Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of ports on (a) economic growth, (b) skills and (c) employment in coastal communities.

Ports are essential to economic growth for the United Kingdom as a trading nation, over 85% of whose international trade moves by sea. They are instrumental in promoting the skills necessary for modern logistics, with support from the sector's Port Skills & Safety body. They generate and sustain employment directly and indirectly, on-port and in their hinterland, with a high proportion of workers resident in coastal communities.