§ Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the expected departure dates from the Royal Navy base at Portland of(a) the Defence Research Agency, (b) the Sea Systems Controllerate, (c) the Naval Support Command and (d) other units; what is the expected departure date of units from the rest of south Dorset; and what are the numbers of personnel involved. [21405]
§ Mr. SoamesOn current plans, the departure dates of units from south Dorset and members of personnel involved are as follows:
Defence Research Agency: all operational staff will have left the naval base by June 1995.
Sea Systems Controllerate: Staff relocating from Portland to Abbey Wood are expected to move between August and October 1996.
Naval Support Command: options for the location of the headquarters are still under consideration. It is not yet possible to say when these moves will take place.
Other units: if the Front Line First proposal is agreed that the Royal Naval air station Portland should close, the expected relocation of units to Yeovilton would be phased over a period, leading to the final closure of RNAS Portland by 1 April 1999. On current plans flag officer sea training personnel will move to Plymouth on 21 July 1995. It is also expected that Royal Marines personnel will relocate to Poole in June 1995.
774WFor numbers of personnel involved, I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave him on 27 April, column 692.