RNLI and Independent Lifeboats: Covid-19

(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)

Tuesday 13th October 2020 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Robert Courts)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today, Mr Hosie. I congratulate and thank my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall) on securing this debate. The hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane) is quite right: it is very good to be back in Westminster Hall. Like him, I will not attempt to find a local coastal link to my constituency, given that it is landlocked—I would be pushing my luck with the River Thames, although I note that the RNLI has a station on the River Thames at this end of the river. This is an extremely important issue, which highlights the impact that covid-19 has had on all our frontline services.

I would like to take a moment to pay tribute to the brave people, often volunteers, who risk their lives to save others. The RNLI is an incredible organisation. Since its foundation in 1824, its lifeboats have saved over 143,000 lives—143,000—an astonishing number that is worth repeating and celebrating. That the phrase “worse things happen at sea” has entered our national lexicon is not surprising. It is thanks to those brave individuals that the lists of those lost at sea are not far longer. Those individuals include people such as Adam Robertson from Buckie RNLI, mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Moray (Douglas Ross), who said that they sacrifice their time to help others. He is absolutely right. My hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Caroline Ansell) said that she would like to see these people recognised as the heroes that they are. I agree, and I do so now.

The challenge of saving lives at sea cannot be overestimated. The hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown) rightly said that they go into conditions from which the rest of us wish to shelter. He is quite right. Their decision to do so often comes at great personal cost. Hon. Members may be familiar with the story of the Penlee disaster, which I have always found particularly moving. The lifeboat Solomon Browne went to the aid of the vessel Union Star when it suffered engine failure in heavy seas. Both vessels were lost with all hands—16 people, including the eight volunteers of the lifeboat crew.

Many people are also surprised to learn that there are many independent lifeboats. There are 60 inshore teams around our coasts, such as the Hamble lifeboat, which my hon. Friend the Member for Eastleigh (Paul Holmes) mentioned, which has had its 50th anniversary, and the Sandown and Shanklin lifeboat, which my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight (Bob Seely) mentioned. These teams have proud histories, stretching back in some cases even further than the RNLI itself. As a result of the very powerful speech from my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes today, the star of independent lifeboats will shine all the brighter at the end of this debate.

Together, independent lifeboats have been launched over 23,000 times—not since last year, but just since the start of the covid-19 pandemic: 23,000 situations where lives have been at risk and were saved. Today there will undoubtedly be more. One example of an independent lifeboat charity is Hope Cove in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Hope Cove has had a lifeboat protecting the waters around Bigbury Bay since 1878, with brave local teams serving their community over many generations. Only this year, since covid-19 reached our shores, the current crew from Hope Cove has responded to no less than 23 incidents in its area, including responding to seven incidents over the late spring bank holiday where multiple persons were assisted. The crew were continuing that longstanding and proud tradition for the community they protect.

It is in large part due to the personal commitment and skill of these teams that the UK has one of the best records for water safety in the world. The founder of the RNLI, Sir William Hillary, once said:

“With courage, nothing is impossible.”

These brave individuals continue to personify the British tradition of altruism and selflessness in the face of adversity. I know that all hon. Members will join me in offering our heartfelt gratitude for their service to the nation. That they have all found a way to continue operating with the additional impact, strain and implications of coivd-19 only further increases my admiration.

The impact of the pandemic cannot be overestimated. The Government have responded with an unprecedented £330 billion of financial measures to support businesses of all kinds across all parts of our United Kingdom, including the coronavirus job retention scheme and the self-employed income support scheme. Our charities are playing a crucial role in the national fight against covid-19, backed by an army of volunteers, who continue to deliver these vital key services. As hon. Members have highlighted today, the search and rescue sector has been particularly hard hit during the pandemic. Operational costs have increased, while at the same time fundraising opportunities have declined. In common with many other charities, search and rescue organisations have reduced income this year, and they will need to address and assess their operational capabilities and outputs, as our country recovers from this global crisis.

I recognise that easing lockdown measures and restrictions earlier this year also resulted in significant spikes in the number of operations, as the public flocked to the coast in places such as the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight, as he quite rightly said. The increase in staycations has also increased pressure on our search and rescue charities, as people have chosen to holiday in the UK in places such as—but not exclusively—North Norfolk. They have also undertaken more adventurous activities outside. My hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart) quite rightly pointed out the very moving story of Oliver Veness and James Blything, who saved lives this year. My hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Jacob Young) also made a significant point about the impact on people suffering from poor mental health. That is a factor that we should consider as well, because these charities assist those people too.

We have already initiated discussions with search and rescue charities to understand the impacts on their operations, as part of the recovery from covid-19, and we have provided assistance where we can. For instance, Her Majesty’s Coastguard, which has a close relationship with the RNLI and independent lifeboats in any event, has increased the support it provides through its search and rescue aircraft, to reduce the burden on charities such as air ambulances, and it has provided additional assistance to other emergency services.

We continue to assess the impact of the pandemic on the provision of search and rescue services. As part of this process, we have considered alternative options to provide a service to anyone who may need help. For example, HM Coastguard has instigated additional safety patrols through its coastguard rescue service, which has its own volunteers, to ensure that assistance can be provided more swiftly in high-risk areas. It has also introduced additional patrol activity, by using its helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to increase its visibility and reduce response times.

Recent formal agreements with the RNLI and Surf Life Saving Great Britain will also ensure even closer working relationships, and enable vital information about beach activities to be passed to HM Coastguard, to further improve mission planning, asset availability and asset usage. My hon. Friend the Member for Totnes quite rightly made a point about information sharing. We are dealing, of course, with unprecedented circumstances, but I know that the lessons that need to be learned will be learned.

Let me turn to the additional costs of operating under pandemic conditions. I entirely recognise that all search and rescue charities have been required to assess their operations and PPE needs, and to decide how best to support their services. In some cases, as my hon. Friend so powerfully outlined, this has involved significant additional costs outside of normal operational requirements. Through the UK Search and Rescue Medical Group, we have provided advice and guidance, which is publicly available on gov.uk, to balance the provision of PPE against the risks to both rescuers and those being rescued. That guidance does not set any requirements on search and rescue services. Operational decisions, such as requirements for specific PPE or deciding whether to accept a launch request, always ultimately rest with the individual charity.

If a lifeboat charity is advised that it is unable to respond in these unprecedented times, HM Coastguard will entirely respect that decision and seek to request alternative assets. However, in recognition of the importance of the charity sector to the delivery of these frontline services, the Government announced £750 million of new funding in April this year. That announcement was accompanied by new guidance, which provided best practice advice and assistance on how services could be provided safely.

My Department has also recently provided significant financial support to the search and rescue sector, as we have heard from a number of hon. Members. The rescue boat grant fund has provided nearly £6 million of funding over the past six years to assist charities of all kinds with the purchase of large capital items and everything down to and including PPE. Grants have bought nearly 100 new rescue boats and other craft, many more launch vehicles and trailers, and thousands of items of equipment, including PPE items.

A number of Members, in particular my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight and the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards), have asked that the importance of that fund be recognised, and I can say today that the future of the fund is part of the wider review of Government spending that is currently under way. The fund was complemented with a further £4 million, which was made available to search and rescue charities to provide funding for the training of their volunteers. Those combined funding measures available to charities during the Government’s unprecedented financial package of covid-19 response measures have left the sector in a much stronger position to weather the current storm. We will of course continue to work in partnership with the RNLI and independent rescue boat charities to ensure that the impact of the pandemic on our search and rescue services can be mitigated as far as possible.

I again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes for raising this important issue and for providing the opportunity for us to debate the additional challenges that covid-19 has introduced for lifeboats. As my hon. Friends the Members for Totnes and for Hastings and Rye, and the hon. Member for South Antrim (Paul Girvan) have all pointed out, when we are in trouble at sea, those services will be there for us, and the House has made it clear today that it will be there for them.