Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's capacity to discharge its statutory duties to survey and inspect (a) domestic and (b) international shipping.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)'s current business plan has an operational priority (OP) entitled: “OP2 - Ensuring our ship survey, inspection and certification capability, and the parallel work in relation to seafarers, meets our domestic and international obligations”. Progress against this operational priority is monitored on a monthly basis by the MCA Executive Board using a balanced score card system. By this method the MCA is able to assess its capacity to discharge its statutory Survey and Inspection duties.
The MCA monitors its capacity to discharge its statutory duties to survey and inspect (a) domestic (Flag State responsibility) and (b) international (Port State responsibility) shipping through a system of activity monitoring. Performance against these Survey and Inspection activities feed into the Balanced Score Card for OP2.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Belfast, was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in March 2014.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
During March 2014 Belfast Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels on 8 occasions out of 62 shifts.
Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty's Coastguard is using 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.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Stornaway, was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in March 2014.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
During March 2014 Stornoway Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels on 6 occasions out of 62 shifts.
Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty's Coastguard is using 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.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Liverpool, was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in March 2014.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
During March 2014 Liverpool Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels on 8 occasions out of 62 shifts.
Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty's Coastguard is using 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.