HC Deb 29 July 1982 vol 28 cc624-5W
Mr. McQuarrie

asked the Minister for Trade what information he has as to the number of persons employed on security and luggage checking at each airport in the United Kingdom; how these numbers varied in the years 1979, 1980 and 1981; and what are the latest figures available for the current year.

Mr. Sproat

The following table sets out details of the number of airport security personnel—excluding those not reimbursed by the aviation security fund—employed at those airports in the United Kingdom where the airport authority undertakes passenger searching with directly-employed staff:

Airport Number of security staff employed at
30 September 1979 30 September 1980 30 September 1981 31 May 1982
Heathrow 1,128 1,102 1,030 1,007
Gatwick 447 417 400 379
Manchester 234 230 240 241
Glasgow 130 128 127 121
Luton 79 90 88 93
Edinburgh 83 81 75 74
Aberdeen 67 66 67 65
East Midlands 38 42 42 *42
Newcastle 39 39 42 †42+8
Stanstead 24 24 25 25
Prestwick 23 22 19 19
Norwich 16 16 16
Teesside 23 23 23 ║22
* Additional seasonal staff are at present being recruited.
† Seasonal staff.
‡ Searching undertaken by airlines prior to December 1979.
║ All figures for Teesside include eight part-time staff.

These are the latest available figures. Details are not available for airports where searching is undertaken by private security companies.

Mr. McQuarrie

asked the Minister for Trade what information he has as to the cost of security and luggage checking at each airport in the United Kingdom; and if he will detail these figures in the Official Report.

Mr. Sproat

Total reimbursement from the avaiation security fund in respect of security measures undertaken at the main United Kingdom airports in 1981–82 will be approximately as follows:

£
Heathrow 11,795,000
Gatwick 4,266,000
Manchester 2,651,000
Glasgow 1,293,000
Belfast 1,208,000
Luton 967,000
Edinburgh 714,000
Aberdeen 625,000
Birmingham 587,000
Newcastle 487,000
East Midlands 441,000
Liverpool 427,000
Leeds—Bradford 274,000
Stansted 269,000
Prestwick 222,000
Teesside 204,000
Sumburgh 204,000
Norwich 175,000
Bristol 155,000
Cardiff 124,000

Notes:

(1) Final figures for 1981–82 are not yet available because claims for reimbursement from the fund are sometimes submitted several months after the expenditure was incurred.

(2) The above figures exclude reimbursements in respect of the costs of the regular police at nine airports designated under the Policing of Airports Act 1974, and at Luton, totalling an estimated £7,276,000.