Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if she will specify which Minister in each government department holds responsibility for oversight of the operations of Mountain Rescue services; and if the Government will consider designating a single minister and department with lead responsibility and full accountability for this function.

Mountain Rescue covers a broad range of capabilities provided by civilian, military, and voluntary responders. As such, a number of Ministers and departments are responsible for determining policy relevant to their areas of expertise and sponsoring these various services:

• Any 999 call requesting Mountain Rescue is passed from British Telecom to the Police, who then reroute the call to the relevant Mountain Rescue agency to assist the caller. The Home Office is the sponsoring department for the police, including Police 999 call handlers. The Minister of State for Policing and Crime is Sarah Jones MP.

• Any aircraft from HM Coastguard would be sponsored by the Department of Transport, via the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Decarbonisation is Keir Mather MP.

• Military Mountain Rescue teams are able to deploy without additional ministerial permissions, but the Ministry of Defence would be consulted for novel or continuous activity. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Minister for the Armed Forces is Louise Sandher-Jones MP.

• The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport leads on volunteering policy across government. The Minister for Sport, Tourism, Civil Society and Youth is Stephanie Peacock MP.

Lead Government Departments are assigned to risks, rather than by capability or sector. The Government has no plans to designate a single minister or government department with sole responsibility for Mountain Rescue services.