Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to support seafarer mental health; and how that support will be made accessible.

The Department and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (the MCA) have taken action in a number of ways in recent years to support seafarer mental health. The MCA has published “Wellbeing at Sea – A Guide for Organisations” and “Wellbeing at Sea – A Pocket Guide for Seafarers” and supporting posters.

The Agency worked with the Merchant Navy Training Board on the introduction of mental health awareness training as part of the mandatory “Personal Safety and Social Responsibility” training which every seafarer must undergo when joining the industry. The MCA also contributed to the work of the Maritime Charities Group on a new, elective training course for seafarers supporting those with mental health issues.

The MCA and the Red Ensign Group sponsored International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network’s (ISWAN) project “Social Interaction Matters”, which aims to help shipping and ship management companies to positively impact the wellbeing of their seafarers by improving social interaction on board. The final report will be published later this year.

Currently, the MCA is piloting a cadet wellbeing support programme to prepare cadets for their time at sea (working with the Tapiit Academy). A new Wellbeing at Sea Tool will be launched in the summer to help shipping companies to monitor the wellbeing of their employees and focus help where it is needed. The wellbeing tool will take the form of an anonymous survey which seafarers will complete. The results will give management insights into areas where wellbeing could be improved. The survey can be repeated as changes are made to ensure that wellbeing initiatives have the desired impacts. Seafarers’ will be provided with tailored information and advice to improve their wellbeing based on their responses.