Virginia McVea to Ed Humpherson: Coastguard Rescue Officers Survey

Dear Ed,

Thank you for your letter of 8 October, and for the constructive engagement with both MCA and DfT officials.

I can confirm that the MCA has published the findings from the two Coastguard Rescue Officer (CRO) surveys, completed between September and October 2025, and February and March 2026, along with supporting methodological information and explanatory context. As discussed with your officials, we are only publishing the questions and responses within the surveys that are relevant to the debate around CRO availability under different operational models, due to the risk that individual CROs could be identified.

We recognise the importance of transparency and are making this information available to support understanding of the work that was undertaken. As we have confirmed with your team, the surveys were designed to improve understanding of how potential future operating arrangements could affect CRO availability and operational resilience, rather than to measure support for any particular model.

As your letter sets out, neither survey asked CROs directly about their support for a particular operating model, and we do not believe the data can be used to produce or support a figure of the kind reported in the media. The MCA did not intend for the responses to these survey questions to be used in this way.

Yours sincerely,

Virginia McVea

Chief Executive