Transport written statement – made at on 9 May 2006.
Stephen Ladyman
Minister of State, Department for Transport
I am pleased to announce, together with the Minister for Defence Procurement (Lord Drayson), that the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Defence have agreed that the joint Search and Rescue Helicopter Project should go to its next stage. It will now go forward to a competition under the Private Finance Initiative. The service will still retain a high proportion of military aircrew alongside civilian aircrew trained to the same high standards.
We are committed to maintaining the effectiveness and high standards of the United Kingdom Search and Rescue Helicopter Service, currently provided by the Ministry of Defence and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, when the existing Ministry of Defence helicopters come to the end of their service life and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency service contract comes up for renewal, in the next decade.
The decision to proceed to this next stage provides an opportunity to bring together the current search and rescue helicopter providers into one harmonised service under a single contract providing the taxpayer with value for money. The service will continue to be managed jointly by the Ministry of Defence and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
