The head of the UK’s coastguard agency is facing calls to resign after being found to have relied on unverified data to support her controversial proposal to stop paying rescue officers.
Virginia McVea, chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), said more than 90% of coastguard rescue officers backed the plan, pointing to an official survey. Following an investigation by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), the agency has conceded that its polling did not adequately support that figure.
Nicola Savage, a national officer for the GMB union, which represents coastguard rescue officers (CROs), said: “If Ms McVea is unable to produce the reports she refers to, we would consider this as a deliberate attempt to mislead. If this is the case, she should resign – as hundreds of coastguards have already asked her to do.”
Joe Robertson, one of a number of MPs who have campaigned on behalf of CROs, accused McVea of misleading both MPs and coastguards across three separate meetings, at which he said she repeated the figure.
He urged her to “do the right thing and apologise for misleading MPs, CROs and the public”, adding: “Please also give a written account of how you came to repeat this false line over and over again and why you still have not published the surveys which you promised to MPs in our meeting on 24 June.”
The MCA’s proposal to remove coastguards’ pay came in response to a court defeat. A judge confirmed that although CROs volunteered for service, they were classified as workers entitled to minimum wage and holiday pay because they were paid for their time, among other factors. Instead of accepting that status, the MCA sought to stop remunerating CROs in order to reclassify them as volunteers.
The move drew heavy criticism from MPs, CROs and coastal communities, with the GMB stating that close to 600 CROs had supported its vote of no confidence in McVea.
In an attempt to defend the plan, McVea cited the 90% figure, but MPs told the Guardian in July that they felt misled by her.
In a letter to McVea this week, OSR director general Ed Humpherson said: “Neither of the surveys [cited] asked CROs directly about their support for the proposed volunteer model, so do not provide evidence relating to the reported claims. [The] MCA has been unable to provide any further evidence to underpin the reported claims.”
Leaked results of an MCA survey, disclosed by the Guardian in July, showed that CROs had in fact been asked how volunteer and worker models would affect their availability.
The findings indicated that the MCA had counted people who said they would be less able to respond to calls as volunteers, along with those who answered “other”, among those backing the volunteer model.
The agency said at the time: “Survey findings were considered alongside a range of operational, legal and practical factors.” It declined to explain how.
Maritime minister Keir Mather ultimately abandoned the plan in response to near universal criticism. CROs are still awaiting confirmation of which system will replace it, though it is understood that removing coastguards’ pay is no longer being considered.
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