Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department took over responsibility for long-range search and rescue at sea when the Ministry of Defence abandoned its acquisition of Nimrod aircraft.

The Department for Transport and its predecessor organisations have held the responsibility for maritime and civil aeronautical search and rescue since the Convention for International Civil Aviation and the International Maritime Search and Rescue Convention came into force in 1944 and 1979 respectively. The Department for Transport will work closely with other Government Departments on search and rescue matters where it is appropriate to do so.