Written question asked by Lord Flight (Conservative) on Monday, 26 January 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 4 February 2004. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Wednesday, 4 February 2004 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Dept for Transport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost is of the software upgrade at Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre to be made by National Air Traffic Services as a result of the near-miss between a Virgin Atlantic and a Delta Airlines aircraft in November 2002; what the value is of software that will become redundant at Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre owing to the software upgrade to be carried out as a result of the near-miss between a Virgin Atlantic and a Delta Airlines aircraft in November 2002; if he will list the spending on computer systems at the Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre for each year since 1997.

Answer: Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the cost is of the software upgrade at Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre to be made by National Air Traffic Services as a result of the near-miss between a Virgin Atlantic and a Delta Airlines aircraft in November 2002; [151781] (2) what the value is of software that will become redundant at Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre owing to the software upgrade to be carried out as a result of the near-miss between a Virgin Atlantic and a Delta Airlines aircraft in November 2002; [151782] (3) if he will list the spending on computer systems at the Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre for each year since 1997. [151833] Mr. McNulty: Spending on its computer systems is a matter for NATS. The incident in November 2002 has been assessed by the UK Airprox Board--an independent body of experts--as carrying no risk of collision. It was the result of human error and the software has been modified by NATS to preclude a repeat of such human error.

Secondary information