Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether vessels chartered under the contract between her Department and Aeolian Offshore Ltd were (a) available and (b) requested for the operations off the Isle of Wight and Hampshire on 6 September and 22 September 2026; and what the reasons were for relying on Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers on those occasions.

The Home Office does not comment on operational tactics, capabilities or procedures relating to maritime operations. Responsibility for the coordination and tasking of search and rescue operations within the UK Search and Rescue Region rests with HM Coastguard, an agency of the Department for Transport. You may therefore wish to direct questions concerning the operation of search and rescue vessels to the Secretary of State for Transport.