Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that all older passenger boat operators in the UK who will be directly affected by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) proposals for older UK passenger boats will be informed about the forthcoming MCA consultation on that matter.

The forthcoming consultation on older UK domestic passenger vessels will be published by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on GOV.UK. Anyone who subscribes to notifications of MCA consultations via the “Policy Papers and Consultations” page of GOV.UK will be notified of this and other consultations issued by the MCA, by email alert or RSS feed depending on their selection.

Additionally, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) will promulgate the consultation through the main industry safety groups, and other interested parties whose details are held on a notification list for domestic passenger vessels subject matter. This is not exhaustive, but any person or organisation may request that their details be added to the list to receive notifications.