§ John ThursoTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what navigational aids are employed by the Ministry of Defence; where they are stationed; and at what cost, in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [141742]
§ Mr. IngramThe Ministry of Defence uses both sea and land based navigational aids. For sea based aids the Department currently operates four vessels used to lay/recover and undertake annual maintenance of some 205 navigational buoys, 120 moorings and 15 targets around the coast of the British Isles. The Department also maintains 12 Oceanographic Data Acquisition System buoys for the Meteorological Office. The sea based navigational aids are provided to mark channels, boundaries or hazards contained within the dockyard ports, trials ranges and areas of interest to MOD.
572WThis work is to be included in a PPP/PFI Acquisition programme for future provision of Marine Services, and I am withholding details of expenditure in accordance with Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information (Effective management and operations of the public service).
The requested information on land based navigational aids will take some time to collate and I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.