§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the work of the 20 service police in dealing with off-duty violence between service men in the Falklands.
§ Mr. StanleyThe 20 service policemen and women serving in the Falklands are carrying out the normal range of their duties. The incidence of violence between Servicemen in the Falklands has been very small.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he now makes of the dangers of unexploded explosive ordnance in the Falkland Islands.
§ Mr. StanleyThe Royal Engineers have now completed the surface clearance of those parts of the islands affected by the conflict, having removed 2,410,000 potentially dangerous items. Apart from the minefields, only some relatively small areas which have been identified as requiring special clearance, remain to be dealt with.
The possibility of finding any residual unexploded ordnance outside these areas cannot be ruled out but both military personnel and the civilian population have been and will continue to be briefed on the potential hazard.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will name the foreign flag ships on charter in May 1984 to supply the Falklands garrison.
§ Mr. StanleyThe ships concerned were the MV Slotergracht (Dutch) and the MV Finn SIF (Danish), both of which were on charter on a single voyage basis.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of the contract with ITM Offshore Limited for a port in the Falklands; and at what cost the work was carried out.
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§ Mr. StanleyConstruction and assembly of the Falklands intermediate port and storage system (FIPASS) has been completed satisfactorily at a cost of the order of £25 million.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund, the Falkland Islands Foundation, and the Falkland Islands Trust on conservation matters in the Falkland Islands.
§ Mr. StanleyThe Ministry values its close and friendly relationship with all three bodies. We have longstanding links with the World Wildlife Fund, whose United Kingdom offices are co-located with those of the Falkland Islands Foundation. We have collaborated with the foundation on a range of subjects, from restrictions on military activities to avoid damage to wildlife to ways of increasing conservation awareness amongst Servicemen. One example of this collaboration is the production of a poster on Falklands wildlife, 500 copies of which have been despatched recently for display in billets on the Islands. Collaboration with the Falkland Islands Trust is maintained at the local level, between land forces headquarters and the trust's representatives.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence what action he has taken as a result of the report by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology in conjunction with the Scottish Nature Conservancy Council on the ecological assessment of threats to the wildlife and nautical heritage of the Falklands.
§ Mr. GowI have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to his similar question earlier today.