Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff must be employed at each maritime reserve co-ordination centre (MRCC) and the National Maritime Operations Centre in order to avoid any shifts falling beneath risk-assessed staffing levels; and how many staff were employed at each MRCC on 1 November 2014.

To support Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCC) staff to risk assessed watch levels HM Coastguard seeks to have 16 Coastguards available for watchkeeping duties (i.e. those employed at the MRCC excluding of long term sick, maternity leave and officers under training). The following table outlines the number of staff available for watchkeeping duties at each MRCC for November 2014:

HM Coastguard closely monitor staffing levels and where it encounters difficulty staffing to risk assessed levels, due to leave, sickness and training, senior manager use, when necessary tried and tested mitigation measures to maintain operations:

· the long standing pairing arrangements which enable each MRCC to be connected to at least one other which is available to provide mutual support;

· increased overtime amongst MRCC staff ; and

· Coastguards on detached duty.

Due to the flexibility offered by the new National Network the NMOC and Coastguard Operations Centres (CGOC) do not have fixed geographic boundaries. Workload is managed at the network rather than individual centre level as is the case with Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCC). Therefore the number of Coastguards available to support staffing to minimum levels at the NMOC depends on:

· The season (Peak, High, Medium and Low);

· Whether it is a week day or week end; and

· The size of operational area, as one part of the national network, it is responsible for.

The number of Coastguards required to be available for watch keeping duties to support minimum watch levels at the NMOC for the areas it managed on 1 November 2014 (the former operational areas of Solent and Portland MRCC) was 24.