CR13 Response Under Consideration

Reconsider Border Force SAR function

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.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
Government response: Under Consideration. No public evidence of delivery has been found.
Sources
Government response (2026-07-16): Under Consideration Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cranston-inquiry-interim-response Text: 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 was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by baseline-data-v1 on 12 Sep 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Response
Under Consideration
Under Consideration Department for Transport
16 Jul 2026

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.

Read Full Response
Source
Report The Cranston Inquiry Report 05 Feb 2026
Responsible Bodies
Home Office Primary
Recommendation age 0.6 yr
Last formal update 16 Jul 2026