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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 29 January 2004, Official Report, column 505W, to the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Mr. Tyler), on Sea King helicopters, if he will place copies of the Board of Inquiry report in the Library. [153398] Mr. Ingram: It is not our practice or that of previous governments to place copies of the reports from Service Board of Inquiry in the Library of the House. A Service Board of Inquiry is an internal fact finding investigation undertaken by the services for their own use, into the circumstances surrounding a particular accident or incident. There is a principle of confidentiality associated with BOI proceedings, which is intended to encourage the provision of forthright evidence. Accordingly, external distribution of BOI reports is usually limited to the next of kin of service personnel killed in in-service accidents, to HM Coroners to assist in their preparations for Inquests, and to other bodies with statutory duties to investigate incidents. We will, when the investigation by the RN Flight Safety and Accident Investigation Centre is complete, place copies of the Military Aircraft Accident Summary in the Library of the House.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

417 c1106-7W; 153398

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Accidents Defence equipment Inquiries Iraq Helicopters Night flying Military aircraft Sea King helicopters RNAS Culdrose

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk