Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's decision to stop payments for coastguard callouts on (1) human safety, and (2) local communities.

Public safety remains our priority. We have, and will continue, to engage with volunteers on what changes there may be to their availability in light of the change. Currently we are not seeing any operational impacts from the decision. Coastal response is operationally dynamic and multi-layered. 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. We will continue to keep our search and rescue partners briefed on this issue.