§ Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will arrange for a study to be carried out of the extent to which the Royal Air Force search and rescue helicopter service could assist in fisheries protection work by the provision 130W of information on movements of foreign trawlers.
§ Mr. WellbelovedNo. The search and rescue helicopters of the Royal Air Force are deployed especially to provide an emergency service on short notice standby to save human life. Their diversion to routine surveillance tasks for fishery protection is incompatible with this essential role.