Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward proposals to tackle seafarer fatigue in the ferry sector at the 106th Session of the International Maritime Organisation’s Maritime Safety Committee in London from 31 October to 4 November 2022.

As part of the seafarer protections nine-point plan, the government is working with industry and social partners to create a framework to advance employment and welfare protections for seafarers.

The government promoted measures to improve seafarer welfare at the International Labour Organization’s recent Fourth Meeting of the Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC). The UK supported eight amendments to the MLC, including measures to improve seafarers’ access to the internet, to ensure that appropriately-sized personal protective equipment is available to support women seafarers, to clarify that drinking water should be provided free of charge, and to require that food aboard is of an appropriate quality and nutritional value.

We are continuing to highlight our ambitious seafarer protections nine-point plan and the wider objectives of Maritime 2050 to international partners both bilaterally and at the multilateral level at every opportunity (including at the IMO and ILO), as we work towards a step change in seafarer protections and welfare at the global level.