§ Mrs. Margaret EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate has been made of the total annual cost to the Royal Air Force of air-sea search and rescue services over each of the past 10 years.
§ Mr. Freeman[holding answer 10 February 1988]: The figures requested do not fall naturally out of normal Ministry of Defence costings, and could be produced only with disproportionate effort. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the then Member for Ynys Môn, Mr. Best, on 14 July 1986, at column 425, giving the full costs of the military SAR service in the financial year 1985–86. The full costs of the military SAR service in 1987–88 are approximately £57.7 million.