HC Deb 17 July 1972 vol 841 cc12-4
11. Sir R. Thompson

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what further steps he proposes in order to improve security arrangements at airports and in the air.

The Minister for Aerospace (Mr. Michael Heseltine)

The development, implementation and checking of security measures is a continuing process and I have stressed to airport authorities and airlines that there must be no relaxation in the pressure that recent incidents have created. A Bill to provide powers to ratify the Montreal Convention will be introduced as soon as possible.

I have requested that a number of additional precautions be introduced at airports throughout the country. Airlines and airport authorities, which bear prime responsibility for security, are continually reviewing their procedures.

Sir R. Thompson

While that reply is satisfactory as far as it goes, is my hon. Friend persuaded that he has done enough in this matter? Does he realise that the evidence of hijackings accumulates every day and that a very serious dimension has been added to the measurement of safety of people who travel by air? Would he not consider taking advice from, for example, the Israeli authorities, who alone of all people appear to have an effective way of dealing with miscreants of this kind who are apprehended?

Mr. Heseltine

I would be prepared to take advice from any authority with experience of this very serious and growing menace, and I share my hon. Friend's concern, but I think he will appreciate that a great deal of work is done but which is not drawn to public attention, because it can immediately be counterproductive if one announces an additional security measure which one has just introduced

Mr. Mason

But the Government cannot shed their responsibility in this matter, having provided £1 million a year to airports and airlines to make the screening of passengers and baggage effective. Is the hon. Gentleman personally satisfied that the screening is adequate? Secondly, regarding the problem of "in the air", what line are the Government taking at the International Civil Aviation Organisation regarding concerted action by the ICAO States involved to tackle the hijacking problem?

Mr. Heseltine

I am sure the right hon. Gentleman will appreciate that with 7 million people departing from Heathrow alone in any one year it is not for me to give an assurance that each of the 7 million people is properly searched and scrutinised. But I think he fully appreciates that there can be no question of the Government not taking on fully their responsibilities, since we were the Government who only recently decided to make available £1 million so that financial restraint should not in any way hinder the airlines on which the primary responsibility for carrying out security work lies. He will be interested to know that when I met representatives of the pilots not long ago I assured them that the Government would take every effort they could to support international efforts now being made to make more effective the security precautions exercised, within the powers available to Governments throughout the world in the event of hijacking. I am sure the right hon. Gentleman will welcome my statement just now about the Montreal Convention.

Mr. Tebbit

Would my hon. Friend not agree that whatever one does there will always be almost the certainty that a really determined group of people can hijack an aeroplane, and would he not also agree, therefore, that the key to this whole problem is diplomatic pressures, as through the Montreal Convention, to ensure that hijackers are swiftly brought to justice?

Mr. Heseltine

I fully accept that, and I was able to assure the pilots on very much that point. I was immensely grateful, therefore, that they felt it unnecessary to proceed with the strike action threatened against this country, and that that was a result in some part of the assurance that I was able to give them. I would not care to go completely with my hon. Friend, for although I understand him when he says that one can never have 100 per cent. guarantee in this situation, if one looks at the numbers of offensive weapons found by security checks at airports in this country one will realise that there is no certainty that a determined group of people would get away with it. I would not like to allow such an impression to remain on the record.

Mr Clinton Davis

Does the hon. Gentleman consider that the possible establishment in London of an office representing Arab terrorist organisations which have claimed responsibility for the hijacking and massacre at Lod is conducive to the security arrangements of which he has been speaking?

Mr. Heseltine

I think that should be a question for my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, as distinct from my Department, for my Department is essentially concerned with dealing with the problems at the airports.

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