Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how the Maritime and Coastguard Agency coordinates with local authorities and environmental regulators when containers or cargo are lost at sea and subsequently wash ashore.

Once notified, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) will alert stakeholders such as local authorities, environmental regulators, including Department for Fisheries and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and other relevant organisations via a standard pollution report known as POLREP. The POLREP is an established mechanism for alerting relevant UK government authorities. If cargo is likely to impact the shoreline the local authorities will also be contacted by telephone to provide additional briefing and to ensure the POLREP was received and content noted.

Additionally, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency will contact the relevant Standing Environment Group and discuss whether it would be appropriate to formally activate an operational Environment Group. The Environment Group will provide advice on potential environmental sensitivities which may be impacted by the incident or the responses being considered for dealing with the pollution. As a minimum the membership of the Environment Group will be comprised of the environmental regulator, statutory nature conservation body, fisheries regulator and public health body relevant to the incident location.

Responsibility for clean up on the shoreline sits with the local authority or landowner. If the local authority determine the incident to warrant a multiagency response, as per civil contingency emergency response arrangements, the MCA would be represented in those meetings to provide updates on any ongoing maritime operations (salvage and pollution response), deliver the outputs of any aerial or satellite surveillance and to provide advice in relation to impacts of the containers and their contents.