Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to implement recommendation 15 of the Department for Transport's Maritime Growth Study, published in September 2015, on improving links between the Royal Navy and the wider UK maritime sector.

The Royal Navy (RN) has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to allow Warfare Officers to obtain commercial Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) certificates of competency. Discussions with the MCA have commenced to develop a similar MOU for Engineer Officers and Ratings. More widely the RN continues to seek to align its training with STCW requirements. The RN Resettlement Service also offers impartial advice on second careers with many strong links with maritime sector organisations and companies.