Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with P&O ferries on the 800 members of staff who have been sacked from their jobs; what steps his Department is taking to (a) support those staff and (b) minimise passenger disruption.

The Secretary of State has written to the chief executive of P&O Ferries to express his anger over their handling of the situation and urge him to engage with the seafarers affected to rectify his decision.

I also spoke with the CEO of P&O Ferries on Thursday 17 March to express my concern and anger at the manner in which they have treated their loyal, hard working seafarers. I will continue to engage with P&O Ferries throughout this situation and have insisted P&O Ferries support those affected.

The Department for Work and Pensions have reached out to P&O Ferries employees to offer assistance and a number of schemes can be accessed. The Home Office, other transport operators and local employers are also offering support within their respective organisations.

Although replacement services are available, there will be some disruption over the coming days. Officials are in close contact with resilience forums across the country and with the Devolved Administrations to mitigate this disruption.