Asked by: Lord Cashman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government to which department the Port of London Authority is accountable, and whether its annual accounts are publicly available.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a Trust Port. Trust Ports are independent organisations that are both strategically and financially independent of Government. They are accountable to stakeholders including port users, local communities and Government and are led by an independent board.
The Secretary of State for Transport is required under the PLA’s enabling legislation to appoint the Chair of the PLA and one to three Non-Executive Directors. The appointees’ duty is to pursue the interests of the port. The Department for Transport (DfT) has no powers to direct the Board members.
All harbour authorities in the UK, regardless of their ownership model, act independently of central government and have their own legal responsibilities established through local Acts of Parliament. In relation to the PLA under the PLA Act 1968, there are certain rights of appeal to the Secretary of State, for example in relation to the setting of statutory charges and licensing decisions.
The DfT is responsible for overseeing the legislative framework for ports and harbours and the governance of ports. We expect all ports to adhere to the Ports Good Governance Guidance, published in 2018.
PLA is the only Trust Port that is obliged under their statutory legislation to submit their annual report and accounts on a yearly basis to Parliament. The accounts are laid as an Act Paper in both the House of Commons and House of Lords and can be found in the Parliamentary Library. They are also published on the PLA’s website and the 2022 report can be found here: https://www.pla.co.uk/Media-Centre/Annual-Report-and-Accounts-2022