§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list for each member of each military alliance of which the 589W United Kingdom is part whether signals intelligence staff are (a) civilians, (b) expected to be in membership of an independent national trade union and (c) able to take part in a national strike unrelated to their direct conditions of employment; and in each case whether there has been such a strike in the past 20 years. [3453]
§ Mr. Robin CookMost of our NATO partners employ civilians in their signals intelligence staff. In the majority of cases these civilians have the right voluntarily to join a national trade union and some have a legal right to take strike action. None, so far as we are aware, has ever taken strike action in the last twenty years.
It is our policy not to comment on the details of the signals intelligence arrangements of other countries.