asked the Minister of State for Defence what is the result of his inquiries into the possibility of reducing the charges for telephone calls made by soldiers serving in Northern Ireland.

I am pleased to be able to say that we have made arrangements with the Post Office for calls from coin-operated telephone boxes in Army camps in Northern Ireland to be made at reduced charges to the troops. For operator-connected calls, the caller will be charged at the cheap rate irrespective of the time of day. For dialled calls, the caller will receive twice the normal time for each coin he inserts. The difference between these and the normal charges will be met from Defence Votes.