§ Mr. WareingTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those countries in which British military forces have provided training since 1997. [103465]
888W
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 19 March 2003]Between January 1997 and March 2003 British Military Forces provided Ministry of Defence endorsed, in country, training to 71 countries. A complete list of those countries is shown in the table.
889W
1 Angola 2 Antigua 3 Argentina 4 Australia 5 Bahrain 6 Bangladesh 7 Barbados 8 Belize 9 Bermuda 10 Botswana 11 British Virgin Islands 12 Brunei 13 Bulgaria 14 Chile 15 Colombia 16 Czech Republic 17 Egypt 18 Eritrea 19 Estonia 20 Ethiopia 21 Falkland Islands 22 Ghana 23 Grenada 24 Guyana 25 Hong Kong 26 Indonesia 27 Jamaica 28 Jordan 29 Kenya 30 Kuwait 31 Latvia 32 Lebanon 33 Lithuania 34 Macedonia 35 Malawi 36 Malaysia 37 Maldives 38 Mauritania 39 Mauritius 40 Monserrat 41 Morocco 42 Mozambique 43 Namibia 44 Nepal 45 Nigeria 46 Oman 47 Pakistan 48 Palestine 49 Philippines 50 Poland 51 Qatar 52 Romania 53 Rwanda 54 Saudi Arabia 55 Seychelles 56 Sierra Leone 57 Singapore 58 Slovakia 59 South Africa 60 South Korea 61 Sri Lanka 62 Swaziland 63 Tanzania 64 Thailand 65 Trinidad 66 Turks and Caicos Islands 67 UAE 68 Uganda
69 Uruguay 70 Venezuela 71 Zimbabwe
§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what Royal Navy training exercises and planned deployments have been cancelled as a result of Operation Fresco. [103997]
§ Mr. IngramThe majority of personnel providing fire cover for Operation Fresco have been taken from ships and submarines undergoing periods of refit or maintenance, or which had returned from operational deployments and were not programmed to undergo further deployments. Only two of the ships from which personnel were taken for fire-fighting duties were prevented from undertaking operational tasks: HMS Manchester was withdrawn from NATO's Standing Force Atlantic, and HMS Lancaster from Atlantic Patrol (South). As a result, HMS Lancaster was withdrawn from the Chilean-hosted exercise Teamwork South 2003.
Although the firefighters' dispute has reduced the number of naval vessels going through operational sea training, there has been no need to cancel joint maritime courses as a result.