Tuesday 21st March 2023
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(1 year, 1 month ago)
Lords ChamberRead Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Commons Amendments
15:43
Motion on Amendments 1 to 64
Moved by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
That this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments 1 to 64.
1: Page 1, line 8, at end insert—
“(2A) Regulations may specify matters that must or must not be taken into account in determining whether provision for the carriage of persons or goods between two places by ship on two or more journeys constitutes a single service.”
2: Page 2, line 3, leave out subsections (1) to (3) and insert—
“(1) Subsection (2) applies where a harbour authority has reasonable grounds to believe that ships providing a service to which this Act applies will enter, or have entered, its harbour on at least 120 occasions during a relevant year.
(2) The harbour authority must, within such period as is determined by regulations, request that the operator of the service provide the authority with a national minimum wage equivalence declaration (in the rest of this Act, an “equivalence declaration”) in respect of the service for the relevant year.
(3) The duty under subsection (2) is subject to any direction given by the Secretary of State under section 11(2)(a).
(3A) A harbour authority which fails to comply with subsection (2) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction—
(a) in England and Wales, to a fine, or
(b) in Scotland and Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.”
3: Page 2, line 16, at end insert—
“(za) as to the period within which equivalence declarations are to be provided;”
4: Page 2, line 17, leave out “national minimum wage”
5: Page 2, line 18, leave out “national minimum wage”
6: Page 2, line 19, at end insert—
“(4A) In this Act, “relevant year” means—
(a) the period of 12 months beginning with a date specified in regulations, and
(b) each successive period of 12 months.”
7: Page 2, line 20, leave out subsections (5) and (6)
8: Page 2, line 33, leave out subsection (1) and insert—
“(1) An equivalence declaration in respect of a service for a relevant year is a
declaration within any of subsections (1A) to (1D).
(1A) A declaration is within this subsection if it is provided before the beginning of the relevant year and it is to the effect that—
(a) in the relevant year there will be no non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service, or
(b) in the relevant year non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service will be remunerated in respect of their UK work in relation to the service at a rate that is equal to or exceeds the national minimum wage equivalent.
(1B) A declaration is within this subsection if it is provided during the relevant year and it is to the effect that—
(a) in what remains of the relevant year there will be no non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service, or
(b) in what remains of the relevant year non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service will be remunerated in respect of their UK work in relation to the service at a rate that is equal to or exceeds the national minimum wage equivalent.
(1C) A declaration is within this subsection if it is provided during the relevant year and it is to the effect that—
(a) in so much of the relevant year as has already occurred—
(i) there have been no non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service, or
(ii) non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service have been remunerated in respect of their UK work
in relation to the service at a rate that is equal to or exceeds the national minimum wage equivalent, and
(b) in what remains of the relevant year—
(i) there will be no non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service, or
(ii) non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service will be remunerated in respect of their UK work in relation to the service at a rate that is equal to or exceeds the national minimum wage equivalent.
(1D) A declaration is within this subsection if it is provided after the end of the relevant year and it is to the effect that—
(a) in the relevant year there were no non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service, or
(b) in the relevant year non-qualifying seafarers working on ships providing the service were remunerated in respect of their UK work in relation to the service at a rate that is equal to or exceeds the national minimum wage equivalent.”
9: After Clause 4, insert the following new Clause—
“Offence of operating service inconsistently with declaration
(1) The operator of a service to which this Act applies is guilty of an offence if—
(a) the operator provides a harbour authority with an equivalence declaration in respect of the service for a relevant year, and (b) subsection (2), (3) or (4) applies.
(2) This subsection applies if the equivalence declaration is provided before the beginning of the relevant year and—
(a) the service is operated inconsistently with the declaration at the beginning of the relevant year, or
(b) at any later time during the relevant year the service starts to be operated inconsistently with the declaration and the operator fails to notify the harbour authority within four weeks of—
(i) the fact that the service has started to be so operated, and (ii) the time when it started to be so operated.
(3) This subsection applies if the equivalence declaration is provided during the relevant year and—
(a) at the time the declaration is provided the service is being operated inconsistently with the declaration, or
(b) at any later time during the relevant year the service starts to be operated inconsistently with the declaration and the operator fails to notify the harbour authority within four weeks of—
(i) the fact that the service has started to be so operated, and (ii) the time when it started to be so operated.
(4) This subsection applies if the equivalence declaration is provided during or after the end of the relevant year and it is false or misleading in so far as it concerns the operation of the service before the declaration was provided.
(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction—
(a) in England and Wales, to a fine, or
(b) in Scotland and Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.”
10: Page 3, line 22, after “is” insert “or at any time was”
11: Page 3, line 22, leave out “a national minimum wage” and insert “an”
12: Page 3, line 23, at end insert “, or
(b) establishing whether an equivalence declaration provided by the operator is false or misleading in so far as it concerns the operation of the service before the declaration was provided.”
13: Page 3, line 29, leave out from “breach” to end of line 30 and insert “the data protection legislation or the data protection laws of any country or territory outside the United Kingdom (but in determining whether providing information would cause the operator to breach that legislation or those laws, the requirement imposed by subsection (1) is to be taken into account)”
14: Page 3, line 32, after “manner” insert “, and within a period,”
15: Page 3, line 35, after “provide” insert “, in the manner and within the period specified under subsection (4),”
16: That Clause 5 be transferred to the end of line 36 on page 7
17: Page 4, line 7, after “is” insert “or at any time was”
18: Page 4, line 8, leave out “a national minimum wage” and insert “an”
19: Page 4, line 9, after “declaration,” insert—
“(aa) establishing whether an equivalence declaration is false or misleading in so far as it concerns the operation of a service before the declaration was provided,”
20: Page 4, line 9, leave out “or”
21: Page 4, line 10, at end insert—
“(c) establishing whether, or to what extent, a harbour authority is complying with its duties under this Act, or
(d) verifying any information provided by a harbour authority under section (Provision of information by harbour authorities)”
22: Page 4, line 21, leave out “declaration” and insert “statement”
23: That Clause 6 be transferred to the end of line 36 on page 7
24: After Clause 6, insert the following new Clause—
“Imposition of surcharges: failure to provide declaration in time
(1) This section applies if—
(a) a harbour authority requests the operator of a service to which this Act applies to provide the authority with an equivalence declaration in respect of the service for a relevant year, and
(b) the operator does not provide an equivalence declaration in the prescribed form and manner before the end of the prescribed period.
(2) If the prescribed period expires before the beginning of the relevant year, the harbour authority must impose a charge on the operator of the service in respect of each occasion when a ship providing the service enters its harbour between—
(a) the beginning of the relevant year, and
(b) whichever is the earlier of—
(i) the end of the relevant year, and
(ii) the time when the operator provides the authority with an equivalence declaration in respect of the service for the relevant year in the prescribed form and manner.
(3) If the prescribed period expires during the relevant year, the harbour authority must—
(a) impose a charge on the operator of the service in respect of each occasion when a ship providing the service entered its harbour between—
(i) the beginning of the relevant year, and
(ii) the end of the prescribed period, and
(b) impose a charge on the operator of the service in respect of each occasion when a ship providing the service enters its harbour between the expiry of the prescribed period and whichever is the earlier of—
(i) the end of the relevant year, and
(ii) the time when the operator provides the authority with an equivalence declaration in respect of the service for the relevant year in the prescribed form and manner.
(4) If the prescribed period expires after the end of the relevant year, the harbour authority must impose a charge on the operator of the service in respect of each occasion when a ship providing the service entered its harbour during the relevant year.
(5) But charges imposed by a harbour authority under subsection (3)(a) or (4) must be refunded if—
(a) at any time after the end of the prescribed period the operator provides the authority with an equivalence declaration in respect of the service for the relevant year in the prescribed form and manner, and
(b) the declaration is within section 4(1C) or (1D).
(6) For the purposes of this section, in relation to an equivalence declaration which an operator of a service is required to provide—
“prescribed period” means the period within which the operator is required to provide the declaration in accordance with regulations under section 3(4)(za);
“prescribed form and manner” means the form and manner in which the operator is required to provide the declaration in accordance with regulations under section 3(4)(a) and (b).”
25: Insert the following new Clause—
“Imposition of surcharges: in-year declaration that is prospective only
(1) This section applies if—
(a) a harbour authority requests the operator of a service to which this Act applies to provide the authority with an equivalence declaration in respect of the service for a relevant year,
(b) the operator provides the declaration during the relevant year in accordance with regulations under section 3(4), and
(c) the declaration is within subsection (1B) of section 4 (and not also within subsection (1C) of that section).
(2) The harbour authority must impose a charge on the operator of the service in respect of each occasion when a ship providing the service entered its harbour between the beginning of the relevant year and the time the declaration was provided.”
26: Insert the following new Clause—
“Imposition of surcharges: operating inconsistently with declaration
(1) Subsections (2) and (3) apply if—
(a) the operator of a service to which this Act applies has provided a harbour authority with an equivalence declaration in respect of the service for a relevant year, and
(b) either—
(i) the operator notifies the authority that at a specified time after the declaration was provided the service was, or started to be, operated inconsistently with the declaration, or
(ii) the authority has reasonable grounds to believe that, at a time after the declaration was provided, the service was, or started to be, operated inconsistently with the declaration.
(2) The harbour authority must impose a charge on the operator in respect of each occasion when a ship providing the service entered or enters the harbour between—
(a) the time mentioned in subsection (1)(b)(i) or (ii), and (b) the end of the relevant year.
(3) But if after the time mentioned in subsection (1)(b)(i) or (ii) the operator provides the harbour authority with a fresh equivalence declaration in respect of the service for the relevant year, the authority must not impose a charge under subsection (2) in respect of an occasion when a ship providing the service enters the harbour after the fresh declaration is provided (unless that subsection applies again by reference to that or a later declaration).
(4) Subsections (5) and (6) apply if—
(a) the operator of a service to which this Act applies has provided a harbour authority with an equivalence declaration in respect of the service for a relevant year, and
(b) the authority has reasonable grounds to believe that the declaration is false or misleading in so far as it concerns the operation of the service before the declaration was provided.
(5) The harbour authority must impose a charge on the operator in respect of each occasion when a ship providing the service entered or enters the harbour during the relevant year.
(6) But if the operator provides the harbour authority with a fresh equivalence declaration in respect of the service for the relevant year, the authority must not impose a charge under subsection (5) in respect of an occasion when a ship providing the service enters the harbour after the fresh declaration is provided (unless that subsection applies again by reference to that or a later declaration).”
27: Page 5, line 8, leave out subsections (1) to (4)
28: Page 5, line 32, leave out second “the” and insert “a”
29: Page 5, line 33, leave out “by the harbour authority in accordance with” and insert “in”
30: Page 5, line 33, leave out from “regulations” to end of line 35
31: Page 5, line 36, leave out subsection (6)
32: Page 5, line 37, at end insert—
“(6A) A duty to impose a surcharge is subject to any direction given by the Secretary of State under section 11(2)(a).
(6B) A harbour authority which fails to comply with a duty to impose a surcharge is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction—
(a) in England and Wales, to a fine, or
(b) in Scotland and Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.”
33: Page 5, line 39, leave out paragraph (a)
34: Page 5, line 43, after “notification of” insert “the imposition of”
35: Page 5, line 44, at end insert—
“(7A) Regulations may make provision requiring a harbour authority that has imposed a surcharge to notify the Secretary of State if so much of the period within which the surcharge must be paid as is specified in the regulations has expired without the surcharge having been paid in accordance with regulations under subsection (7)(d).”
36: Page 6, line 3, leave out paragraph (a)
37: Page 6, line 6, at end insert—
“(10) In this Act, “surcharge” means a charge under section (Imposition of surcharges: failure to provide declaration in time), (Imposition of surcharges: in-year declaration that is prospective only) or (Imposition of surcharges: operating inconsistently with declaration).”
38: Page 6, line 8, leave out subsection (1) and insert—
“(1) Where a surcharge is imposed by a harbour authority, an interested party may object to the imposition of the surcharge or its amount.
(1A) An objection under this section to the amount of a surcharge may be made only on the grounds that the amount is not in accordance with the tariff of surcharges specified in regulations under section 7(1).”
39: Page 6, line 14, at end insert—
“(2A) Regulations must provide for a period within which objections under this section must be made.”
40: Page 6, line 17, leave out “matter objected to” and insert “imposition of the surcharge or its amount”
41: Page 6, line 36, leave out subsection (7)
42: Page 6, line, 41, leave out paragraphs (a) to (c) and insert—
“(a) to approve the imposition of the surcharge and its amount,
(b) to direct the harbour authority to revoke the imposition of the surcharge, or
(c) to direct the harbour authority to increase or decrease the amount of the surcharge so that it is in accordance with the tariff of surcharges specified in regulations under section 7(1).”
43: Page 7, line 19, leave out “may” and insert “must”
44: Page 7, line 23, leave out “and”
45: Page 7, line 24, leave out from “with” to end of line 25 and insert “regulations under section 7(7)(d), and
(c) the period within which the surcharge must be paid has expired.”
46: Page 7, line 27, at end insert—
“(2A) Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to any surcharge imposed under subsection (3)(a) or (4) of section (Imposition of surcharge: failure to provide declaration in time) which would, if paid, be required to be refunded under subsection (5) of that section.”
47: Page 7, line 28, leave out “may” and insert “must”
48: Page 7, line 32, at end insert—
“(3A) The duty under subsection (1) is also subject to any direction given by the Secretary of State under section 11(2)(a).”
49: Page 7, line 32, at end insert—
“(3B) A harbour authority which fails to comply with subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction—
(a) in England and Wales, to a fine, or
(b) in Scotland and Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.”
50: After Clause 9, insert the following new Clause—
“Provision of information by harbour authorities
(1) The Secretary of State may by notice require a harbour authority to provide information to the Secretary of State for the purpose of establishing whether, or to what extent, the authority is complying with its duties under this Act.
(2) The information referred to in subsection (1) may in particular include information about—
(a) the services provided by ships that use the harbour,
(b) equivalence declarations requested by, or provided to, the harbour authority,
(c) surcharges imposed or received by the harbour authority, and
(d) decisions by the harbour authority to refuse or not refuse access to its harbour pursuant to section 13.
(3) Subsection (1) does not require a harbour authority to provide information to the extent that doing so would cause the authority to breach the data protection legislation (but in determining whether providing information would cause the authority to breach that legislation, the requirement imposed by subsection (1) is to be taken into account).
(4) A notice under subsection (1) may require the information to be provided in a manner, and within a period, specified in the notice.
(5) A harbour authority is guilty of an offence if it—
(a) fails to provide, in the manner and within the period specified under subsection (4), information required by the Secretary of State under this section,
(b) provides information so required that is false or misleading, or
(c) provides information so required that becomes false or misleading and fails to inform the Secretary of State within four weeks that it has become so.
(6) A harbour authority guilty of an offence under subsection (5) is liable on summary conviction—
(a) in England and Wales, to a fine, or
(b) in Scotland and Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.”
51: Page 8, line 2, leave out subsection (1)
52: Page 8, line 6, leave out “exercise, or not to exercise, any of their powers under” and insert “not do anything they would otherwise be under a duty to do by reason of”
53: Page 8, line 7, leave out “exercise any of their powers” and insert “comply with any of their duties”
54: Page 8, line 8, leave out subsection (3)
55: Page 8, line 14, leave out “guidance and”
56: Page 8, line 16, leave out subsection (6)
57: Page 8, line 22, leave out from “conviction” to end of line and insert “— (a) in England and Wales, to a fine, or
(b) in Scotland and Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.”
58: Page 8, line 33, after “Act” insert “, other than regulations under section 1(2A),”
59: Page 8, line 34, at end insert—
“(3A) The Secretary of State may not make a statutory instrument containing regulations under section 1(2A) unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by resolution of, each House of Parliament.”
60: Page 9, line 6, leave out “direction” and insert “regulations”
61: Page 9, line 8, leave out subsection (4)
62: Page 9, line 13, at end insert—
““the data protection legislation” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3 of that Act);
“equivalence declaration” has the meaning given by section 3(2);”
63: Page 9, line 25, at end insert—
““relevant year” has the meaning given by section 3(4A);”
64: Page 10, line 1, leave out subsection (6)
Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)
My Lords, I begin by expressing my gratitude to all noble Lords for their thoughtful consideration of this important legislation. As the Bill progressed through your Lordships’ House and the other place, the Government listened carefully to concerns raised by parliamentarians, and we engaged further with stakeholders. The amendments before your Lordships’ House today address many of the concerns raised and ensure that the Bill is effective and enforceable, simple to apply and delivers its intended benefits to seafarers.
The amendments to be considered today may appear numerous, but many are minor and technical. The amendments can be considered according to four themes: switching powers to duties; clarifying matters around equivalence declarations; switching the duty for setting a surcharge from the harbour authority to the Secretary of State; and, finally, changes to regulations, guidance and directions, most of which come from the previous three themes.
I turn to the first set of amendments, which change the previously discretionary powers of harbour authorities to request declarations, impose surcharges and refuse access to harbours to mandatory duties. Through continued engagement with port stakeholders, we were informed that harbour authorities would be unlikely to exercise their discretionary powers without being directed to do so. Therefore, this change from discretionary powers to duties will strengthen the Bill.
15:45
Harbour authorities will now be required to request an equivalence declaration from an operator, if they have reasonable grounds to believe that ships providing the service will call at the harbour at least 120 times in the relevant year. Reasonable grounds may include a service’s schedule in previous years or may arise from the normal communications that a harbour authority would have with operators using its ports. Furthermore, they must impose the surcharge in the circumstances specified in the Bill: where a declaration has not been provided in time; where a declaration relates to only part of a year; or where the harbour authority has reasonable grounds to believe that a service is being operated inconsistently with a declaration or that a declaration has been provided that is false or misleading. Where a surcharge has been imposed but not paid, harbour authorities must refuse access to their harbour.
We have also made several consequential changes to the Bill to reflect these new duties, including the power for the Secretary of State to require information from harbour authorities and to conduct inspections for the purpose of establishing whether, or to what extent, the authority is complying with its duties. There are new criminal offences where harbour authorities do not comply with their duties to request equivalence declarations, impose surcharges or refuse harbour access. It will also be an offence for a harbour authority to fail to provide information required by the Secretary of State in the manner and within the period specified, to provide false or misleading information, or to not inform the Secretary of State within four weeks if the information becomes false or misleading. A harbour authority that is guilty of an offence under the Bill will be liable on summary conviction to an unlimited fine in England and Wales, or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The second type of amendment relates to changes to the national minimum wage equivalence declarations, which I shall refer to for ease as “equivalence declarations”. We have made provision for equivalence declarations to relate to a fixed “relevant year” to be set out in regulations. The relevant year will be the same for all harbour authorities; this will provide the greater certainty that harbour authorities will require to comply with their new duties, reduce the administrative burden and make enforcement more straightforward. We have also clarified that a declaration can be provided before, during or after the year to which it relates and that declarations can relate to part of a year. This provides harbour authorities with more flexibility to request declarations in all possible circumstances when it becomes clear that a service is in scope.
Related to this matter is a new clause, introduced in place of the offence in what was Clause 3(5) and (6). The offences in this clause cater for the fact that a declaration may be provided before, during or after the year to which it relates. This includes introducing a new criminal offence where an operator provides a declaration which is false or misleading in so far as it concerns the operation of a service for a period in the past.
The third theme of these amendments is the change to the surcharge mechanism, on top of making their imposition a duty on harbour authorities. First, we have clarified the circumstances in which harbour authorities must impose surcharges to reflect the fact that equivalence declarations may be provided before, during or after the year to which they relate, as I have noted. Thus a harbour authority must impose surcharges where a declaration has not been provided in time; where a declaration relates to only part of a year; or where the harbour authority has reasonable grounds to believe that a service is being operated inconsistently with a declaration.
We have changed the duty for setting the rate of the surcharge from harbour authorities to the Secretary of State. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market, for raising the issue earlier on in the passage of the Bill. This does not fundamentally change the compliance process, as ports will still have a role in imposing the surcharge, but they will not now set the rate. We will consult on the regulations that provide for the surcharge tariff to ensure that it is set at an appropriate rate.
We have also made changes to specify a time limit for objections to surcharges in regulations. We have removed the provision that harbour authorities can use funds from a surcharge for the discharge of their functions, meaning that from now on it must be used only for shore-based welfare facilities for seafarers. I am sure that noble Lords will agree that this is exactly right.
The noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market, also raised the issue of a possible conflict of interest where a harbour authority and an operator are owned by a connected company, causing a potential weakening of the financial disincentive that the surcharge is intended to be. We agreed that the Bill would be strengthened by making an amendment to address this potential conflict of interest.
Finally, I turn to amendments relating to regulation-making powers and powers to give statutory guidance and directions to harbour authorities. These are all consequential on the three previous themes of the amendments. For example, the power to give statutory guidance to harbour authorities has been removed from the Bill. Instead, the Government still intend to provide guidance to harbour authorities. That of course will be consulted on, but I make it clear that it will not be statutory guidance because the harbour authorities will have duties.
The amendments to the direction-making power have redefined the circumstances in which directions may be given to harbour authorities. Of course, now we do not need the power to direct harbour authorities to do something, because they now have a duty to do it. However, we need the power to direct them not to do something in the circumstances where we really do not want them to do that thing—that is just flipped over.
We have also included a power to make regulations by the affirmative procedure that will specify the factors that are or are not to be considered in determining whether ships on the same route are providing the same service. This is really to ensure that we do have the power if it becomes clear that operators are avoiding falling into the definition of a service by acting in a certain way. We do not believe that this power will be needed. However, it is there out of an abundance of caution should it become apparent, once the Act is in force, that operators are trying to get round it in certain ways. To ensure that it has the full scrutiny of your Lordships’ House, it will be subject to the affirmative procedure and, as I said, we do not see any circumstances in which that power will be used. But noble Lords did raise concerns during the passage of the Bill that operators might act in such a way, so we felt it prudent to include it on a just-in-case basis.
Those are all the amendments that we propose. I note that there are 64 of them. However, as I have said, most of them are minor and consequential within the major themes, and I hope I have reassured noble Lords that they will strengthen the Bill’s effectiveness. We listened to noble Lords and ensured that we engaged with stakeholders, and I believe that the Bill will now ensure that operators pay a fair wage to seafarers. I beg to move.
Baroness Scott of Needham Market (LD)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing these amendments. I confess that when the Bill finished its passage through this House, I felt rather depressed that I had not been able to convince the Government that there were some fundamental flaws, but the changes today show that the Government were convinced. The problem, I think, was not quite understanding the nature of the relationship between harbour authorities and the vessel operators that use the harbour. Putting them in the position of trying very hard to get the business of operators and then leaving it up to them as to whether they take action against them just did not feel right, particularly in cases where the vessel operators and the harbour authority are under the same ownership—there is a direct conflict of interests. All these amendments that change powers into duties are a really welcome clarification, particularly the duty on the Secretary of State and not the harbour authority to set surcharges.
I have two questions for the Minister. On Amendment 36, spending funds on seafarers’ welfare facilities is a really smart idea, but has anything been considered to ensure that any money spent this way will be additional and will not simply replace money that the vessel operators or harbour authorities would have spent anyway? Finally, and in many ways most importantly, on Amendment 44 and the refusal of access to a port under certain circumstances, I know that the industry was concerned that this would not be lawful under international maritime regulations and would amount to impeding the right of passage. , Has the noble Baroness had any further discussions with the industry and has she been able to convince its members that they are on safe legal ground?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
My Lords, I am very pleased to support the Motion before the House today in the name of the Minister. The action taken by P&O Ferries was a national scandal which should have marked a line in the sand, and any attempt to prevent a repeat of such events will always be welcome. On that basis, we have supported the limited measures in the Bill, but given the limited scope of this legislation, my noble friend Lord Tunnicliffe and others also called for broader measures beyond wages.
The wider issues, including roster patterns, wages and pensions, have yet to be addressed, and I hope the House will soon see further legislation to deliver these. It would also be helpful to know how those responsible for such exploitative practices can be brought to justice, and there are still serious health and safety concerns regarding the working conditions of seafarers. We also have to consider the much wider problem of fire and rehire—another favourite of exploitative employers—but I am sure that is for another Bill on another day.
However, as much as I am disappointed that many of these problems remain, I am pleased that the Government have now introduced amendments, as set out in detail by the Minister, on issues which required clarification. These new amendments, including in relation to tariffs, fines, surcharges, the information that a harbour authority can request from an operator and the introduction of relevant offences, each have our support. It is important as well that it is not the harbour authority that sets the charge, as this raised a number of issues. We agree that spending money on seafarers is appropriate and right, and I am interested in the Minister’s answer to the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Scott.
I will finish by expressing how grateful I am that the noble Baroness, Lady Vere of Norbiton, has engaged with the House throughout the passage of the Bill. I thank her for her time in a meeting to explain progress on the Bill on my second day as transport spokesperson, and for her patience in answering all my questions. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, for her involvement and contribution to the Bill. I thank the trade unions for continuing to champion the cause of seafarers and my noble friends on the Front Bench, particularly my noble friend Lord Tunnicliffe for his personal support and for bringing his encyclopaedic knowledge to bear during the passage of the Bill. I hope the House will share our support for the Bill.
Motion agreed.