HC Deb 11 July 1994 vol 246 cc440-4W
Mrs. Ray Michie

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he is proposing to make cuts in the Scottish reserve forces.

Mr. Hanley

There are no current plans for reductions in the Scottish elements of the royal naval or royal marines reserves, beyond the changes to the royal naval reserve announced to the House on 18 October, Official Report, column 39. A review of the royal marines reserve has recently been undertaken, however, although no decisions have been taken.

Following reductions in the number of maritime patrol aircraft, the establishments of the three Royal Auxiliary Air Force maritime headquarters units, including No. 2 (City of Edinburgh) marine headquarters unit, have been reviewed. The new establishment for No. 2 MHU exceeds the recruited strength, so there will be no loss of personnel.

An announcement is to be made shortly about proposals for the Territorial Army as a whole.

unit
SER Sub Unit/Detachment locations
Title Location
(a) (b) (c) (d)
1 TA Elements of HQ 51 Highland Brigade Perth
2 TA Elements of HQ 52 Lowland Brigade Edinburgh
3 RHQ Scottish Yeomanry Edinburgh Ayr, East Kilbride, Cupar
4 BHQ 1/51 Highland Perth Kirkbaldy, Dundee, Forfar
5 BHQ 2/51 Highland Elgin Wick, Kirkwall, Dingwall, Peterhead, Keith, Turriff, Inverness, Stornoway, Fort William, Aberdeen, Lerwick, Laurencekirk
6 BHQ 3/51 Highland Stirling Cumbernauld, Falkirk, Dumbarton, Dunoon
7 BHQ 1/52 Lowland Glasgow Glasgow, Ayr
8 BHQ 2/52 Lowland Edinburgh Motherwell, Edinburgh, Galashiels, Dumfries
9 RHQ 105 Regiment Royal Artillery Edinburgh Glasgow, Arbroath, Glenrothes
10 RHQ 71 Engineer Regiment Glasgow Paisley, Irvine, Edinburgh, Coatbridge, Dundee
11 RHQ 76 Engineer Regiment Pitreavie (Dunfermline) Kinloss, Aberdeen, Lossiemouth, Leuchars
12 RHQ 32 Signal Regiment Glasgow Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh
13 2 Squadron 39 Signal Regiment Dundee
14 A Squadron 23 SAS Hamilton
15 D Squadron 23 SAS lnvergowrie
16 3 Flight AAC Turnhouse
17 RHQ Scottish Transport Regiment Dunfermline Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Glasgow, Irvine, Grangemouth
18 125 Ration Squadron Glasgow
19 205 Field Hospital Glasgow Edinburgh
20 225 Field Ambulance Dundee
21 252 Field Ambulance Aberdeen
22 243 Provost Company Edinburgh

Mrs. Ray Michie

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members the Royal Auxiliary Air Force has in Scotland; and where the squadrons are based.

Mr. Hanley

As at 1 April 1994, 217 Royal Auxiliary Air Force personnel were serving with units based in Scotland. The two units are based at No. 2 (City of Edinburgh) maritime headquarters unit, Edinburgh—106 personnel—and 2622 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment, at RAF Lossiemouth—111 personnel.

Mrs. Ray Michie

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members the Territorial Army has in Scotland; and where the regiments are based.

Mr. Hanley

There are currently 6,290 members of the TA serving in Scotland. The locations of the regiments are as follows:

unit
SER Sub Unit/Detachment locations
Title Location
(a) (b) (c) (d)
23 23 Security Company Livingston
24 RHF(T) Band (West Lowland) Glasgow
25 51 Highland Band Perth
26 RS(T) Band (East Lowland) Edinburgh
27 Aberdeen University Officer Training Corps (UOTCs) Aberdeen
28 Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt UOTC Edinburgh
29 Glasgow and Strathclyde UOTC Glasgow
30 Tayforth UOTC Dundee St. Andrews, Stirling
31 4 Parachute Regiment (RHQ in Leeds) Irvine, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen,Glenrothes
32 23 Security Company Livingston

Mrs. Ray Michie

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of the annual budget for reserve forces is allocated to funding the Scottish reserves in total and per force; and how much that amount is.

Mr. Hanley

Planned expenditure on the reserve forces based in Scotland for 1994–95 is £16,874,000. This is 13 per cent. of the total for the reserve forces of £129,800,000. The breakdown by force is as follows:

Force Planned expenditure in Scotland
£ million As percentage of total for Force
Royal Naval Reserve 0.882 10
Royal Marines Reserve 0.422 19
Territorial Army 14.901 13
Royal Auxiliary Air Force and Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 0.669 16

Notes:

1. The above figures are for pay, allowances, earnings related national insurance contributions and training bounties for Reserve personnel. They exclude such items as equipment development, fuel, ammunition, accommodation and utilities, food and transport, for which information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

2. The total figures for the TA exclude the home service part-time element of the Royal Irish Regiment.

3. All figures for the TA exclude non-regular permanent staff.

4. Figures for the RAF Reserves in Scotland take account only of pay; other costs cannot be apportioned.

Mrs. Ray Michie

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members the royal naval reserve/royal marine reserve has in Scotland; and where they are based.

Mr. Hanley

As at 1 July the Royal naval Reserves had 530 members in Scotland based at HMS Dalriada, Greenock—167; HMS Scotia, Pitreavie—325; and HMS Claverhouse, Edinburgh—38. The Royal Marines Reserve have 199 members in Scotland based in Royal Marine detachments sited as follows: Glasgow—110; Dundee—37; Greenock—28; and Grangemouth—24. HMS Claverhouse is, however, due to close on 31 July as part of the changes to the Royal Naval Reserve announced to the House on 18 October, Official Report, column 39. Where possible, arrangements have been made for reservists at HMS Claverhouse to transfer to other units.

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