§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if incident reports of emergencies aboard North sea oil rigs have been marked not for public reference by(a) the Coastguard Agency or (b) his Department; [27891]
(2) how many staff are employed at the auxiliary coastguard station in the Outer Skerries and how many of these staff are fully trained in cliff-rescue; [27879]
(3) what assessment he had made of the improvements to safety which would be afforded by a dedicated operator covering the 2182 frequency if incidents involving man overboard are classified as a mayday situation; and if he will make a statement; [27889]
(4) how the coastguard emergency trailer operated by the auxiliary coastguard station in the Outer Skerries is moved; and if the private vehicles owned by auxiliary coastguards are insured for moving the trailer; [27881]
(5) if, during the incident off St. Kilda involving the vessel Aeolus there was an immediate scramble of search and rescue units; if the policy being advocated by Falmouth marine rescue co-ordination centre in respect of the number of hits validated was actioned; what delay occurred to the search and rescue response; if the mayday was received on the VHF distress frequency; and at what time the lifeboat was launched; [27885]
(6) if he will list the incidents requiring coastguard assistance involving oil rigs in the North sea for each of the last five years; [27890]
(7) what estimate he has made of how long it would take (a) to get a helicopter to the scene of the incident, (b) a lifeboat to get to the scene of the incident and be able to carry out a rescue and (c) for a qualified sector officer to arrive, following a vessel running around in the Outer Skerries; and what is the contingency plan when the helicopter cannot launch due to the severity of the weather; [27878]
(8) whether the mayday message apparently received by a North sea oil rig in respect of the "Heather Bloom" incident off Shetland was passed on to the coastguard; and if he will make a statement; [27888]
(9) how long it would take to muster a cliff rescue team for an incident that occurred in the Outer Skerries; [27880]
§ Mr. NorrisThese are operational matters for the Coastguard Agency. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
619WLetter from C. J. Harris to Ms Joan Walley, dated 15 June 1995:
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions as these questions deal with operational matters, for which I have responsibility as Chief Executive.PQ 1929/94/95 HM Coastguard's situation reports are official working messages to bodies dealing with maritime emergencies. They are normally copied to Lloyds casualty information service. It is usual practice for these messages to be headed "for information not for publication" if the subject is an offshore installation. This is to avoid causing unnecessary anxiety to the relatives of those working offshore.PQ 1933/94/95 Two Auxiliary Coastguards form a Coastguard Initial Response Unit on the Outer Skerries. Neither are trained in cliff rescue since there are no cliffs as such on the islands.PQ 1936/94/95 HM Coastguard instigate the same immediate and full search and rescue response when a person is reported overboard regardless of whether the word "Mayday" or other radio proword such as "Panpan" (the urgency signal) are used.From 1 July 1995, HM Coastguard will take over direct responsibility for the 2182khz distress watch from British Telecom Maritime Services (BT MRS). The Distress Watch will be maintained at ten designated Rescue Centres. In addition, a further ten Rescue Centres will carry out a similar watch, with instructions to respond to distress, urgency or safety calls if no response is heard from one of the designated rescue centres. These watch arrangements will be at least as effective as those currently provided by BT MRS.PQ 1938/94/95 There is no Coastguard emergency trailer in the Out Skerries.PO 1941/94/95 Attempts to contact vessels in the area and to scramble the Coastguard helicopter were made immediately. No vessels responded initially, and the appalling weather conditions delayed the helicopter's take-off.The policy advocated by Falmouth MRCC was not actioned.No Mayday was received on the VHF distress frequency. No lifeboat was launched: it would have been inappropriate to do so. The nearest lifeboat would have taken over four hours to arrive on scene.PQ 1944/94/95 HM Coastguard was involved in providing assistance to offshore oil installations as follows:
Year Number of incidents 1990 57 1991 54 1992 62 1993 71 1994 66 1995 up to 22 May 32 Details of these incidents could only be listed at disproportionate cost.PQ 1951/94/95 The Sumburgh Coastguard helicopter will arrive within a maximum of 35 minutes by day and 65 minutes by night. The Lerwick RNLI lifeboat would take about 80 minutes to arrive. A Coastguard Sector Officer would not normally be required at the scene of an offshore incident. If a Coastguard officer were to attend they would be transported by helicopter or lifeboat: timings would depend on the circumstances.In the event that the Sumburgh-based Coastguard helicopter could not get airborne due to exceptionally severe weather conditions other search and rescue units would be tasked. RNLI Lifeboats are based at Lerwick and Aith in Shetland; other helicopters are available at RAF Lossiemouth, and in the Brent Field.PQ 1953/94/95 The distress message was passed to HM Coastguard in the normal manner, but with a 55 minute delay—not in any way attributable to HM Coastguard. Immediately upon receipt of the distress message Aberdeen Coastguard commenced search and rescue action. Five members of the HEATHER BLOOM'S crew were rescued from liferafts, but the vessel's skipper was tragically lost.620WPQ 1954/94/95 On the infrequent occasions that a back up response team might be required this would take forty minutes by day and eighty five minutes at night.
§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the distress frequency on 2182 kHz; and if he will make a statement; [28126]
(2) what were the staffing levels of coastguard services and the total budget given to coastguard services for rescue services, including equipment allowances in each year since 1979; and what was the cost in each year per person assisted; [28125]
(3) how many incidents at sea were reported; and how many people were rescued by coastguard services in each year since 1986. [28124]
§ Mr. NorrisThese are operational matters for the Coastguard Agency. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from C. J. Harris to Ms Joan Walley, dated 15 June 1995:
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions as these questions deal with operational matters, for which I have responsibility as Chief Executive.
PQ 1979/94/95 Calender year Total number of incidents Total number assisted rescued 1986 5,300 8,960 1987 5,563 8,867 1988 6,261 11,132 1989 6,835 11,466 1990 7,076 13,474 1991 7,212 13,048 1992 8,533 14,628 1993 9,592 17,106 1994 10,409 16,627 "Assisted" here means those persons remaining on board a vessel until the end of the incident. Those taken off the vessel or recovered from the sea by SAR services are "rescued". The figures quoted also include the number of incidents reported and the number of persons rescued on the shoreline for which Coastguard also has responsibility.
PO 1982/94/95
The distress watch on 2182khz is at present carried out by British Telecom Maritime Radio Service (BT MRS) under contract to the Coastguard Agency. The watch is carried out entirely satisfactorily. From 1 July the watch will be taken over by HM Coastguard. An independent technical assessment of the Medium Frequency equipment HMCG will use for the 2182khz distress watch was carried out by GEC Marconi. This assessment found that HMCG could provide a service at least as good as that provided by BT MRS. Some modifications to the existing equipment to improve coverage are currently being undertaken by HMCG. I am satisfied that the high standard of distress watchkeeping in the UK will be maintained.
PQ 1981/94/95
The information requested for the staffing levels of coastguard services is only readily available from 1983 and is detailed below:
621W
Year HMCG uniformed staff 1983 543 1984 544 1985 533 1986 523 1987 523 1988 510
Year HMCG uniformed staff 1989 489 1990 469 1991 484 1992 485 1993 482 1994 477 1995 460 The information requested for Her Majesty's Coastguard budgets is available for 1990–91 onwards from our own records. A search of records held by the Department of Transport indicates that the budget figures for earlier years are not readily available.
Year Total HMCG budget £000 1990–91 29,874 1991–92 33,778 1992–93 37,864 1993–94 38,951 1994–95 38,328 1995–96 40,086
Year £ cost per person assisted/rescued 1990–91 2,235 1991–92 2,513 1992–93 2,483 1993–94 2,293 1994–95 2,400 These figures are calculated on a notional basis by dividing the number of persons assisted/rescued by the total costs of HMCG; they do not include those of the other rescue services such as the RNLI and MoD.