Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with DP World, owners of P&O Ferries Ltd on (a) furlough support for the wages of 1,400 P&O staff in the UK and (b) the proposal for 1,100 redundancies amongst P&O’s UK seafarers and other maritime staff in Dover and Hull.
The Department’s officials and I have been working closely with operators across the maritime sector including P&O Ferries, to understand the impacts and challenges they face from the global COVID-19 crisis. The Department recognises the contribution UK seafarers make to the economy and we remain committed to supporting them. On 24 April we announced a package of support to maintain services on critical freight routes between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and between Great Britain and mainland Europe.