Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help ensure that assistance is provided at stations without ticket offices for people who have difficulties with automated systems.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Together with industry, we want to improve and modernise the passenger experience by moving staff out from ticket offices to provide more help and advice in customer focused roles. The consultation period has now closed, and we expect train operators to work collaboratively with the passenger bodies in the coming weeks, to listen to the concerns raised and to refine their proposals accordingly.
We have been clear that no currently staffed station should be unstaffed as a result of industry changes, and operators should ensure that staff are well located to meet passenger needs in future. This includes ensuring that staff remain available to help passengers use ticket vending machines, or their own devices to purchase tickets and they can assist those who need additional support or do not wish to use digital tickets. Exact staffing arrangements would vary by train operator and station and are subject to ongoing discussions with staff and their trade union representatives.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Offshore Wind Industry Council’s Offshore Wind Skills Intelligence Report 2023 on levels of employment in the UK maritime sector.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department for Transport has not made a formal assessment on the compatibility of the Offshore Wind Skills Intelligence Report 2023 with the aims of the Maritime 2050 Strategy. The Department does not plan an assessment of the report on levels of employment in the UK maritime sector, noting the report itself is already highly detailed and provides an employment estimate broken down by role.
Enhancing the UK’s maritime skills and training offer is at the heart of the Government’s commitment to level up the economy. This objective is supported by the recommendations of the Maritime 2050 People Route Map. To support delivery, the Department commissioned the Maritime Skills Commission to undertake Cadet and Ratings Reviews with the objective of exploring where barriers and opportunities exist to enhance and grow the offer for UK seafarers.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the employment estimates in the Offshore Wind Industry Council’s Offshore Wind Skills Intelligence Report 2023 with the aims of the Maritime 2050 Strategy.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department for Transport has not made a formal assessment on the compatibility of the Offshore Wind Skills Intelligence Report 2023 with the aims of the Maritime 2050 Strategy. The Department does not plan an assessment of the report on levels of employment in the UK maritime sector, noting the report itself is already highly detailed and provides an employment estimate broken down by role.
Enhancing the UK’s maritime skills and training offer is at the heart of the Government’s commitment to level up the economy. This objective is supported by the recommendations of the Maritime 2050 People Route Map. To support delivery, the Department commissioned the Maritime Skills Commission to undertake Cadet and Ratings Reviews with the objective of exploring where barriers and opportunities exist to enhance and grow the offer for UK seafarers.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2023 to Question 177809 on Shipping: Tonnage Tax, whether his Department requires companies linked to vessels that are not part of the Red Ensign Group to provide evidence in their returns that they are (a) strategically and (b) commercially managed in the UK.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
HM Revenue and Customs is responsible for determining whether a company or group is eligible to elect into the UK Tonnage scheme.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Ratings were trained on Tonnage Tax qualifying vessels in each year from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
To meet the Tonnage Tax training obligation, companies submit returns to the Department for Transport that specify the number of months that have been satisfied by the training of ratings. The following figures have been obtained from those returns.
2018/19 – 128 months equivalent to 11 ratings
2019/20 – 276 months equivalent to 23 ratings
2020/21 – 65 months equivalent to 5 ratings
2021/22 – 168 months equivalent to 14 ratings
2022/23 – 48 months so far representing 12 ratings currently part way through training as this year is still in progress.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to strengthen the link with ratings training in the Tonnage Tax.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
To future-proof seafarer training, the Department has commissioned the Maritime Skills Commission to undertake a Ratings Review. This is exploring what the barriers and opportunities are regarding training for UK ratings, and where opportunities exist to enhance and grow the offer. The review is currently underway, and due to conclude later this year.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will list the number of vessels by flag register that qualify for the Tonnage Tax scheme.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Based on the 2022/23 returns to the Department for Transport from each of the companies within the UK Tonnage Tax scheme the figures for the number of vessels under each flag are as follows:
*UK - 274
Liberia – 125
Marshall Islands – 53
Bahamas – 50
*Isle of Man – 36
Malta – 36
Panama – 22
Hong Kong – 16
Cyprus – 15
Norway – 13
Singapore – 13
*Gibraltar – 11
Madeira – 10
Bermuda – 9
Antigua & Barbuda – 6
Brazil – 3
Finland – 3
Netherlands – 2
Portugal – 2
*Cayman Islands – 1
St Vincent & the Grenadines – 1
Spain – 1
* Part of the Red Ensign Group
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether seafarers working on ferry services between ports in the south of England and ports in (a) Jersey and (b) Guernsey will be eligible for protections under the policy entitled Nine-point plan for seafarers – our commitments to protect seafarers, published 6 July 2022.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Seafarers’ Wages Bill is a key strand in the Nine-Pont Plan for seafarer protections and will ensure that seafarers with close ties to the UK, working aboard services in scope of the Bill and do not qualify for the UK National Minimum Wage, are paid a fair wage.
It will apply to services calling at UK ports from a place outside the UK at least once every 72 hours, which equates to 120 times a year, and access to UK ports will be conditional on operators demonstrating that they will be paying at least an equivalent to the UK National Minimum Wage to their seafarers whilst in UK waters. This would include services calling from Jersey and Guernsey whilst in UK territorial waters, provided that they meet the frequency threshold.
We have also begun engaging with Jersey and Guernsey on how we can improve seafarer welfare and to explore the creation of minimum wage equivalent corridors.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on bilateral agreements on seafarer welfare and employment conditions with (a) France, (b) the Republic of Ireland, (c) the Netherlands, (d) Belgium, (e) Spain, (f) Denmark and (g) Norway.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
We are liaising with and have engaged all of our near European neighbours on how we can collaborate on seafarer welfare and to explore the creation of minimum wage equivalent corridors.
A Bill has been deposited in the French National Assembly that aims to provide a level of pay protection to seafarers working on certain cross-channel services between the UK and France, whilst in specific parts of French territorial waters. We are also working with the French government as they develop their own version of the UK’s Seafarers’ Charter and research into seafarer fatigue.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made to date with Operation Zero and its target of delivering zero emission vessels in the offshore wind supply chain by 2025.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Operation Zero implementation plan was launched in Grimsby in October 2022 with attendance from signatories from across the offshore wind sector and government officials. At this event the steering board and working groups for the initiative were formed.
The first meeting of the steering board is scheduled for April this year with the working groups meeting in March.
My department has been engaging with relevant teams across government to progress this work.