Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with P&O Ferries.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We welcome P&O Ferries’ statement that it is committed to signing the Seafarers’ Charter, following Brittany Ferries, Condor, DFDS and Stena Line in committing to work towards meeting its requirements.
Following P&O Ferries’ commitment, officials met representatives of the company on Monday 18 March for a technical discussion on how compliance with the Charter requirements should be demonstrated. We anticipate further such discussions.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the UK signing up to the European Company for the Financing of Railroad Rolling Stock convention.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government is supportive of international initiatives to help deliver new vehicles and upgrade existing fleets that improve passenger experience and support our decarbonisation objectives. We are committed to encouraging investment in domestic and international rail services and unlocking greater private financing to support this.
My officials have engaged regularly with Eurofima, the company established by the convention, to discuss the potential opportunities and costs associated with it. However, given the significant membership requirements of Eurofima, any decision would be subject to the usual value for money considerations.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recruitment process his Department followed for the recent appointment of the Director General for Rail Services on 18 March 2024.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
On 18 March 2024 the Department for Transport announced the appointment of Alex Hynes to the role of Director General for Rail Services. Alex has been appointed through a time-bound secondment agreement with Network Rail. Appropriate approvals were sought and obtained including from the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and Civil Service Commission.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the on-board catering capacity of the Class 390 Pendolino trains operated by Avanti West Coast following the refurbishment of that train fleet.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The on-board catering capacity on the refurbished Class 390 Pendolino fleet is a matter for the operator. However, officials regularly hold Avanti West Coast (AWC) to account on the on-board customer experience they provide to passengers including catering services.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what dates the Maritime and Coastguard Agency carried out port state control inspections of the (a) P&O Pioneer and (b) P&O Liberte ferries in Dover under the Merchant Shipping (Inspections of Ro-Ro Passenger Ships and High-Speed Passenger Craft) Regulations 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The P&O PIONEER was last inspected under the EU Directive, 2017/2110 on “A system of Inspections for the safe operations of ro-ro passenger ships and high-speed craft in regular service” by the French on 17 November 2023 in the port of Calais. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) carried out general inspections on board on 2 and 9 June 2023 in the ports of Dunkerque and Dover respectively.
The P&O LIBERTE was last inspected under the EU Directive, 2017/2110 on “A system of Inspections for the safe operations of ro-ro passenger ships and high-speed craft in regular service” by the French on 11 March 2024 in the port of Calais. The MCA carried out a port state control inspection on board on 7 March 2024 in the port of Dover.
The Merchant Shipping (Inspections of Ro-Ro Passenger Ships and High-Speed Passenger Craft) Regulations 2023 do not apply to these vessels as they operate to an EU member state. As set out in Regulation 2(a), a regular service is defined as a service between a port in the United Kingdom and a port of a country other than an EU member state. The Merchant Shipping (Inspections of Ro-Ro Passenger Ships and High-Speed Passenger Craft) Regulations 2023 apply to all ro-ro passenger ferries or high-speed passenger craft, which operate a regular service to or from a port in the United Kingdom either on an international voyage to a non-EU port or to another UK port in sea areas designated Class A in accordance with the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ships on Domestic Voyages) Regulations 2000. Inspections of foreign flagged ro-ro passenger ferries or high-speed passenger craft on a regular service between the UK and a port in the European Union will be carried out under the Port State Control regime in accordance with Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2011.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to ensure that crew employment conditions on the (a) P&O Pioneer and (b) P&O Liberte ferries are compliant with the (i) ILO Maritime Labour Convention and (ii) Seafarers’ Charter.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The P&O PIONEER and P&O LIBERTE operate between the ports of Dover and Calais. These ships are subject to inspections both under the EU Directive, 2017/2110 on “A system of Inspections for the safe operations of ro-ro passenger ships and high-speed craft in regular service” and the Paris MoU port state control regime by the French and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
They are subject to two inspections under the EU directive and one port state control inspection every year. All of these inspections include verification of compliance with elements of the Maritime Labour Convention, for example: seafarer employment agreements; wages; accommodation; food and catering; leave; medical care; welfare; and health protection. Whenever surveyors from the MCA are on board these vessels, these items form part of their inspections.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2024 to Question 11055 on Railway Signals: Cambridge, what his Department's timeframe is for the development of a business case for the re-signalling of Ely Junction.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The recently announced Network North programme of investment included confirmation of government’s support for the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement (EACE) programme and the substantial benefits this will bring, including a doubling of passenger services on the Ely to Kings Lynn and Ipswich to Peterborough routes together with additional freight paths into the Port of Felixstowe.
Network Rail have developed the scheme to Outline Business Case stage; next steps will involve further investment case development and delivery planning.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2024 to Question 11059 on Railways: Finance, how much was spent on rail enhancements in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (d) 2022 and (e) 2023.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Rail enhancements are delivered through the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline, which has spent the following in each year in CP6 (including contributions to 3rd party schemes), from 2019 (figures shown in £m, nominal):
a) 2019/20: £1,475m
b) 2020/21: £1,477m
c) 2021/22: £1,685m
d) 2022/23: £1,840m
e) 2023/24: £2,156*
* (outturn data for 2023/24 is provisional and is subject to change)
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) reporting mechanisms and (b) governance structures are in place to oversee spending on the Transpennine Route Upgrade project.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
TRU is overseen by a Programme Board comprising senior DfT, Network Rail, Train Operating Companies and freight industry members, it also includes independent non-Executives and an Independent Chair to ensure robust challenge. The DfT's Senior Responsible Owner retains overall accountability for successful delivery of the project.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Government response to the Fifth Report of the Transport Committee of Session 2022–23 on Maritime 2050: objectives, implementation and effects, published on 24 May 2023, what progress he has made on negotiations with the Spanish Government on practices concerning conditions for seafarers on board third country flagged ships operating regular shipping routes between ports in Spain and the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 7 July 2023, the UK and Spain signed a Memorandum of Understanding on conditions for seafarers aboard third-country flagged vessels in which we agreed to examine how we could cooperate and consider the impact of existing and new measures.