Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps her Department has taken to (a) reduce the number of abandoned leisure boats and (b) mitigate environmental damage from those boats.

The department has taken no recent steps to address either of the two issues raised in the question. The department has issued advice in the port marine safety code around the issue of abandoned vessels, but that advice is aimed at vessels which pose a threat to safety. The department would expect that each port would use its powers in a reasonable manner to the limit of its authority to address any issue caused by abandoned leisure vessels, and would do so in would environmentally responsible way.