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.

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.