Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with maritime trade unions on the employment conditions of (a) non-European and (b) European seafarers on MS Finnpulp.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Ministers have regular engagement with the maritime trade unions but have not discussed the employment conditions on MS Finnpulp.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the number of seafarer jobs that were supported by each shipping activity in Teesport in each year since 2015.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The Department publishes statistics on seafarers nationally however these are not available at port level.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of trends in the level of demand for shipping services from Teesport to Zeebrugge in the logistics sector.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The port and shipping sectors are both private, commercial sectors. Therefore, the assessment of future demand requirements of specific markets such as logistics, will be a commercial factor for relevant operators.
The Department for Transport does not publish statistics at port-to-port level due to commercial sensitivity, however, statistics for UK major port freight traffic to specific countries are available in table PORT0499, accessible here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F1122247%2Fport0499.ods&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many organisations attended the rail passenger service contract market engagement day on 4 November 2021; and which owning groups attended that day.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
550 individuals registered for the Rail Passenger Service Contract (PSC) day on the 4 November representing 228 organisations. These organisations included existing or potential investors, owning groups or operators; other attendees included advisors, rolling stock companies and infrastructure providers.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the rail passenger service contract market engagement day on 4 November 2021, what discussions took place on the risks arising from industrial action; and what the outcomes of those discussions were.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As communicated to participants, information provided at the market engagement day was indicative in nature. No overall decision on the future solution, technical elements, funding or commercial approach to passenger service contracts has yet been agreed.
Officials from the Department communicated an emerging policy position that Operators will continue to be responsible for the management of relationships with staff and unions, and that the Department are considering the possibility of offering operators some conditional relief from performance penalties in the event of industrial action, provided that the relevant operator acts in a good and efficient manner.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether there are any financial implications for operators of (a) National Rail Contracts and (b) rail passenger service contracts in the event of industrial action.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
(a) The financial implications for operators would depend on the nature of the industrial action and the actions of the operator. Where an operator failed to take appropriate action to mitigate the risk of industrial action in line with its NRC obligations, then potentially it may be liable for any revenue lost as a result. Further information on DfT payments to passenger rail operators under emergency agreements and National Rail Contracts is available on gov.uk. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dft-payments-to-passenger-rail-operators-under-emergency-agreements).
(b) Officials continue to consider the financial implications and approach to risks arising from industrial action under the Passenger Service Contracts; no policy decisions have yet been made.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who will be responsible for risks arising from industrial action under rail passenger service contracts.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Officials continue to consider the financial implications and approach to risks arising from industrial action under the Passenger Service Contracts; no policy decisions have yet been made.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October 2021 to Question 58484 on Railways: Electrification, what plans he has for the electrification of the line from Northallerton through to Middlesbrough and Saltburn.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Government remains committed to rail decarbonisation to meet our 2050 net zero target and electrification will play an important part in this. This commitment was set out in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan. To deliver that, the Department will consider potential schemes, guided by Network Rail’s Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy (TDNS), ensuring that they can be delivered efficiently and affordably.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of 27 April 2021, Official Report, column 86WH, on the Government's policy on the inappropriate use by some employers of fire and rehire as a negotiation tactic, what steps their Department has taken to (a) investigate and (b) discourage the use of fire and rehire negotiation tactics by their Department's executive non-departmental public bodies; and what steps they have taken to communicate the Government's policy on those practices to those bodies.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
We work constructively with each non-departmental public body we have responsibility for, including workforce management matters. However each is ultimately responsible for the management of their staff. We expect our public bodies to have constructive relationships with their staff and unions and not to engage in inappropriate negotiation tactics.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on (a) existing collective bargaining agreements and (b) local employment at Teesport of Mudabala’s takeover of PD Ports.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department has not made any assessment on the potential effect on collective bargaining agreements or local employment at Teesport.