§ 3.2 p.m.
§ Viscount Addison asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether they will now license emergency position indication radio beacons (EPIRB) for land use in order to help reduce the cost of search and rescue.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Strathclyde)My Lords, Her Majesty's Government do not allow the use of EPIRBs on land, so as to maintain the integrity of the EPIRB system for maritime and aeronautical purposes.
Viscount AddisonMy Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that reply. Can he say what steps are being taken by the Government to deal with the ever growing problem of loss of life on mountains?
§ Lord StrathclydeMy Lords, I am glad to say that my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, Sir Hector Monro, recently announced the funding of a study by the Mountain Rescue Committee into incidents in which the mountain rescue teams have been involved during the past 10 years. That will provide vital information on the main contributing factors.
The Viscount of OxfuirdMy Lords, can the Minister advise whether any consideration has been given to devices such as transponders as a means of tracing people who are lost? I understand that the transponder is used by the Tracker system for finding lost motor cars. Can the same principle be applied to lost human beings?
§ Lord StrathclydeMy Lords, the answer to my noble friend is yes, they could be so used. But the difficulty is that many false alarms are set off at sea. Some 90 per cent. of all alerts turn out to be false alarms. That would put a great burden on our rescue services. The Radiocommunications Agency is open to suggestions from people who are concerned about those who are lost in mountains.
§ Lord PestonMy Lords, would the Minister clarify his answer to his noble friend? Is he saying that he does not recommend that we all acquire transponders? Many of us are in the habit of getting lost from time to time, but is he implying that if we acquire those items it will not help much anyway because they frequently do not work?
§ Lord StrathclydeMy Lords, no, they work very well indeed. The trouble is that many people let them off inadvertently and that creates a great burden for the rescue service.