Written evidence from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (TCS0001)

 

 

1. This Memorandum focuses on the progress made to implement changes to Her Majesty’s Coastguard and briefly updates the Transport Committee on other maritime issues on which it has signalled an interest, the responsibility for some of which rests with the central Department for Transport.

 

Changes to HM Coastguard

 

Background

2. The Future Coastguard Programme started in November 2011 when the government announced decisions about the blueprint for coastguard maritime and coastal operations in light of two rounds of extensive public consultation. That blueprint took account of the Transport Select Committee’s views and recommendations, and was further examined by the Committee in October 2012.  The changes were driven by a need to improve our ability to manage workloads across a national network, with the benefits of greater resilience, better support for our volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers, more interesting and challenging work for our talented staff and the pay to match those enhanced roles and responsibilities.

 

 

3. Work across government to modernise employment contract terms and conditions delayed the move to new pay arrangements and the government set out a revised implementation timetable for the coastguard changes in September 2013.  Since then we have made excellent progress: the PCS lifted its long-running industrial dispute; recruitment for the new roles began in January 2014; the new National Maritime Operations Centre near Fareham became operational in September 2014; and the national network has gradually evolved and taken on its new responsibilities. To date, 90% of coastguard roles have been filled and the remaining 10% are in the process of being recruited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress So Far

4. Since the Transport Committee last took oral evidence from us on this issue in October 2012, the national Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham has become fully operational and the MRCCs at Falmouth, Holyhead and imminently at Milford Haven have been refurbished and equipped as new style Coastguard Operations Centres (CGOCs) within the new national network. In line with the revised timetable, the former Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCCs) at Clyde, Great Yarmouth, Solent, Portland, Brixham and Liverpool have closed, and their search and rescue responsibilities re-assigned.  Search and rescue coordination will cease at Swansea in early March and at Thames (Walton-On-The-Naze) in June.  The remaining MRCCs at Humber, Aberdeen, Shetland, Belfast, Stornorway, Dover and London (a very small unit) will progressively transition to the network and become CGOCs until we complete the programme at the end of December 2015.

 

5. Although we have ended (or are about to end) the search and rescue functions at Liverpool, Swansea and Thames, in line with the blueprint published in November 2011 we are maintaining a coastguard presence at those locations as hubs for the additional resources (an uplift of 50%) we are putting into the volunteer Coastguard Rescue Service; and our marine surveyor presence is also maintained in those locations.

 

6. Each closure and transition has been carefully managed both in terms of people and operations.  The professionalism and dedication of our coastguards have been outstanding and we have been able to maintain high standards of search and rescue capability both within and outside the evolving national network.  Within the network there is much greater resilience and flexibility both in terms of the technical infrastructure and in the way we deploy our resources, including an ability to adjust operating areas to reflect incident loading and the people resources available to us. With the full support of the PCS Union, new flexible shift patterns have been introduced allowing for manpower to be better managed on a network basis, with staffing levels more effectively aligned to the workload and the risk. Once the network is fully in place, those new shift patterns result in coastguards in operations centres working many fewer weekends and having more time available (60 hours annually) for their professional development and training.

 

7. In the older MRCC environment we continue to use effective pairing of sites and close local management and cooperation to ensure that we have sufficient people with the right skills to handle anticipated and actual incidents. The resulting structures are proving to be robust and sustainable, with no evidence to suggest that there has been any loss of search and rescue capability or responsiveness, either within or outside the new national network

 

Infrastructure

8. The improvements made to IT and telephony within the new national network are delivering multiple layers of resilience. The data centres in Aberdeen and Fareham, and the core command, control and emergency response systems are in place to support the national network. Radio sites within the network are connected separately to the two national data centres, making them available to all centres in the network rather than just two MRCCs in the legacy pairing system. Since the Committee’s last Report on HM Coastguard changes, the communications infrastructure between Shetland and the mainland have been upgraded and we are working with BT to gain the long term benefit of this. Resilience will be further enhanced at the end of the transitions around December 2015 when we will also have a Disaster Recovery site at the CGOC in Dover, covering off the very unlikely event that both data centres are inoperable at the same time.  Where systems have temporarily been unavailable, our robust Business Continuity Plans have been activated and have provided the appropriate back up and additional resilience with minimum disruption. When this does happen we have investigated the causes and taken action to learn lessons and make improvements. An example was an incident for around two hours from noon on Sunday 8 February when there was a temporary reduction in our ability to broadcast on VHF channel 16. The 999 service and digital alerting options were unaffected and there was no reduction in our ability to task rescue resources (lifeboats, Coastguard Rescue Teams, SAR Helicopters) to any incident. The well-rehearsed resilience measure of placing Coastguard Rescue Officers at remote radio sites with VHF radio communications equipment was deployed to maintain search and rescue capability.

 

Staffing and Training

9. As promised in our original consultation document, we have delivered better coastguard jobs, with better pay and improved career paths. We have made excellent progress in recruiting for the new coastguard roles under their improved terms and conditions, both from within the existing coastguard cadre and from new blood. Existing coastguards have been through a rigorous assessment process to secure their new roles, and 175 have achieved promotion in that process, releasing talent into the new structure which may have remained untapped under previous arrangements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. A total of 2,232 applications have been received for the 425 posts in the new arrangements. To date, recruitment action has been completed for 382 (90%) of those roles: job offers have been made and accepted, and start dates agreed. In some cases, successful applicants will remain in their existing MRCC until its closure or transition before taking up their new role.  Through careful career management of every individual we will seek to get the best value from their accrued experience and from our substantial investment in training for new skills.


 

 

11. Of the posts for which recruitment is complete, 35% are filled by new recruits, while 65% have been filled by existing coastguards taking up new opportunities, reflecting the importance we have placed on pulling through knowledge – including local knowledge - and experience into the new era. Recognising the particular employment challenges in the Aberdeen and Shetland areas, we are targeting recruitment campaigns for jobs at those locations.

 

12. Training for new and existing coastguards has been upgraded to cover much more than search and rescue skills, recognising the enhanced responsibilities of the new roles including vessel traffic management, maritime surveillance and the provision of safety warnings. As part of their training, coastguards are learning the skills they need to interrogate information systems and informants systematically so that any incident is properly assessed and the right rescue assets are sent to the right location.  Since the beginnings of the national network became operational in September 2014, we are confident that all associated search and rescue missions have been appropriately actioned.  We acknowledge that there have been public concerns about the potential dilution of local knowledge through our coastguard reform programme, but we are alert to this risk and we are mitigating it through both improved training and better information systems and processes; and it has not been a cause of any delay or wrong judgement in the timely deployment or effective coordination of resources.

 

Maintaining Operational Effectiveness

13. It has naturally been a challenge to transform our coastguard structures whilst sustaining 24/7 search and rescue cover throughout our waters. However, the arrangements we have put in place have stood up to that challenge.   We have upheld sufficient qualified and experienced on-watch personnel whilst simultaneously upgrading infrastructure, recruiting new people and training all coastguards to meet new competences. We have maintained adequate operational capability throughout the system. The staffing picture has stabilised and is steadily improving. Some experienced coastguards who recently left the service have been re-employed on a temporary basis to give additional strength in depth. Some 66 coastguards who will be leaving the service under the voluntary redundancy scheme are staying on to support watch-keeping arrangements until their MRCC either closes or transitions into the national network. More skilled and trained officers are becoming available to support MRCCs. Fourteen new recruits recently became operational and will be followed by 9 in March, another 13 in April, 9 in May and 10 in June.

 

14. As each MRCC joins the evolving network the absolute number of coastguards at any of the individual centres becomes relatively less significant. The flexibility of the new arrangements gives a new significance to the total number of coastguards available within the growing network, rather than the number at any single location.

 

Wider Maritime Issues of Interest to the Committee

 

Emergency Towing Vessels

15. The UK Government continues to take the view that it is for the shipping industry to manage and mitigate the risks which its activities present to the maritime environment, and to make full use of the well-established arrangements for provision of commercial towage and salvage. Recognising that the supply of commercial ocean-going tugs is more limited off Scotland, the UK Government has continued to fund a single emergency towing vessel based in and around the Orkney Islands that can respond to shipping in difficulty off Scotland. No alternative commercial or other funding mechanism has emerged for this area and the government-funded arrangement has been renewed up to 31 March 2016 at a cost of £3m. The tug can support ships in difficulty where there is a threat of pollution; it is not a search and rescue asset. Once it is tasked, it will usually operate under a commercial contract with the ship’s owner and insurer. Analysis of past incidents shows that all vessels that have got into difficulty in the waters off the Northern and Western Isles have received both the appropriate SAR resources and, when required, effective towage either from commercial tugs, RNLI lifeboats or from the government-funded tug under a commercial contract.  No ship has grounded or sunk, nor has any pollution arisen, because of the lack of an available tow.

 

Search and Rescue Helicopters

16. The UK’s Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopters are jointly provided by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the MCA.  The MOD is due to retire the military Sea King from SAR operations over the next twelve months.  A new contract awarded in 2013 to Bristow Helicopters will replace the current mixture of military and civilian arrangements and provide the service from 10 bases in all.  Each new base represents a £7.1m investment for its local community.  The new service will roll out progressively over the next two years with Inverness and Humberside Airports taking over from the military SAR service at RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Leconfield respectively on 1 April 2015.  This is a £1.6bn investment overall. Eleven of the 22 new SAR helicopters are the AgustaWestland AW189 that are being assembled here in the UK.

 

Maritime Growth Study

17. The Government wants the UK to remain a world centre for maritime activity. That is why a study into maritime growth was launched on 26 November, chaired by Alderman Jeffrey Evans, Chairman of Maritime UK and Director at Clarksons. The study is due to report in summer 2015. It will make recommendations to both government and industry to help the UK maritime sector continue to compete globally and identify opportunities for further growth. A call for evidence is currently open seeking responses from the industry and others on a wide range of activities associated with the UK maritime sector including:

 

 

18. As part of this evidence collection process the Department for Transport have also held a series of workshops with industry and government representatives focusing on different‎ aspects of the maritime sector. In addition, they are conducting individual interviews with a selected stakeholders to gather more detailed information. All the evidence collected during this phase of the study will be analysed over the coming months to inform and support the final conclusions of the chair. The chair will be supported in this process by the guidance of an industry advisory panel comprised of eight business leaders from the maritime sector. The study is due to report in summer 2015.

 

Maritime Security

19. The Department is establishing a new Maritime Security International Capacity Building Team to support the development of overseas maritime security standards.  It is envisaged that this work programme will include liaison with the REG shipping registries about practical actions that should improve the security environment for British ships at overseas locations.

 

Port services Regulation

20. The port services Regulation reached a General Approach at Transport Council last October.  The UK abstained in the voting.  Nevertheless, the General Approach text incorporates several very significant improvements as compared with the Commission's May 2013 Proposal.  The process now shifts to the European Parliament, which has yet to reach a First Reading agreement.  We encourage MEPs (assuming they are not minded to block the Regulation as they did with two previous attempts to legislate in this field) to accept the relevant GA amendments, which would make the Regulation much more compatible with the existing decentralised and competitive UK ports sector.

 

Maritime Pilotage

21. In the Committee’s report on marine pilotage (9th Report of Session 2012-13), it was acknowledged that ports have a “strong incentive to achieve high standards of safety”. The deregulatory Pilotage Act 1987 recognised this fact by giving competent harbour authorities the duty to assess the requirements for pilotage to secure safe navigation in their waters and the powers to provide and charge for appropriate pilotage provision. The Act did not give the Department any powers to direct competent harbour authorities in the discharge of their responsibilities.

 

22. Nevertheless, as with other aspects of port safety, the Department works closely with all parts of the ports and shipping sector to promote good practice on a non-statutory basis. In particular, the Port Marine Safety Code (PMSC) and its accompanying Guide to Good Practice provide advice on important aspects of pilotage provision and operation.

 

23. In the last year the Committee has written to the MCA regarding concerns expressed by the UK Maritime Pilots Association (UKMPA) about specific competent harbour authorities, which were also raised directly with the Department our regular bilateral meetings. In line with the collaborative approach epitomised by the Port Marine Safety Code, the Department pursued these issues through constructive dialogue with the authorities concerned.

 

24. For the most part this approach continues to achieve success. Where, however, it is not possible to resolve disputes through such means, the parties involved may have recourse to the Courts. This was the result of the dispute between the Foyle Pilots and Londonderry Port & Harbour Commissioners, though a confidential out of court settlement was agreed. At the suggestion of the UKMPA, the PMSC is to be enhanced to include advice on dispute resolution processes (e.g. mediation and arbitration) which aim to provide effective alternatives to court action.

 

February 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

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