Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to paragraph 3.32 of his Department's consultation document entitled Maritime 2050: Call for evidence, published on 27 March 2018, what assessment he has made of the changes required to his Department’s service level agreement with HMRC for national minimum wage enforcement to (a) apply and (b) enforce entitlement to national minimum wage rates of pay to all merchant seafarers working on commercial vessels in UK territorial waters and on one port voyages to offshore energy installations.

The Department for Transport’s Maritime 2050: Call for evidence consultation document sought views on a long term maritime strategy. Under the ‘people’ theme the document aims to identify issues that are relevant to the nation’s needs on skills, training and employment in 2050.

A legal working group has been considering the current application of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) to seafarers working in the UK and whether legislative changes are necessary. The Minister for Maritime has received recommendations from the group concerning the extension of the NMW and the Government is reviewing these proposals.