Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2022 to Question 13761 on Shipping: Pay, what progress his Department has made on developing legislative proposals on UK National Minimum Wage for seafarers.

Legislation to ensure that seafarers working on vessels that regularly use UK ports are paid at least an equivalent rate to the UK National Minimum Wage, irrespective of the seafarer or flag of the vessel, will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows. The public consultation on the Bill’s proposals closed on 7th June 2022, and we will be publishing a government response to the consultation in due course, following a full analysis of the responses. In parallel we continue to liaise with international partners to set up bilateral minimum wage equivalent corridors, in the territorial waters of each country and are working through international organisations to create a step change in seafarer welfare.