To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2007, Official Report, column 452W, on Iraq: Hercules aircraft, when his Department plans to implement the recommendations (g) and (k) of the Board of Inquiry report. (173855)

[holding answer 13 December 2007]: Recommendation G stated that the Hercules C130K should be fitted with a basic aircraft data recorder. This is not a safety feature but an air accident investigation tool.

This recommendation was not pursued following a cost-benefit analysis which concluded that it was not cost-effective given the time it would take to fit the equipment compared with the expected out of service date for Hercules.

For recommendation K, a draft Information Exchange Agreement on the routine sharing of transport aircraft vulnerability data has been passed to the US. We are working to bring this work to a conclusion as soon as possible.