Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has prepared contingency plans against any significant reduction in the number of personnel available to support the Coastguard Rescue Service.

Public safety remains our priority. Contingency plans are in place to enable the continuation of maritime and coastal search and rescue.

Alongside the Coastguard Rescue Service, HM Coastguard will continue to draw upon the full UK Search and Rescue system, including HM Coastguard aviation assets, RNLI and independent lifeboats, independent rescue teams, lifeguards and other emergency services as they do today.

HM Coastguard full time officers provide a maritime coordination function from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre responding to distress and urgency alerts across the UK Search and Rescue Region. They undertake the tasking and coordinating of responding assets such as SAR aircraft, lifeboats, other services and the Coastguard Rescue Service. HM Coastguard full time coastal staff provide training, support, welfare to our Coastguard Rescue Officers and act as a national network, providing oversight and tactical support.

Coastguard Rescue Officers undertake cliff, mud, search, and water rescue around the coast and may interact with other SAR responding services such as the RNLI, Lowland and Mountain Rescue, Police, Fire and Rescue and ambulance services. The Coastguard Rescue Service is one of a number of ‘declared services’ to the HM Coastguard maritime function that HM Coastguard can call upon 24/7 as an ‘asset’ in a rescue.