§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) which two county councils did not return the questionnaire on civil defence by December 1984;
(2) how many local authorities completed the questionnaire on civil defence in each of the following home defence regions: (a) north, (b) Yorkshire, (c) east midlands, (d) east, (e) Greater London, (f) south-east, (g) south-west, (h) Wales, (i) west midlands and (j) northwest.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw:The questionnaire was directed to county councils and the GLC. All of these replied by December 1984 except Gwynedd, which has now replied, and Mid-Glamorgan.
§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the district or borough councils which have chosen sites for an emergency control centre;
(2) if he will list the district or borough councils which have an emergency control centre; and what is the cost or proposed cost for each authority.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw:Comprehensive information in this form is not held centrally.
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§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which local authorities have sent (a) elected members and (b) appropriate officers to training courses at the Civil Defence college.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw:Information in the form requested is not readily available, but all county councils and most district and borough councils in England and Wales have sent elected members and officers to such courses.
§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the national voluntary organisations actively participating in civil defence training.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw:The national voluntary organisations concerned are as follows:
- Red Cross Society
- St. John Ambulance
- Women's Royal Voluntary Service
- Royal Observer Corps
- United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation Warning Teams
- Volunteer Scientific Advisers
- National Voluntary Civil Aid Society
- Radio Amateur Emergency Network
§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to meet the chief executive of any counties to discuss civil defence plans.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw:Not at present. Home Office officials are in regular contact wih the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives.
§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the 45 authorities mentioned in the summary of local authority returns to the civil defence questionnaire which have made some civil defence plans;
(2) which four local authorities have civil defence plans in accordance with the 1983 Civil Defence Regulations;
(3) which 24 local authorities are updating civil defence plans from plans made in accordance with the 1974 Civil Defence Regulations.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw:Since this information was provided in confidence, I would not be justified in disclosing it.
§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which 48 county councils have one, two or three emergency centres, respectively; and what was the cost or proposed cost for each authority.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw:Fifty-one county councils have designated one or more emergency centres. I shall write to the hon. Member with the details. Detailed information on costs is not available.
§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the terms of reference of the study being conducted in the north-west home defence region into the co-ordination of regional home defence planning.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw:The terms of this study will be to
- (i) define the requirements for co-ordination of regional home defence planning taking account of the particular circumstances of the region;
- (ii) identify the options for meeting in whole or in part those requirements;
- (iii) assess the cost and effectiveness of the options by trial so far as practicable and necessary; and
575 - (iv) make proposals as to which option should be preferred, isolating special or relevant regional circumstances with a view to ensuring so far as possible that the findings are applicable to other home defence regions.
§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which (a) county councils and (b) district or borough councils have recruited individual civil defence volunteers and voluntary organisations, respectively, for civil defence training.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw:The following counties have recruited individual civil defence volunteers: Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, South Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Humberside, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Essex, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Greater London council, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey, West Sussex, Devon, Avon, Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gwent, Dyfed, South Glamorgan, Powys, Clwyd, West Glamorgan, Salop, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Hereford and Worcester, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire.
It is not known how many district or borough councils have recruited civil defence volunteers.
Neither counties nor district or borough councils recruit voluntary organisations for civil defence training.