Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will introduce legislative proposals to address the shining of lasers at aircraft and other vehicles.
Answered by John Hayes
After considerable work with the UK Laser working group and across Whitehall, the Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill contained clauses making it an offence to shine or direct a laser at a vehicle, designed to strengthen existing legislation to address the risk of lasers being used maliciously against aircraft and other vehicles.
Unfortunately the Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill fell upon prorogation. To provide further certainty to pilots and the wider public, the Department for Transport is continuing to look at other legislative vehicles to strengthen existing legislation.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the options under consideration in the European Commission's consultation on the REFIT review of Directive 2009/103/EC on motor insurance; and what representations he is making to the (a) European Commission and (b) his EU counterparts on that matter.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Department’s priority for the REFIT review is the correction of the scope of the Directive following the Vnuk judgment, such that it only applies to motor vehicles used in traffic. We collaborated with like-minded Member States to write a letter to the Commissioner putting forward this view.
The Department continue to encourage UK stakeholders to talk with their counterparts in Europe.
The Department is otherwise broadly content with how the Directive works but have made minor suggestions for improvement.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding was available to employers from the Support for Maritime Training budget for (a) trainee seafarer ratings, (b) rating to officer conversion and (c) officer cadets in 2016-17.
Answered by John Hayes
The Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) budget in 2016-17 was £15 million and was available to employers, as sponsoring companies, for approved training of (a) trainee seafarer ratings, (b) rating to officer conversions and (c) officer cadets.
Although SMarT has a fixed budget, funding continues to be allocated on the basis of demand, all of which was met in full in 2016-17.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2017 to Question 58094, when he plans to publish the (a) review of the Support for Maritime Training scheme and (b) analysis of commercial opportunities within the Maritime and Coastguard Agency that was commissioned by his Department on the recommendations of the Maritime Growth Study.
Answered by John Hayes
(a) The report we commissioned Frazer Nash and Oxford Economics to produce on the Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) funding programme has been completed and we intend to publish before the summer recess.
(b) I refer to my answer to UIN 57565 of 19 December 2016.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what survey and inspection work has been carried out for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency by each authorised recognised organisation from January 2016 to date; and what the cost to the public purse was of each such piece of work.
Answered by John Hayes
Six Recognised Organisations (ROs) are authorised by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to undertake approximately 85% of statutory ship survey and inspection work on its behalf, and issue certification dependent on vessel type under the following International Conventions:
Certain elements of statutory survey, audit and inspection functions from the applicable Conventions are retained by the MCA based on risk, for example Passenger Ship Safety Certification, International Ship Security Certification, International Safety Management Certification and the Maritime Labour Convention. Further authorisation may be provided under two trial authorisation schemes that offer additional authorisation to ROs for qualifying low risk ships and shipping companies/operators.
There is limited cost to the public purse from the above authorisations, however the UK, under International Conventions including the RO Code[1] and III Code[2], and as a Member State under European Directive 2009/15/EC[3] is required to satisfy that any survey work completed by ROs acting on its behalf is effectively monitored. The MCA undertakes a comprehensive programme of monitoring and assurance visits and audits, and from January 2016 to March 2017, this has incurred costs of £156,692 based on travel costs, and resource costs for the staff undertaking this work.
[1] IMO Code of Recognized Organizations – Resolution MSC.349(92)
[2] IMO Instruments Implementation Code – Resolution A.1070(28)
[3] Directive 2009/15/EC on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations and for the relevant activities of maritime administrations
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what regulatory oversight the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has of recognised organisations authorised to conduct vessel inspection and survey work on its behalf.
Answered by John Hayes
The UK, under International Conventions including the IMO Code of Recognized Organizations (Res. MSC.349(92)) and the IMO Instruments Implementation Code (Res. A.1070(28)) and as a Member State under European Directive 2009/15/EC is required to satisfy itself that any survey work completed by the six Recognised Organisations (ROs) acting on its behalf is effectively monitored.
Written survey agreements are in place between each individual RO and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) which govern the level of delegation of statutory functions and certification services for vessels registered in the UK.
To provide assurance that survey and certification work delegated to ROs was carried out to agreed standards, the MCA undertakes a comprehensive risk based programme of monitoring and assurance visits and audits.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many merchant navy (a) ratings and (b) officer cadets have been trained in each year since 2000-01.
Answered by John Hayes
The number of new entrant cadets, the number of cadets in training and the number of trainee watch ratings who start training each year can be found in the tables below.
The figures in Table 1 show the number of cadets supported by the Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) scheme who started training in each year since 2000-01.
| 2000/01 | 2001/02 | 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 |
Officer cadets currently in | 1020 | 1010 | 1000 | 1030 | 1050 | 1110 | 1430 | 1700 |
training of which: | ||||||||
SMart1 new entrants | 470 | 450 | 560 | 660 | 560 | 570 | 690 | 850 |
| 2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 |
Officer cadets currently in | 1800 | 1830 | 1840 | 1900 | 1990 | 1940 | 1920 | 1860 |
training of which: | ||||||||
SMart1 new entrants | 930 | 750 | 850 | 900 | 780 | 790 | 820 | 750 |
Table 1: UK officer cadets under SMarT1 scheme (1999-2016)
These figures are derived from SMarT returns for SMarT1 training and may include a small number of EU trainees resident in the UK. Numbers are rounded to nearest 10. Figures for 2016-17 are not yet available.
The figures in Table 2 below show the number of watch rating trainees who have been supported by SMarT each year since 2011-12. The data held by the MCA for ratings training prior to 2011-12 includes concessionaire training and does not provide an accurate reflection of watch rating training.
Year | Watch Rating Trainees |
2011/12 | 32 |
2012/13 | 13 |
2013/14 | 12 |
2014/15 | 4 |
2015/16 | 7 |
Table 2: UK watch rating trainees under Smart scheme (2011 – 2016)