§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the military exercises held in the Llandovery area on 17 June. [71764]
§ Dr. MoonieI refer the hon. Member to my letter of 5 July (D/US of S/LM 3032/02/C) which explained that the exercise was conducted by the Queen's Dragoon Guards (QDG), who were practising wide-ranging deployments, manoeuvres and communications over long distances—skills essential for their operational training. 'This exercise was originally scheduled for Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA), but the location was changed at less than one month's notice due to urgent operational training requirements of a higher priority unit. The QDG 907W are themselves a high readiness unit and their training was considered of sufficient importance to relocate to another area rather than to delay until SPTA became available.