Recommendation CR13: Reconsider Border Force SAR function
From The Cranston Inquiry Report, published 5 February 2026.
Recommendation
The government should reconsider Mr Downer's recommendation in his independent review of Border Force that Border Force Maritime should not be providing an ongoing search and rescue function in the English Channel, with the result that HM Coastguard would assume responsibility for the surface assets used for search and rescue.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended reconsidering search and rescue operations in the English Channel. In October 2026, the Cabinet Office reported that the Department for Transport is conducting a review of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) covering its functions, form, governance, and performance (Cabinet Office, Oct 2026). Border Force and the transfer of surface assets are not mentioned in the sources (Department for Transport response, Jul 2026; Cabinet Office, Oct 2026). The review will report to Ministers in 2026 to inform the government's response to the outstanding recommendations, as the department first set out in July 2026 (Department for Transport response, Jul 2026; Cabinet Office, Oct 2026).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 16 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
The Department is conducting a review of the MCA which will consider its functions, form, governance and performance. It will report to Ministers this year and inform Government’s response to the outstanding recommendations of the Cranston Inquiry.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: Cranston Inquiry Report: Interim Response (CP 1635), presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Transport in July 2026. The words are the Department for Transport's. The paper describes HM Coastguard, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch in the third person ("HMCG recognises ..."), so the site files each passage under the Department, not under the body the recommendation is addressed to.
Site note: The interim response does not name this recommendation. It answers recommendations 1 to 10 and 14 to 18 by number, and describes the other three as "focused on policy matters related to legislation, oversight and ownership of rescue vessels". This passage, about the review of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, is given once for those three. The same words are recorded on recommendations 11, 12 and 13.
Delivery
Cabinet Office states no delivery position (5 October 2026)
The Department for Transport published its interim response to the Cranston Inquiry in July 2026. This provided a substantial update on 15 out of a total 18 recommendations made by the Cranston Inquiry. For the three remaining recommendations, of which this is one, it updated that the Department is conducting a review of the MCA which will consider its functions, form, governance and performance. The review will report to Ministers this year and inform Government’s response to the outstanding recommendations of the Cranston Inquiry.
From: Cranston Inquiry Recommendations Dashboard, October 2026 (data file)
Site note: The dashboard gives each recommendation its own cell. The cells for recommendations 11, 12 and 13 carry the same words, so the same passage is recorded on each.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department for Transport
Response - Cabinet Office
Delivery statement