To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide the statistical results of the monitoring of low flying by (a) covert deployments of RAF police and (b) Skyguard radars by year, for the last five years.
Covert deployments of RAF police, including those using the Skyguard radar system, have shown the consistent respect of aircrew for the low-flying regulations. It is not our practice to comment on the detailed findings of these surveys.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of the 22 January, Official Report, columns 236–37, if he can yet give the figures for the month of December 1991 in respect of listing the numbers of low-flying sorties by aircraft type.
The number of low-flying sorties by aircraft type carried out in the United Kingdom for December 1991 is:
| Low-flying sorties by aircraft type | |
| Aircraft type | December 1991 |
| Buccaneer | 59 |
| F-4 | 33 |
| Harrier | 383 |
| Hawk | 819 |
| Jaguar | 251 |
| Jet Provost | 213 |
| Tornado | 1,170 |
| Tucano | 181 |
| A-10 | 300 |
| F-111 | 375 |
| Other aircraft (including helicopters) | 2,624 |
| Total sorties | 6,408 |
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the instances of breaches of low-flying regulations since 1988 which led to formal disciplinary action or courts martial under the terms of the Army Act 1955, Air Force Act 1955 or Naval Discipline Act 1957; and if he will list, for each case, the date, location and circumstances of the offence, the type of aircraft involved, the nature of the charge and the outcome of the proceedings.
Breaches of low-flying regulations that lead to proceedingss under the services disciplinary Acts are not recorded centrally.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the baseline year from which the expected reduction of 30 per cent. in jet low-flying over the United Kingdom, announced last October, was calculated.
1988.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy on the maintenance of a fixed list of simulated targets for toss-and-dive attack in the United Kingdom low-flying system.
A review of the usefulness of the simulated toss and dive attack target list concluded that although of limited value, the list continues to meet certain needs of a number of flying training units. It has therefore been retained, but will remain under review as part of the continuing monitoring of the United Kingdom low-flying system.