§ 3.17 p.m.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps are taken to preserve the confidential nature of the readings of the flight recorder, following an aircraft accident and pending the appropriate inquiry.
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, the flight recorder readings obtained following an air accident are not confidential, but the usual practice is to restrict their circulation in the early part of an accident investigation to those who need to know in the interests of safety, because it is recognised that the raw information has to be treated with caution pending calibration and checking of the parameter readings for accuracy.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, the noble Earl's Answer, for which I thank him, takes us so far but not far enough. Would he emphasise the principle that the cause of an accident should be determined by the appropriate inquiry? Would he emphasise even more strongly that it is manifestly unfair of the Press to prejudge these cases, and in the case of the Daily Mirror grossly unfair to pilots who lost their lives to blame individuals for a particular accident prior to the hearing of the case? With these considerations in mind, may I ask the noble Earl to undertake to look again into the whole question of who has charge of the flight recorder so as to ensure rather more strictly that unauthorised persons do not have access to it?
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Beswick, that it is wrong for anyone to prejudge an issue such as this. This is the danger that results from people reading too much into the raw material that comes out of the flight recorder. In fact it is the property of the airline concerned and the 987 only person who has a right to the information is my right honourable friend the Secretary of State, who is normally represented by the Accident Investigation Branch.
§ LORD HARVEY OF PRESTBURYMy Lords, will the noble Earl bear in mind the wide distress and anguish caused to the relatives of those who were involved in this accident last Sunday week? Will my noble friend make an appeal to the Press through the appropriate channels not to prejudge these accidents until a full inquiry has been held? Does he agree that to say that a man pulled out the flaps too soon is absolutely infamous and that the crew should be protected as much as possible?
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, I entirely agree with my noble friend that for the Press or anyone else to prejudge this sort of issue and apportion blame is wholly undesirable. On the other hand, when a happening of this nature takes place it is natural that Press interest should be involved, although that does not mean that they have a right, duty or requirement to prejudge the issue.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, does not the noble Earl agree that the Sunday Times and the Daily Mirror appeared to place a gloss on their assertions by reference to apparently official information? Although the noble Earl says that the flight recorder is the property of the air operator, I have asked him—though he has not given me an answer—to look into this matter to see whether closer control of the readings can be established by his right honourable friend? May I further suggest to him that, on reflection, it was probably unwise of the Minister to give a partial explanation of what the flight recorder had said, since that was the basis of much of the speculation.
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, I do not think I can entirely agree with the noble Lord on the last part of his supplementary. The Minister had two alternatives in a matter of this nature: one was to say nothing at all, and the other was to give as much information as was available and which was as accur- 988 ate as possible. It was the latter line that my right honourable friend took in view of the public disquiet at what had happened. As for newspaper reports, I would only say that, except for the approximate figures given in the Minister's Statement, the figures quoted in the Sunday Times article, although typical of a Trident's performance, are not the same as those in the initial raw data read-out.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I apologise for asking the question again, I have now put it twice and am putting it a third time. Would the noble Earl undertake to see whether some closer control over these flight recordings can be exercised, in view of the difficulties that have arisen in this case?
EARL FERRERSI had tried to answer the noble Lords question but I perhaps missed out that one. I will certainly draw his observations to the attention of my right honourable friend.