§ Mr. Colvinasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many Royal Air Force Nimrods are deployed on fisheries protection duties; what is the total annual cost; and what proportion of this cost is borne on defence Votes.
§ Mr. WigginA number of Nimrod flying hours are allocated to offshore patrol operations on behalf of civil Departments; specific aircraft are not dedicated to these tasks. The cost of these flights to defence Votes is recovered in full from civil Departments. The total sum involved is published in the annex to the "Statement on the Defence Estimates". For 1982–83 the cost is estimated at about £9 million, of which about £6.3 million relates to fisheries protection work.