§ Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smithasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has any plans to reduce the cost to allies of the United Kingdom of United Kingdom military assistance provided by members of Her Majesty's armed forces on loan or seconded overseas.
§ Mr. HeseltineI am pleased to inform the House that, in order to increase the attractiveness to our friends and allies of United Kingdom military assistance of this kind, I have decided to abolish the amortised training charges levied on such personnel. These charges were originally introduced to recover part of the cost of our investment in their training. The concession will apply from 1 April 1983 and is estimated to cost about £6 million in the current year. This will, I am sure, make a useful contribution to our ability to help our friends overseas to protect their security interests. I believe that it will be greatly welcomed by them.