Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Seafarers in the UK Shipping Industry statistics, published by his Department on 22 February 2024, how many vessels belonging to members of the UK Chamber of Shipping were surveyed as part of the data collection process.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department of Transport commission the UK Chamber of Shipping to carry out the Seafarer Employment Survey of its membership, collecting information on the seafarers the companies employ. The survey is about seafarers, therefore data on the number of vessels belonging to members of the UK Chamber of Shipping was not collected as part of this survey.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 18 July 2023 to Question 193953 on Department for Transport: DP World and P&O Ferries, whether (a) his Department has and (b) executive agencies of his Department have (i) made payments and (ii) awarded grants to (A) P&O Ferries and (B) DP World since 17 March 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since 17 March 2022, to allow for the Department and its agencies to carry out unannounced in-service inspections of P&O Ferries vessels, or to perform operational duties where the company is the only operator on the route, there has been a total of three bookings made with P&O Ferries, at a total cost of £453. This is in addition to the expenditure given in the Answer of 18 July 2023 to Question 193953.
A review of spending did not identify any grants made to either DP World or P&O Ferries.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department made payments to (a) P&O Ferries and (b) DP World (i) for Departmental business travel and (ii) on Government Procurement Cards in the period between 17 March 2022 and February 2024.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Neither the former Department for International Trade nor the Department for Business & Trade have made any payments of the types requested to P&O Ferries or DP World.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Answer of 10 July 2023 to Question 192710 on British International Investment: DP World, what the cost to the public purse was of payments made to (a) P&O Ferries and (b) DP World through (i) British International Investment and (ii) other spending by his Department in the period between 17 March 2022 and February 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
British International Investment's (BII) partnership with DP World is supporting the modernising and expansion of three ports in Dakar, Sokhna and Berbera, which aims to increase access to vital goods for 35 million people and add $51 billion to total trade by 2035. Since the answer of 10 July 2023 to Question 192710, no further disbursements have been made by BII. BII has no relationship with P&O Ferries, its investment partnership is solely in certain ports with DP World in Africa. There has been no other payments / funding directly from the FCDO to P&O or DP World in the period between 17 March 2022 and February 2024.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Written Statement of 20 February 2024 on Government response to the consultation on rail reform legislation and draft Rail Reform Bill, HCWS267, what estimate he has made of the savings available to the public purse from the Government's proposals on rail reform; and how that calculation was made.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Written Statement references the draft Rail Reform Bill. The Impact Assessment published alongside the draft Bill gives estimates of costs and savings related to the proposals for a new industry structure. We are committed to reforming the railways and we are getting on with delivering improvements for passengers, freight customers and the taxpayer. Industry experts’ suggested savings are set out in the Plan for Rail.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason supporting documents for the draft Rail Reform Bill published on 20 February 2024 do not reference the expected £1.5 billion in recurring annual savings after an initial five year implementation period from reforms proposed in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, as referenced on pages 8 and 36 of that plan.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The supporting documents for the draft Rail Reform Bill refer only to costs and savings from a new industry structure. Recurring annual savings set out in the Plan for Rail come from a new commercial model, improvement in fares ticketing and retail, a new industry structure and workforce reforms.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his latest estimate is of the recurring annual cost savings after an initial five year implementation period from reforms proposed in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We're committed to reforming the railways and are getting on with delivering improvements for passengers, freight customers and the taxpayer. Industry experts’ suggested savings are set out in the Plan for Rail.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to pages 8 and 36 of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, CP423, published in May 2021, if he will publish the workings behind the £1.5 billion annual cost savings after an initial five year implementation period expected from reforms to the railway proposed in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We're committed to reforming the railways and we are getting on with delivering improvements for passengers, freight customers and the taxpayer. Recurring annual savings set out in the Plan for Rail come from a new commercial model, improvement in fares ticketing and retail, a new industry structure and workforce reforms.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2024 to Question 6514 on Ministry of Defence: P&O Ferries, what the cost to the public purse was of payments made to (a) P&O Ferries and (b) DP World (i) for support of operational movement services, (ii) for business travel and (iii) on Government Procurement Cards in the period between 17 March 2022 and February 2024.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Between 17 March 2022 and 26 February 2024, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) made payments of £710,388.88 directly with P&O using either physical or virtual GPC cards. This includes transactions by the National Movement Coordination Centre (Army). £182,307.89 was spent through GBT, the MOD's contracted travel management company, primarily for business travel.
There are no transactions recorded to DP World.
This is the total consolidated spend as we are unable to identify separately, transactions specifically for the support of operational movement services.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the procurement of services from (a) P&O Ferries and (b) DP World by Government departments.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.