Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of UK seafarer (a) ratings and (b) officers were employed on non-UK registered vessels that qualified for the tonnage tax scheme in each year since 2000-01.

Statistical estimates for the number of UK nationals employed as seafarers are available for calendar years from 2002 onwards. Data for 2015 is not yet available. Tonnage tax companies are required annually to inform the Department of the numbers of UK seafarers employed on their ships, as at 1 October each year. The table attached gives an extrapolation of these figures to estimate the number and percentage of UK seafarer ratings and officers who were employed on non-UK registered vessels entered in the tonnage tax in each year from 2002 to 2014.