§ Mr. Corbettasked the Secretary of State for Transport what was by grade (a) the authorised establishment and (b) numbers in post of Her Majesty's Coastguard by region in 1979, 1982 and 1984; and what for the same years was the authorised budget and spending of Her Majesty's Coastguard.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe numbers of approved posts and staff in post for the dates indicated for Her Majesty's Coastguard in total are given by grade in table A. In the past approved posts have not been allocated by grade to Coastguard regions and table B therefore shows only regional totals of staff in post. Both tables include administrative support staff and part-time staff count as half.
Table A Her Majesty's Coastguard—total non-industrial staff by grade 1 April 1979 1 April 1982 1 April 1984 Approved post Staff in post Approved posts Staff in post Approved posts Staff in post Chief Coastguard 1 1 1 1 1 1 Principal Inspector 18 7 7 7 8 7 Inspector 18 12 11 9 10 10 District Officer 30 30 28 30 28 29 Station Officer 62 63 60 61 62 61 Coastguard Officer grade 1 469 203 250 237 230 233 Coastguard Officer 469 260 198 195 210 204 Principal — — 1 1 1 1 Higher Executive Officer 3 3 4 4 2 2 Executive Officer 3 3 10 10 10 10 Writer 12 10 — — — — Clerical Officer 5 7 11 11 11 11 Clerical Assistant 3 3 6 6 4 4 Personal Secretary 1 1 1 1 1 Typist 5–5 8–5 5 6 5–5 5–5 Unallocated — — — — 2–5 — Total 613–5 612–5 593 579 586 578–5 There are also 8,500 Auxiliary Coastguards enrolled as at 31 March 1985.
Table B Her Majesty's Coastguard-total non-industrial staff by region 1 April 1979 Staff in post 1 April 1982 Staff in post 1 April 1984 Staff in post Headquarters in Training 38.0 38.0 34.5 Aberdeen 80.0 88.5 96.5 Yarmouth 89.0 78.5 74.5 Dover 76.0 86.5 83.5 Falmouth 154.5 107.5 100.5 Swansea 113.5 97.5 99.5 Clyde 61.5 82.5 91.5 Total 612.5 579.0 578.0
§ Mr. Corbettasked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will detail the specific responsibilities of Her Majesty's Coastguard for the detection and prevention of drug smuggling; how many officers have specific drug detection training, and how many intercepts (a) at sea and (b) on or inshore were made for suspected drug-smuggling in each of the past three years.
§ Mr. David MitchellHer Majesty's Coastguard is essentially a live-saving service maintained to undertake the co-ordination of maritime search and rescue. It has no
378WThe financial provision and expenditure for Her Majesty's Coastguard in the years requested is:
£million Provision Expenditure 1979–80 7.9 8.5 1982–83 15.7 15.6 1984–85 20.3 17.3 Notes:
- (i) These figures include the administrative costs of Her Majesty's Coastguard, capital and current programme expenditure on Coastguard services and the Channel Navigation Information Service, and expenditure on civil search and rescue.
- (ii) The expenditure for 1984-85 is an estimated outturn.
- (iii) Apart from administrative costs, the major expenditure is on civil search and rescue. This is a demand led service and is the major cause of the variance between expenditure and provision.
responsibilities specifically for the detection and prevention of drug smuggling. Accordingly, no officers are trained for such duties nor have any intercepts for suspected drug smuggling been made during the past three years.
Her Majesty's Coastguard affords full co-operation to the Board of Customs and Excise and to other law enforcement authorities.