Letter from C. J. Harris to Ms Joan Walley, dated 28 September 1995:

Thank you for your letter of 23 August requesting information on various aspects of Coastguard Operations.

1. The number of managers to regular watch keeping staff (Watch Officers and Senior Watch Officers) at each Coastguard Rescue Centre is as follows:

District and Regional Management Teams (DMT/RMT) comprising Station Officers, District Controllers, Regional and Deputy Regional Controllers as well as Coastguard Officers (Senior Watch Officers and Watch Officers) are all "regular staff'; i.e., uniformed, professional Coastguards. DMT and RMT members have an active Operations Room role in major emergencies and at any time if required.

The above figures do not include the 92 regular Sector Officers, nor the Auxiliary Coastguards who keep watch in rescue centres.

2. The required number of staff in operations rooms are as follows:

All New Entrant Coastguards undertake an initial training lasting approximately one year. After a short familiarisation period (usually six to eight weeks) at their parent station, they undertake six weeks intensive training at the Training Centre. They then return to their parent station for about nine months, during which time, under the guidance of the District Management Team, they work through a taskbook compiled by the Training Centre. They return to the Training Centre for a two week revision and examination period at the end of the year. Subject to successful completion of the taskbook, the exams, an interview board and management reports, they are appointed Coastguard Watch Officers.

About two years later they could be ready to take Senior Watch Officer and Sector Officer Qualifying Courses. Passing the examinations on these courses, together with management reports indicating their fitness, qualifies them for selection to these posts.

Auxiliary Coastguard Operations Room Assistants receive 80 hours initial training locally culminating in examinations. They receive 20 hours refresher training per annum thereafter.

3. No rescue centres have closed in the last five years. The following sector bases and lookouts have closed in the last five years:

The above does not include the relocation of rescue centres or sector bases in new buildings or the amalgamation of sector bases (there have been two of these).

4. There is no specific limit on overtime other than that applied by the Regional and District Controllers to ensure that individual performance is not compromised.

5. There have been no occasions when a Coastguard station has been under the control of an unqualified Watch Officer. Staff are selected for the post of Senior Watch Officer (SWO) and allocated to rescue centres one per watch. In their absence they are either replaced by another SWO or a deputising Watch Officer. A deputising Watch Officer is a Watch Officer who is qualified by his or her initial establishment as Coastguard Officer having successfully completed the new entrants' process and who has been approved as deputy by the Regional Management. In order to be selected as SWO on a permanent basis Watch Officers are required to complete a SWO (Qualifier) course run by the Coastguard Training Centre. It is not a requirement that a deputy should have passed this course.

6. All rescue centres are equipped with rest rooms and comprehensively equipped kitchens. There is no requirement for officers to sustain a 24 hour shift or to need sleeping accommodation.

7. The table below shows the average amounts of overtime (in hours per week) for each Region in each of the last five years. The averages include all regular watchkeeping staff, ie Senior Watch Officers as well as Watch Officers.

8. The basic watch level at a rescue centre is the watch level required to meet the normal day-to-day operational commitments at that centre.