§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will (a) list the members of the Anglo-American Community Relations Committee; (b) state the criteria for selection of members; (c) list the relevant qualifications of present members; (d) indicate the number of Trades Union Congress-nominated places; and (e) indicate how many Trades Union Congress-nominated places are held by women.
§ Mr. FreemanAn Anglo-American community relations committee exists at each of the main bases made available to United States forces. There is no central committee.
The chairmanship of each local committee carries no financial reward and the person appointed by me is selected from a list of volunteers. The secretary of each committee is, without exception, the community relations adviser to the base and is a MOD-employed civil servant. The viewpoint of the base authorities is represented by the RAF commander and the United States base commander. The remaining members of each committee representing the local community are volunteers appointed by the chairman, without reference to MOD.
Given the voluntary nature of these committees, no organisations other than the base authorities are represented. Therefore the question of Trades Union Congress nominated places does not arise.