Demand for SAR services
14. We were keen to establish whether demand for
SAR services is likely to rise, fall or remain constant in the
future. Estimates are essential to determine whether SAR capacity
will be sufficient in years to come, especially if that capacity
might vary unless action is taken. The MCA has traditionally assessed
demand for maritime SAR by examining the number of reports to
the Coastguard.[15] The
official statistics in Table 1 show that the number of reports
to the Coastguard increased by an average of 3.58% each year between
1998 and 2004, and by 23% overall over the same period.
Table 1: HM Coastguard incident reports since
1996
| Year | 1998
| 1999 | 2000
| 2001 | 2002
| 2003 | 2004
|
| Total Reports | 11,553
| 12,220 | 12,016
| 12,514 | 13,395
| 13,849 | 14,240
|
Source: SAR 12B
15. The assessment method used previously by the
MCA suggests that the trend for maritime SAR demand is certainly
one of increase. The RNLI told us that demand was increasing for
its services, year on year,[16]
that there had been a growth in recreational boating, and that
the increase in the number of people participating in hazardous
water sports led to an increase in the number of people requiring
assistance.[17] Mr Freemantle
reported growth in the "Birmingham navy" of occasional
sea-farers:
"As people have more money they buy boats
and they drive them to the coast at the weekend and perhaps do
not know how to drive them on the sea as well as they should,
and of course quite a number of our rescues are caused because
of that and that is a trend."[18]
16. The Government admitted that anecdotal evidence
suggested a rise in demand, but noted there was not a great deal
of data. The MCA has commissioned research which should help calculate
demand around the coast:
"Although there is much anecdotal evidence
that the number of people involved in leisure pursuits around
the UK coast (including high-risk activities) is increasing (for
example, the tourist boards provide some material which is a helpful
indication of trends in this area), there are no reliable, comprehensive
official statistics available. In 2004 the Maritime and Coastguard
Agency (MCA) commissioned a research project to establish accident
'rates' by comparing the number of accidents against the numbers
of people participating in leisure activities in a variety of
areas around the coast. This work will be completed in April 2005
and will provide a more robust measure of risk and monitoring
trends within this non-regulated sector."[19]
17. The MCA's research only covers the coast. On
land, Dr Anthony S G Jones MBE, Vice Chairman of Mountain Rescue—England
and Wales, told us that the number of people going out onto the
hills and fells had increased, so the absolute number of people
involved in incidents had increased.[20]
He also suggested that new sports such as parapenting[21]
and mountain biking on hard ground had increased the risk.[22]
Mr Alan Riddet of the Chief Fire Officers Association suggested
not only that more people were engaging in high-risk leisure activities,
but that "there is great expectation from the public that
when things go wrong, somebody will be there to deal with it."[23]
He also acknowledged that data had to be gathered to prove the
rising trend and that "we cannot just deal with that anecdotally".[24]
Although Mr Robert Bradley of the UK Lowland Search Institute
was understandably wary of the costs to voluntary organisations
of collecting and managing statistics,[25]
Mountain Rescue—England and Wales were able to tell us that
the number of call-outs has increased by over 125 per year since
1999.[26] We believe
the type of research which the MCA has commissioned for maritime
SAR should be commissioned for inland SAR in order to help forecast
demand.
18. The Government and the SAR Strategic Committee
need to be able to forecast future demand for SAR services in
order to assess the ability of SAR services to meet it. The MCA
has commissioned useful research about accident levels around
the coast, but more work is required inland. Data collection does
not need to be particularly onerous, but the Strategic Committee
must determine whether research should be commissioned or further
information be collected by inland operators to better forecast
demand for inland SAR.
Beach lifeguards
19. While the RNLI is most famous for its lifeboats,
it also now provides beach lifeguards on 57 beaches under service
level agreements with local authorities.[27]
Local authorities make a contribution to the RNLI where the Institution
provides this service, but it costs the RNLI £3m per year
to run a service which employs 300 lifeguards.[28]
Mr Freemantle told us that some local authorities were reluctant
to continue to make a contribution to the RNLI when the time came
to renew their service level agreements:
"[T]hey try to back away and leave us holding
the can, which is something that we are not very happy with and
is stopping us doing it elsewhere."[29]
20. Mr Freemantle suggested that, even if the RNLI
provided the lifesaving service, the local authority should retain
overall responsibility for lifesaving on a beach because they
made money out of car parking and other franchises there.[30]
We have sympathy with his view, but we also understand that local
authorities may not want to bind themselves to service level agreements
which supply a service they are not legally obliged to provide.
Mr Phil Hope MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), agreed to look into
the matter further, but explained that while local authorities
might take into account the need for lifesaving services, there
was no statutory requirement for local authorities to supply lifeguards.[31]
The Government subsequently outlined to the Committee the arrangements
for reporting local authorities which act outside their powers
when managing contracts, which is not really the issue.[32]
21. We are grateful for Mr Hope's indication that
the ODPM will consider further the problems caused when local
authorities leave the RNLI in the lurch after it has been providing
beach life guarding services. It would be useful for an ODPM Minister
to meet representatives of local authorities and the RNLI to get
to the bottom of the issue. Longer service level agreements between
coastal local authorities and the RNLI might provide greater stability
for the RNLI.
3 see map of UK Search and Rescue Region attached to
SAR 13 Back
4
See Evans, C. (2003) Rescue at Sea: An International History
of Lifesaving, Coastal Rescue Craft and Organisations, London,
Conway Maritime Press Back
5
SAR 13, paragraph 2 Back
6
eg Q 175 Back
7
Q 178 Back
8
SAR 13, paragraph 1 Back
9
Q 356 Back
10
Queen's Printer and Controller, Search and Rescue Framework
for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
June 2002, paragraph 7.2.2 Back
11
Q 166 Back
12
Q 294 Back
13
Q 357 Back
14
Q 388 Back
15
SAR 12B Back
16
Q 199 Back
17
Q 200 Back
18
Q 224 Back
19
SAR 12B Back
20
Q 86 Back
21
Parapenting is a sport in which the participant jumps from a high
place wearing a modified type of parachute which is then used
as a hang-glider. Back
22
Q 86 Back
23
Q 31 Back
24
Q 33 Back
25
SAR 01 Back
26
SAR 11 Back
27
SAR 09 Back
28
Q 213 Back
29
Q 218 Back
30
Q 217 Back
31
Qq 392-3 Back
32
SAR 12B Back
