Transport written question – answered am ar 17 Gorffennaf 2013.
Katy Clark
Llafur, North Ayrshire and Arran
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Liverpool was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in June 2013.
Stephen Hammond
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Liverpool Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below the risk assessed levels in June 2013 26 occasions out of 60 shifts.
These situations are mitigated by ‘MRCC pairing’ where each MRCC is connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support. In respect of Liverpool MRCC mutual support is available through a fixed link from MRCC Holyhead and dial up links from the MRCCs at Milford Havens Swansea, Belfast or Aberdeen.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Pairing is an arrangement between two MPs of opposing parties that allows them, with the agreement of the Pairing Whips, to miss occasional votes in the House. If two Members from opposite sides of the House both agree to miss a vote, then by agreeing to differ they would cancel out each other's vote, so neither Member need turn up. MPs are generally only allowed to pair on votes that are not three-line whips.
Normally, the relationship between pairs is long-lasting and the system brings together some strange bedfellows. Labour MP Marjorie Mowlam and Conservative Cabinet minister Michael Portillo were an established `Pair' before the 1997 General Election.
It is often difficult for new MPs to find an available backbencher to pair with.
Where the government side has a large parliamentary majority, some MPs will be without a pair so, except for crucial votes (some three-line whips), a number of unpaired MPs may be allowed to be absent at specified times on a rota basis. This is known as a bisque.
