§ Mr. BowisTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the thermal neutron analysis machine for the detection of explosives in passengers' baggage will be installed at Gatwick; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. McLoughlinA thermal neutron analysis machine made by Science Applications International Corporation of Santa Clara, California will be installed at Gatwick over the next few days for a one year trial. The machine has been lent to the Department by the United States Federal Aviation Administration. I am pleased that we are able to carry out a one-year trial of this explosives detection machine. We have taken many initiatives to improve the security of air travel in the past 16 months and we are exploring new techniques for explosive detection. I am grateful to Mr. Samuel Skinner, the United States Secretary for Transportation, and to the Federal Aviation Administration for offering to let us try one of their first thermal neutron analysis machines in the United Kingdom so that we can see at first hand how effective it is.
I am also grateful to British Airports Authority for agreeing to install the machine at Gatwick and for making the necessary arrangements with the manufacturers. I shall watch the progress of the trial with great interest, but of course I cannot say at this stage whether we shall require the use of such machines at our airports in future as part of the national programme of aviation security measures.