§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the impact on(a) the general readiness of the armed forces for military operations and (b) the seagoing readiness of individual warships of the Royal Navy resulting from the diversion of armed services personnel to train for and provide cover for services withdrawn by the fire brigades. [87860]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 17 December 2002]: The provision of emergency fire cover has been carefully balanced with other demands on the services allowing 46W the maintenance of maximum flexibility for contingency tasking and operational deployments, as well as protection of public safety during firefighter's strikes.
Nevertheless, as I stated in the House on 4 November 2002, official Report, column 16:
there must be knock on effect for the training regime, and the longer the strike runs the greater the effect will be. We must constantly review the situation; over time it will create problems for effective delivery and for other missions in which we may be called on to participate".Specifically for the Royal Navy, the dispute has led to the removal of frigates from NATO's Standing Force Atlantic and from the South Atlantic. Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels remain deployed in the Caribbean, the Gulf, the Far East, the Mediterranean and the North and South Atlantic.
While we will be able to maintain a balance between key operational deployments and emergency cover, the longer service personnel are required to provide emergency firefighting cover the greater the penalty to other activities is likely to be.