Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2022 to Question 697 on P&O Ferries: Inspections, how many working hours MCA inspectors have spent completing Port State Control inspections of the P&O Ferries fleet (a) in each year since 2019 and (b) from 17 March 2022 to date.

Port State Control (PSC) inspections are not initially chargeable and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) records hours spent on PSC activity are general and not specific to a particular vessel. If a vessel is detained, the MCA records the number of hours spent performing PSC activity on that particular vessel in order to be able to charge for that activity. No P&O Ferries have been detained prior to 17 March 2022.

Since 17 March 2022, the hours being charged for Pride of Kent and Spirit of Britain are 150 and 101 hours, respectively. The hours for European Causeway are still being finalised but expected to be approximately 122 hours.

The information to determine the hours spent when a vessel is not detained is not in a readily available format.