§ Patrick MercerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures are in place to cope with the immediate(a) physical and (b) economic effects of a floating bomb. [170059]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Government regulates a comprehensive maritime security regime under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990. From 1 July 2004 this will be augmented by the introduction of the International Maritime Organisation's "International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code". We have in addition measures that would enable us to respond proportionately to a range of scenarios.
The response to mitigate the economic effects would depend on the size and location of a particular incident.