Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party) on Wednesday, 4 June 2014, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 June 2014. It was answered by Mark Francois (Conservative) on Tuesday, 10 June 2014 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Rescue Services

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions a foreign-requested aircraft has provided search and rescue assistance over UK territorial waters in each of the last three years; what role each such aircraft played; what the location of each incident was; and whether each occurrence was in response to obligations under Annex 12 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

Answer

I refer the hon. Member to the answers previously given to him on 22 November 2013, Official Report, column 1046W and 27 March 2012 Official Report, column 1054W.

Between 4 November 2013 and 5 June 2014 there have been five occasions where an Irish helicopter was requested by the Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre to provide search and rescue assistance over UK territorial waters. Four of these were in Northern Ireland. These were in response to obligations under Annex 12 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. Details of the five incidents are shown as follows:

Date
 Aircraft
 Aircraft role
 Location
15 November 2013
 Irish Coastguard Helicopter
 Ditched Aircraft
 Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
12 February 2014
 Irish Coastguard Helicopter
 Topcover for lifeboat
 Mull of Kintyre, Scotland
16 February 2014
 Irish Coastguard Helicopter
 Individual with knee injury
 Binnian, Northern Ireland
21 March 2014
 Irish Coastguard Helicopter
 Individual with hip injury
 Rathlin island, Northern Ireland
16 May 2014
 Irish Coastguard Helicopter
 Capsized individual
 Enniskillen, Northern Ireland

Detailed statistics on UK military SAR activity can be found on the Government website at the following link:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/release-calendar/index.html?newquery=*&uday=0&umonth=0&uyear= 0&title=Military+Search+and+Rescue+Monthly+Statistic& pagetype=calendar-entry&lday=&lmonth=&lyear=

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
199114; 582 cc111-2W
Session
2014-15
Subjects
Deployment Military aircraft Rescue services
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk