Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the (a) number of women employed in the Merchant Navy and (b) positions they hold.

The information held by the Department for both men and women is given in the table below. It comes from a manpower survey conducted by the Chamber of Shipping of its membership, and relates to officers and ratings who are working regularly in a sea-going activity. It therefore excludes seafarers who are not employed by Chamber of Shipping members, although the number of such seafarers is expected to be small.