HM COASTGUARD: CIVIL MARITIME SEARCH AND
RESCUE
MANAGING
PERFORMANCE
27. Although there is a high level of satisfaction
amongst rescuers with HM Coastguard's co-ordination of search
and rescue operations, the effectiveness of civil maritime search
and rescue is hard to judge because of deficiencies in HM Coastguard's
compilation of data on lives lost and lives saved. Moreover, there
is inconsistency between HM Coastguard's operational targets
and their Citizens' Charter targets.
28. We asked HM Coastguard what action they
would be taking to improve the measurement and reporting of their
own performance and that of the service they co-ordinate. HM Coastguard
told the Committee that for the past two years they had been working
with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to produce a national
database on sea-related emergencies and had together drawn up
clear definitions of lives lost and lives saved. HM Coastguard
had already adopted the performance indicators suggested in the
Comptroller and Auditor General's Report, and had incorporated
them in their capability performance indicators; these would be
placed on HM Coastguard's computerised management information
system which should be in operation by the beginning of 1998.
They also recognised that there was an inconsistency between their
Citizens' Charter target and their operational target concerning
the despatch of coastal response teams, and told the Committee
that this had been rectified.[26]
29. The National Audit Office had found that HM Coastguard
sent rescue resources consistently quickly, and that helicopters
and lifeboats generally met response standards and targets. Moreover,
in the great majority of cases, they sent the right number and
type of rescue resources in response to incidents. There were,
however, variations between co-ordination centres, both in terms
of their own performance in initiating rescues and sending coastal
response teams, and in terms of the performance of the various
rescuers themselves. In particular, in 1995-96 12 of the 21 co-ordination
centres did not get the first member of a coastal response team
to the scene within the target of 30 minutes in 90 per cent of
incidents; and 18 centres did not get the first team member to
all incidents within the target of one hour.[27]
Conclusions
30. Deficiencies in HM Coastguard's compilation
of data have made it difficult to assess the effectiveness of
civil maritime search and rescue. They have now taken action to
improve the recording of lives lost and saved, and have adopted
the performance measures suggested in the Comptroller and Auditor
General's Report.
31. However there is still scope for better monitoring
of variations in the performance of co-ordination centres and
rescuers. In many areas of the country, coastal response teams
failed to meet their targets for timely arrival at the scene of
an incident. HM Coastguard should review the arrival performance
of coastal response teams, explore the reasons for variations,
and deal with those which can be improved, so as to ensure that
targets are met wherever possible.
26 Qs 8-9, 11 Back
27
C&AG's Report, paras 3.14, 3.16-3.27 Back
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