To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the production hours worked by REME workshops in West Germany, in each of the last five years.
[holding answer 29 April 1988]: There is no readily available comprehensive record of production hours worked by all REME workshops in West Germany and it would entail disproportionate effort to obtain it. However, the number of production hours worked at each of the two base workshops over the last five years is as follows:
| Year | 23 Base Workshop | 37 Rhine Workshop |
| 1987–88 | 1,518,920 | 515,213 |
| 1986–87 | 1,555,577 | 528,767 |
| 1985–86 | 1,500,505 | 528,661 |
| 1984–85 | 1,570,592 | 543,392 |
| 1983–84 | 1,575,479 | 541,652 |
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much spare production capacity there was in the REME workshops in West Germany, in each of the last five years.
[holding answer 29 April 1988]: It would require an extensive, lengthy and detailed examination to establish the extent of spare production capacity, if any, throughout the REME workshop organisation in BAOR over the last five years, which would entail disproportionate effort.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if any production time at the REME workshops in West Germany was lost due to illicit production, in each of the last five years.
[holding answer 29 April 1988]: The only centrally-recorded cases of the misuse of REME production capacity for unofficial purposes over the last five years arose in 1986–87. There were two cases. According to the assessment made in the course of the SIB investigations, the total production time involved was 266 hours. Information on any minor cases which may have arisen over the last five years is not held in central records and it would entail disproportionate effort to obtain it.