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Olympic Games 2012: Security

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Philip Hammond) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. The Government have agreed that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will support the Home Office and the Department for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport by making a significant contribution to the security and safety of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The safety and security operation for the Games remains police-led. Work continues on the precise details and numbers of the defence contribution. However, the MoD now expects to provide up to 13,500 service personnel in London, on the Thames, in Weymouth and across the UK, delivering a range of military support to the police and other civil and Olympic authorities. The MoD has been working very closely with the Metropolitan and Dorset police forces to scope the provision of specialist support to maritime security operations on the Thames and in Weymouth Bay. It is currently planned for HMS ““Ocean”” to be based at Greenwich and HMS ““Bulwark”” in Weymouth Bay, providing maritime command and control, accommodation, helicopter and small boat basing, and logistics supply. We have been building on our existing arrangements to ensure that there will be an appropriate and scalable air security plan. A multi-layered plan has been developed and will include Typhoon aircraft, forward-based at RAF Northolt, helicopters operating from HMS ““Ocean”” and appropriate ground based air defence systems.