§ Sir David Priceasked the Minister for Trade what consideration he has given to the use of privately owned and privately managed ships, respectively, for use in hydrographic surveying.
§ Mr. SproatFollowing the agreement of joint funding of civil hydrographic surveying by the Ministry of Defence and my Department, as announced by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces on 25 November last, I have considered how best to make progress with those surveys of special importance to 413W merchant shipping. I have decided that there should be substantial private sector involvement in this work. This year and next contracts will be placed with specialist hydrographic survey companies, and in addition a ship will be chartered for survey work to be undertaken by a Royal Navy survey team. In 1983, the survey companies will probably work in the approaches to the Pentland Firth and the chartered ship will be used around the Shetland Islands. All the work will remain under the close professional supervision of the Hydrographer of the Navy.