Hi all,

A mate is a lead trainer at the West Mercia Search & Rescue team and has started a petition for the Government to create a fund to sustain all Lowland and Mountain Search and Rescue teams, by assisting with their operating costs (rent, insurance, maintenance costs) – the running costs they find most difficult to bear.

With the vital services that SAR teams recently provided in various regions due to the exceptional flooding and coastal storms, it is still fresh in the minds of the populous what a vital voluntary service they provide.

Here is the link https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/119899

If the petition gets 10,000 signatures, the Government has to provide an official response to the request. I hope you feel this is worthy of national attention.

Thanks for your time.

Done

Done . . . but only 660 signatures so far, so get signing, folks!

done.. at 739 now

Is there a similar one for the RNLI?

Done.

The RNLI do not want government funding as that funding will come with restrictions on how it is spent regarding tendering for equipment etc – they are better at doing it their own way

Petitions are pointless, read the mobile phone mast thread. An official response, or even a parliamentary debate is pretty useless.

IMHO you need to look at where the statutory obligation for s+r belongs and work from there for funding. I’m a bit out of touch and Scotland may be different, but as I understand it the police have a statutory obligation; it’s therefore them you are helping. I think the fire service don’t technically, but I know that some will provide support if it helps their own function, and the ambulance service don’t technically either, but again if you can show them that you avoid vehicles and trained people being delayed waiting for casualties etc you might find they buy into a ROI argument better than you think.

Sorry if that’s not the response you want, but I can predict the government letter now and it will achieve nothing that talking to your mp, and the people mentioned above (including PCC) won’t get you.