§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out the subsidy paid to British Telecom for emergency frequency watch keeping for the last five years.
§ Mr. NorrisBritish Telecom is contracted to provide a distress watch service for the Department of Transport on 500 Khz and 2182 Khz using BT's network of coast radio stations. The annual cost to the Department for the distress watch service over the past five years has been as follows:
Year Cost £000 1987–88 1,210 1988–89 842 1989–90 916 1990–91 1,395 1991–92 1,237
§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the craft, type and purposes of vessels operated by Her Majesty's coastguard.
§ Mr. NorrisHer Majesty's coastguard operates a fleet of 31 general purpose boats consisting of 20 5.4 m Rider semi-rigid inflatable boats, three 5.1 m Carson semi-rigid inflatable boats, three 4.6 m inflatable boats, three 4.0 m Sea Rider semi-rigid inflatable boats, one 6.0 m Sea Rider semi-rigid inflatable boat, and one 6.0 m Cabin rigid-hulled boat.
Her Majesty's coastguard recently redefined its boat policy to identify two primary functions for coastguard boats—(i) incident prevention by active patrolling in areas considered to be of high risk potential, or areas where land-based patrolling is limited in scope or impossible, for example, river estuaries, and (ii) to transport men and equipment to incidents, for example, on offshore islands.
§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to invite competition for the emergency listening contract.
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§ Mr. NorrisOnly BT has the necessary network of coast radio stations and the equipment to operate such a service. Discussions are presently under way with BT to review the cost of the service and the scope for savings.
§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many coastguard stations are listening on 2182 kHz.
§ Mr. NorrisSince 2182 Khz is covered by BT under the distress watch arrangements, there is no obligation for any coastguard station to maintain a continuous listening watch on this frequency, although all coastguard rescue centres have the capability to do so if required. All coastguard rescue centres maintain a continuous listening watch on channel 16, which is the international VHF/FM distress and safety frequency.
§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will outline his plans for modernising the Decca master and slave chain stations;
(2) if he has any plans to extend Loran C to the whole of the United Kingdom waters.
§ Mr. NorrisMy right hon. Friend's predecessor announced his proposals for the future of radionavigation in United Kingdom waters last summer—Official Report, 21 June 1991, column 336. That announcement reflects the current position in that there is no proposal to establish a Loran C transmitter in the United Kingdom. Since then the general lighthouse authorities have entered into a contract with Racal Decca Marine Navigation Limited for the modernisation and continued operation of the existing United Kingdom Decca chains. I understand that a number of countries may still establish a more limited Loran C system which would give coverage in United Kingdom waters without a United Kingdom transmitter. Developments in this field will be monitored to ensure that the best interests of those who use and pay for marine radionavigation systems are served.