Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on the appointment of a new head of the UK Shipping Register; and whether there is a deadline by which that vacancy must be filled.

I fully support the decision to recruit a new Director of the United Kingdom Ship Register within the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Creating this position is an immediate and positive response to a recommendation in Lord Mountevans’ Maritime Growth Study Report published on 7 September 2015 at the start of London International Shipping Week. The appointment will be made as soon as possible on the basis of an open and fair competition for this Senior Civil Service role. There is no deadline by which that appointment must be made.