Digitisation is central to the business plan for the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, the Department for Transport (DfT) division states in its 2022 - 2023 Business Plan, released May 24, 2022.
HM Coastguard, which turns 200 in 2022, and is part of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, will, for the first time, gain a public website with messaging and safety information. The website is part of the business plans’ outcomes to be achieved by March 2023. In the same time frame, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency plans to introduce a new digitised process for seafarer certification.
“We are investing in a modern infrastructure and the latest technology to support our search and rescue and counter pollution response capability,” said Maritime & Coastguard Agency chair Christopher Rodrigues CBE.
Technology spending is forecast to increase to £16.2 million in the 2022 to 2023 business plan, up from £15.6 million in the previous business plan. The Maritime & Coastguard Agency spending is a forecast outturn (the total projected balance remaining at the end of the financial year, with revenue and capital, reported separately).
As part of search and rescue investments, the agency will award contracts for drones as well as traditional aviation, including aeroplanes and helicopters.
In January 2021, the agency awarded a contract to upgrade its fibre based network connection to its 165 remote radio sites across the UK.
The Maritime & Coastguard Agency is an executive body of the Department for Transport and is responsible for shipping, safety standards, environmental protection and coastal emergency response.
