A user equipment comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to operate in cells associated with at least one radio access technology, RAT, network; and a controller configured to perform neighbor cell searches, wherein the controller is further configured to: determine when the user equipment enters a first RRC state from a second RRC state, wherein the first RRC state is one of at least: CELL_PCH, URA_PCH and IDLE and the second RRC state is CELL_DCH, and, in response to the determination, determine whether the time period since a most recent search is greater than a threshold value and in response to a determination that the time period since the most recent search is greater than the threshold value, is further configured to perform a new search, and wherein the most recent search was a search for higher priority cells operating on a first carrier frequency, the user equipment being characterized in that the threshold value is determined based on one of: detecting whether the user equipment is in a high-mobility state, and in response to detecting that the user equipment is in a high-mobility state to reduce the threshold value to a lower value than is used for user equipments operating in a low-mobility state; or detecting whether one or more cells on a layer have been detected in a predetermined time period and reducing the threshold value for that layer relative to a threshold for other layers or relative to the threshold for that layer in instances where no cells have been detected on that layer within the predetermined period. transceiver circuitry configured to operate in cells associated with at least one radio access technology, RAT, network; and a controller configured to perform neighbor cell searches, wherein the controller is further configured to: determine when the user equipment enters a first RRC state from a second RRC state, wherein the first RRC state is one of at least: CELL_PCH, URA_PCH and IDLE and the second RRC state is CELL_DCH, and, in response to the determination, determine whether the time period since a most recent search is greater than a threshold value and in response to a determination that the time period since the most recent search is greater than the threshold value, is further configured to perform a new search, and wherein the most recent search was a search for higher priority cells operating on a first carrier frequency, the user equipment being characterized in that the threshold value is determined based on one of: detecting whether the user equipment is in a high-mobility state, and in response to detecting that the user equipment is in a high-mobility state to reduce the threshold value to a lower value than is used for user equipments operating in a low-mobility state; or detecting whether one or more cells on a layer have been detected in a predetermined time period and reducing the threshold value for that layer relative to a threshold for other layers or relative to the threshold for that layer in instances where no cells have been detected on that layer within the predetermined period. determine when the user equipment enters a first RRC state from a second RRC state, wherein the first RRC state is one of at least: CELL_PCH, URA_PCH and IDLE and the second RRC state is CELL_DCH, and, in response to the determination, determine whether the time period since a most recent search is greater than a threshold value and in response to a determination that the time period since the most recent search is greater than the threshold value, is further configured to perform a new search, and wherein the most recent search was a search for higher priority cells operating on a first carrier frequency, the user equipment being characterized in that the threshold value is determined based on one of: detecting whether the user equipment is in a high-mobility state, and in response to detecting that the user equipment is in a high-mobility state to reduce the threshold value to a lower value than is used for user equipments operating in a low-mobility state; or detecting whether one or more cells on a layer have been detected in a predetermined time period and reducing the threshold value for that layer relative to a threshold for other layers or relative to the threshold for that layer in instances where no cells have been detected on that layer within the predetermined period. detecting whether the user equipment is in a high-mobility state, and in response to detecting that the user equipment is in a high-mobility state to reduce the threshold value to a lower value than is used for user equipments operating in a low-mobility state; or detecting whether one or more cells on a layer have been detected in a predetermined time period and reducing the threshold value for that layer relative to a threshold for other layers or relative to the threshold for that layer in instances where no cells have been detected on that layer within the predetermined period.