To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors were taken into account when the decision was made not to fit remote environmental monitoring units to all Royal Navy minehunters; and which minehunters will not be included in the REMUS programme. (104291)

[holding answer 29 November 2006]: Remote environmental monitoring units are man-portable and can be deployed from a number of Royal Navy platforms, including minehunters. However, there is no requirement to fit them to minehunters as all have a highly capable onboard environmental monitoring capability which fulfils their operational purpose.