asked Her Majesty's Government:What consultations they have had with the Norwegian Government on the possibility of BP taking part with the Soviet Government in oil exploration and exploitation in the Barents Sea; and whether they will make sure that this does not happen in any area possibly under discussion in any Soviet/Norwegian boundary negotiations.

No onsultations have taken place between Her Majesty's Government and the Norwegian Government about the possibility of BP taking part in oil exploration and exploitation in the Barents Sea. The British Government understand that the contacts the company has had on this subject do not involve any areas which are the subject of boundary negotiations between Norway and the USSR.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the total number of Regular and voluntary reservists in Her Majesty's forces; whether the Regular reservists receive any payment; and whether voluntary reservists receive annual bounties and if so, how much.

At 1st January 1978 the strength of the Reserve Forces was: Regular 176,200; volunteer 75,300. The categories of regular reservists eligible for payment in respect of their recall liabilities are: Regular Reserve of the Army (except for Sections F and G), Royal Fleet Reserve, Class E of the RAF Reserve. Volunteer reservists receive an annual bounty of up to £55 on fulfilment of their training obligations. In addition, volunteers in Group A of the TAVR and in Section A of the RAFVR are eligible for an annual liability bounty of £60 (£45 for volunteers in the special medical pool of the TAVR) in respect of their liability for recall under Section 6 of the Reserve Forces Act 1966.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which section of our auxiliary Forces is liable to be called up without proclamation.

Provision for call out by proclamation was replaced in the Reserve Forces Act 1966 by provision for a Queen's Order, signified under the hand of the Secretary of State. The volunteer Reserves may be called out for home defence service without a Queen's Order, except for the WRNS and for the Training Branch of the RAF Volunteer Reserve which has no call out liability.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether any members of the Regular reservists undertake any training and if so of what character.

No.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the duties of women members of voluntary Forces.

Women menbers of the volunteer Reserves perform a wide range of non-combatant tasks in the fields of communications, transport, administration, and nursing.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the TAVR is up to establishment.

The TAVR was, at 31st May 1978, recruited to 82·7 per cent. of its establishment.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the percentage of the United Kingdom population associated with our auxiliary Forces and what percentage of the population of each NATO country is conscripted.

0·13 per cent. of the population of the United Kingdom are members of the volunteer Reserves and auxiliary Forces. Of those NATO countries which have conscription the proportion of the population which is conscripted varies from 0·3 per cent. to 1·4 per cent.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many men and women are members of the TAVR in the Greater London Area.

7,350 men and 569 women.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the on-going estimate for annual United Kingdom defence expenditure which the Labour Government took over from the Conservatives in February 1974;On what dates since February 1974 has the Labour Government cut defence expenditure and to what figure in each case.

I would refer the noble Lord to the Answer given by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence in another place on 17th February 1978 (Official Report, Vol. 944, cols. 429–432).

asked Her Majesty's Government:

I would refer the noble Lord to the table on page 15 of the Statement on the Defence Estimates 1978 (Cmnd. 7099) which gives the latest available comparisons of defence expenditure among the NATO member countries. The percentage of GDP to be devoted to defence in future in the light of the Government's published defence expenditure plans will depend upon the rate of growth of the economy and upon relative movements of defence costs against domestic pricesHouse adjourned at twelve minutes past nine o'clock.