Mountain rescuers will be pressing MPs for equal treatment with their Scottish colleagues

Mountain rescuers from England and Wales will be swapping the hills for the corridors of Westminster this week to press for parity with their colleagues north of the border.

Representatives from the umbrella group for the volunteer teams will be in Parliament all this week to explain to MPs the importance of proper funding for the service.

Mountain Rescue England and Wales head of fundraising Mike France said: “Last year, volunteer rescuers gave 13,400 hours to the search for April Jones and that’s about 1,075 days of searchers’ unpaid absence from their work and families.

“Those same people are available 24/7 throughout the year for local callouts and they have to train for all these different situations and needs so it seems crazy that they also have to find time for fundraising just to keep their teams going.

“There is a huge discrepancy between the financial support given by government to Scottish rescuers – about £16,480 per team – and the much more limited funding to English teams of just £2,246 per team.

“Welsh teams receive a small amount extra after recent decisions in the Welsh Assembly but we’re campaigning in Westminster for MPs to recognise the needs in both England and Wales.

“If government could guarantee a level of funding from the public purse closer to the Scottish figure, we’d be able to underwrite investments in vehicles and essential kit and subsidise essential training and insurance.

Mike France: 'Let us get the job done'

“We want to be able to ensure that our 3,600 or so volunteer rescuers across England and Wales can focus their time and resources on getting the job done rather than having to worry about fundraising.”

The organisation is staging an exhibition in the Upper Waiting Hall in the Palace of Westminster and Penrith Conservative MP Rory Stewart will also host a reception for team representatives.

MREW chairman David Allen said: “We’re keen to show our representatives in government just how many search and rescue situations involve our volunteer members.

“We’ve been involved in rescues from ravines, rivers and mineshafts and even searches across golf courses and in town-centre high streets.

“We get involved in supporting the ambulance service in bad weather, especially on roads affected by snow and ice, in searches for vulnerable adults and children and in traumatic situations such as the recovery of suicide and accident victims.

“It’s certainly not all about mountains and outdoor sports.

“We get great support from the MPs local to our rescue teams and representing the key areas for our more obvious work such as north Wales and the Lake District, and we’re hoping to extend this knowledge and support throughout Parliament this week.”

MREW ran a long campaign to have teams exempted from VAT, and the coalition Government responded by announcing a £200,000 grant to be shared by all UK mountain and cave rescue teams.

Scottish teams, which between them benefit from an additional £300,000 boost from the Holyrood Government, were included in the £200,000 Westminster grant.

In 2011, Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team vice-chairman Peter Stott said: “The money may only be used for equipment purchases and will not help fund the soaring running costs of teams like fuel and electricity.

“This amount approximately equates to 10 per cent of our running costs. Of course the more rescues we do the more the cost increases. While it seems a lot, £2,000 would only buy four radios.”