§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what costs were incurred by his Department in connection with the Conservative party conference in Bournemouth.
§ Mr. Archie Hamilton[holding reply 26 October 1990]In response to a routine request from the Dorset police, small numbers of specialist military personnel were 767W deployed to assist the police in searching the conference area for explosive devices and on standby for potential bomb disposal tasks. No readily identifiable additional costs to Defence votes arose from this operation.
In addition, two members of my right hon. Friend's private office staff accompanied him to Bournemouth in order to deal with departmental work. Travel, subsistence and communications costs were incurred on Defence votes.