§ Mr. Menzies CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many representatives of the United Kingdom Government and of what rank, civil or military, attended the 1993 international maritime defence exhibition and conference in Brighton; and at what cost.
§ Mr. AitkenThis is a matter delegated to the Defence Research Agency under its framework document. I have therefore asked the chief executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Letter from J. A. R. Chisholm to Mr. Menzies Campbell, dated 25 May 1993.
In today's written answer the Minister of State for Defence Procurement informed you that I would be replying to your question about the International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference.
The event which took place at Brighton between 31 March and 2 April was organised by a private company, Spearhead Exhibitions Ltd. and sponsored by the Defence Research Agency. It was intended for those with a close professional interest in current and future maritime operations and procurement related issues and attracted around 2,500 visitors from 47 countries.
Some 350 Ministry of Defence representatives, civil and military, attended the exhibition and conference, the majority coming from those staffs concerned with maritime operations sea systems procurement and defence sales. There was no 511W charge for attending the exhibition but a fee of £295 was levied for attending the conference. Of the 350 MOD visitors, some 50 attended the conference although half of these were either VIP guests or speakers and consequently were not required to pay the fee. A breakdown of paying visitors by grade is set out below:
Grades/Ranks Numbers 3 1 5 2 6 3 7 7 "S" 3 "H" 3 PTO 2 Capt RN 1 Cdr RN 2 There were also about 150 fee paying delegates from industry attending the conference.
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