Crab,
My unease with the SAR-H process is that it should aim to be as objective as possible. The MCA has an obvious goal to assume responsibility for the entire UK SAR service and they have at least one person embedded within SAR-H IPT. This must be a conflict of interest. There are many forms that future UK SAR could take; from all military to all civilian. At which end of that spectrum do you think the MCA member of the IPT would want the answer to be?
The SAR-H IPT should be totally independent of either military or civilian vested interest and only invite RAF/RN/MCA involvement on an ad hoc basis when they require service specific information. That is the only way you ever stand a chance of arriving at the best answer.
On another subject, you should be able to tell us the capitation rates of RAF/RN aircrew. It would then be very easy to do a quick sum, based on 25 year service provision, and see what the cost differential is. I might do a quick search and work it out for myself.
HAL
PS Still no answer from my democratically elected representatives - what do they do all day?