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Written question asked by Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour) on Tuesday, 10 February 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 12 February 2015. It was answered by John Hayes (Conservative) on Tuesday, 24 February 2015 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

HM Coastguard: Stornoway

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Stornoway was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in January 2015.

Answer

Where there are specific issues at a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), Her Majesty’s Coastguard uses the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.

These historic risk assessed watch level assessments at MRCCs err strongly on the side of caution. As each MRCC joins the evolving national network the number of Coastguards at any of the individual centres becomes less significant. The flexibility of the new arrangements means that it is more important to consider the number of Coastguards available on the growing network.

Based on the risk assessment which characterised the previous model, during January 2015 Stornoway MRCC was staffed below risk assessed levels on 31 occasions out of 62 shifts, and Belfast MRCC was staffed below risk assessed levels on 25 occasions out of 62 shifts.

Work continues on the fresh appraisal I have asked for on the relationship between the available levels of resource and need in the light of the benefit of the new structure.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
223979
Session
2014-15
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Staff HM Coastguard Stornoway
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk