§ Sir Frederick Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence how much, in comparable quality and specification, of the rope supplied for the Falklands task force was supplied by private commercial sources and how much by the Chatham dockyard ropery.
§ Mr. BlakerSomewhat less than half the rope issued to the Falklands task force was of synthetic fibre and was supplied by commercial manufacturers. The remainder, of natural fibre, was produced by the Chatham ropery, though natural fibre rope is available from commercial sources.
Chatham naval base is planned to close in 1984, but it is hoped that it may be possible for the ropery to remain in production thereafter under commercial management.