§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what measures he is taking to address the shortcomings in the provision of safety information by NATS to general aviation; and what assessment his Department has made of the risk posed by flying without access to safety information; [100260]
(2) what recent discussions his Department has had with NATS and the CAA concerning the provision of safety information by NATS to general aviation; [100259]
(3) what recent representations he has received on the provision of safety information by NATS to general aviation; and if he will make a statement. [100258]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Government's statutory aviation safety adviser, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has assured me that there are no shortcomings in the provision of Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) information. The new version of the NOTAM handling system launched last August by National Air Traffic Services Ltd. (NATS) did have teething problems, but the CAA is satisfied that aviation safety has not been compromised and it has been possible to obtain the required data during this period.
My officials have been in regular contact since last September with the CAA and NATS to discuss the resolution of the outstanding difficulties with the NOTAM system. Many of these difficulties have been resolved by the system improvements made since its introduction last August and which have concentrated on making it more user friendly. Furthermore, a number of meetings have taken place between CAA and NATS officials and representatives of the user community to address these concerns.
NATS is scheduled to introduce a further revision of the NOTAM system in April 2003 designed to overcome the outstanding difficulties the General Aviation community is having with it. Officials from my Department and the CAA are monitoring the progress of this work and will continue to scrutinise the performance of the system after the changes have been made.