr. Wiggin:

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Colchester (Mr. Buck), on 28 July.—[Vol. 9, c. 452.] Current studies are examining the issues referred to by my hon. Friend here and in other representations which he has made.

Mr. Needham

asked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what are the numbers employed at RAF Kemble; what are their ages and grades; how many will have their jobs terminated if the closure of RAF Kemble takes place; and how many personnel will be offered alternative jobs at the other units to which work is transferred;

(2) whether, if RAF Kemble is closed, redundancies will take place in the mobile grades.

Mr. Wiggin:

I shall write to my hon. Friend about the number of employees and their ages and grades. It is not possible to say how many would be made redundant or offered alternative jobs if RAF Kemble were to close. This would depend on a number of factors such as the level of natural wastage and to what extent suitable alternative jobs exist within the Ministry of Defence or other Government Departments.