HC Deb 15 April 2003 vol 404 c52W
Mr. Breed

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on French ship attachments to UK task groups. [109351]

Mr. Ingram

French ships are occasionally attached to United Kingdom Naval Task Groups on a purely bilateral basis. The most recent attachments were those of FS Primauguet to the Naval Task Group (NTG) 2003 between 17 and 29 January 2003 and the French Minehunter, FS Cassiopee, to a Royal Navy Mine Countermeasure Group between 21 January and 7 March 2003. This followed the successful integration of FS Aconit during the NTG 2000 deployment. Such integration between our naval forces is considered routine business.