Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the report entitled Seafarers in the UK Shipping Industry: 2018, published by his Department on 12 December 2018, what the changes were in the coverage of data provided by the UK Chamber of Shipping that accounted for the 23 per cent increase in ratings between 2017 and 2018.

Several different factors will be influencing the 23% increase in the number of ratings active at sea in 2018. These include the changing membership of UK Chamber of Shipping and a large company changing the nature of its operations in the UK in that year. The largest increases were in the catering, hotel and other categories.