Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what contingency plans his Department has developed for the early termination of the contract between the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Bristow Helicopters Limited for helicopter search and rescue services in the UK.

Bristow Helicopters Limited continues to fulfil its contractual obligations with the UK Government. The Department for Transport has protections in its contract to guarantee a search and rescue helicopter service in the unlikely event that these obligations should go unfulfilled. The details of these protections are however commercially sensitive.