asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list in the Official Report the number of low-flying missions flown in the United Kingdom for each year since 1979; how many flights traversed the Ministry of Defence area which contains the Borders region each year during that period; and how many formal complaints have been received from residents within the Borders region during the period.

As far as low-flying missions flown in the United Kingdom since 1979 are concerned I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 22 April at column 585 to the hon. Member for Merionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Thomas). The low-flying administrative area containing the Borders consists of Scotland south of a line between the firths of Forth and Clyde, and the figures in columns 2 and 3 relate to movements into and complaints from this area. The number of movements in a mission is variable but around 2·5 on average.