§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the cost to public funds per annum of providing a helicopter for coastal rescue work how many such helicopters are on stand-by for the south Devon coastline how many times these helicopters have been used in the last three years for cliff rescue; and what is the cost of each such operation.
§ Mr. David MitchellHelicopters are provided for a wide variety of civilian and military marine and aviation search and rescue tasks and the cost of coastal rescue cannot be separately identified. The overall cost in 1987–88 is some £61 million, falling mainly on the Defence vote.
There are helicopters available for coast rescue duties on the south Devon coast at RNAS Culdrose (5), RAF Chivenor (2) and at Lee-on-Solent (2). The Navy detachment at Lee is shortly to be withdrawn and replaced with a contract helicopter provided by the Department of Transport.
Helicopters were asked to assist in cliff rescue operations in Devon on 10 occasions over the last three years, as follows: 1985 (4), 1986 (4), 1987 (2).