Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the dismissal of 800 workers by P&O and the detainment of ships operated by that company for inspection, what steps his Department will take to ensure safety standards for passengers are upheld on ferry services operated by P&O.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency plan to carry out Port State Control inspections on all the P&O ferries affected prior to them returning to passenger service, to ensure that they remain in compliance with all international requirements.
MCA Officials have completed inspections on the EUROPEAN CAUSEWAY, EUROPEAN HIGHLANDER, PRIDE OF HULL, PRIDE OF KENT, PRIDE OF ROTTERDAM, NORBAY and NORBANK. The PRIDE OF CANTERBURY and SPIRIT OF FRANCE will be inspected by the MCA before they go back into service.
These inspections involve thorough checks of items such as hull, machinery, firefighting and lifesaving arrangements, maintenance and emergency preparedness to ensure that the ferries and its operation meet the requisite safety standards. If the MCA find serious defects, then they will detain the vessel until those matters have been resolved, as illustrated by recent detentions.
All roll-on-roll-off passenger ferries including those operated by P&O are, and will continue to be, inspected annually by the MCA.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of whether all stages of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s 2018 consultation on the Review of standards for older passenger ships were conducted in accordance with his Department's guidance on consultation principles; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
In accordance with the Cabinet Office guidance on consultation principles, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) conducted two public consultations on the implementation of the review of standards for older passenger ships from 6 November 2018 to 29 January 2019 and 29 May 2019 to 10 July 2019, and received 75 and 52 responses respectively. The consultations were published on gov.uk and notified extensively to stakeholders.
In addition, the MCA engaged widely with stakeholders through the Domestic Passenger Ship Steering Group, and held five workshops with industry on the proposals, three during 2016, another in 2018 and a further one in 2019.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the criteria are for exemptions of passenger boats from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s damage stability requirements for category C waters.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Requests from exemptions against safety standards are considered on a case by case basis. Under proposed legislation for older passenger vessels, no new damage stability requirements are expected to be applied to older domestic passenger vessels which operate exclusively on non-tidal Category C Waters.
On tidal Category C waters, owners will be able to apply for exemptions against any new damage stability requirements if they can produce a risk assessment which demonstrates that their area of operation is one of low operational risk. These will also be considered on a case by case basis.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's proposals for older passenger boats on the National Historic Ships Register that are unable to comply with new requirements set out in the review of standards for older passenger ships.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has not met with the Secretary of State for Transport to discuss this matter. However, National Historic Ships UK (NHS-UK), an independent advisory body reporting to DCMS, responded to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's 2019 consultations on behalf of the sector, and discussed the potential impacts of the new requirements on vessels on the National Historic Ships Register, which it maintains. NHS-UK praised the Marine and Coastguard Agency’s inclusive approach.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport,what the status is of the Equivalence Rules contained within the 1992 Construction and Use Regulations which allow older passenger boats in the UK to continue to operate for their entire working lives while improving on board safety provisions.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2358) and the Merchant Shipping (Fire Protection) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2360) are no longer extant.
The applicable legislation for domestic passenger ships is:
The Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction: Ships of Classes III to VI(A)) Regulations 1998 (as amended) (SI 1998 No. 2515) (exemption provision Regulation 4);
The Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances for Passenger Ships of Classes III To VI(A)) Regulations 1999 (as amended) (SI 1999 No. 2723) (exemption provision Regulation 4); and
The Merchant Shipping (Fire Protection: Small Ships) Regulations 1998 (as amended) (SI 1998 No. 1011) (exemption provision Regulation 47).
While the equivalence provisions in those regulations are open-ended it is normal to review regulatory provisions from time to time to ensure they remain fit for purpose and where necessary make changes. There are no merchant shipping regulations which purport to guarantee that the same standards will apply in perpetuity.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many passengers have lost their lives while travelling on the Princess Freda since she began operating as a passenger vessel on the Thames; and what assessment they have made of the extent to which the seaworthiness of that vessel is demonstrated by the number of soldiers she rescued during the Dunkirk evacuation.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) report that to their knowledge no instances of loss of life on the Princess Freda have been reported to them during her operation as a Thames passenger vessel.
As with all UK passenger ships, Princess Freda is subject to annual survey by the MCA to maintain passenger ship certification in accordance with the appropriate standards. Her operational record during the Dunkirk evacuation would not have formed part of her initial assessment as a passenger ship nor any subsequent annual verifications.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the basis for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposed changes to the safety rules for historic passenger vessels; and what assessment they have made of whether all the proposed changes are necessary to ensure an acceptable level of maritime safety.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The technical standards applicable to the current domestic passenger fleet vary depending on the age of the vessel with new build ships being subject to updated standards. These newer standards are considered to provide a higher safety standard than that required for older ships. Concurrent with these developments, the standards for existing vessels have remained mostly unchanged.
The aim of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s (MCA’s) proposed changes to standards for older passenger ships is to bring their level of safety as far as possible up to that required for new build ships in order to lessen the safety gap in key areas and thus achieve an acceptable level of safety for the travelling public in the 21st century.
The proposed changes have been formed out of a review of standards. This review took place against a background of Lord Justice Clarke’s Thames Safety Inquiry into the accident involving the passenger ship MARCHIONESS and the dredger BOWBELLE on the tidal Thames, a Formal Safety Assessment carried out for the UK government into domestic passenger ship safety, and the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) recommendations.
The proposed changes were the subject of a public consultation which ran from 6 November 2018 to 29 January 2019. Following feedback received in the consultation the MCA have reviewed the proposed changes and in some areas the changes have been modified to maintain proportionality whilst still achieving an acceptable level of safety for the travelling public. These modified proposals are the subject of a second public consultation which was launched on 29 May 2019 and runs until the 10 July.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Marine and Coastguard Agency’s Consultation on the Proposed Revised Technical Requirements and Associated Impact Assessment Resulting from the Review of Standards for Older UK Passenger Ships, published on 6 November 2018, whether vessels brought into service before 1 January will be granted grandfather rights to be exempt from new regulations; and what assessment they have made of the impact of such vessels being exempt on their ability to continue in business.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
A vessel being brought into service as a passenger ship would be subject to different requirements depending on their area of operation, the construction material and whether it has previously held a UK passenger vessel certificate. For the majority of such vessels, the standards applied are not those which are under review. A limited number of vessels could be brought into service under these older Regulations.
Any vessels subject to the standards that will be modified by the review will have a two-year phase in period for compliance from the in-force date of the new legislation. This applies equally well to existing vessels or those which are yet to be brought into service.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Marine and Coastguard Agency’s Consultation on the Proposed Revised Technical Requirements and Associated Impact Assessment Resulting from the Review of Standards for Older UK Passenger Ships, published on 6 November 2018, whether the Maritime and Coastguard Agency will publish updated proposals to regulate older UK passenger boats before 20 August taking into account responses already received; and whether any such proposals will include essential safety measures to improve human survival rates in the event of a major collision.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has adjusted the proposals in the light of responses to the first consultation and launched a second consultation on the revised proposals on 29 May 2019. The consultation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/second-consultation-on-the-review-of-standards-for-older-passenger-ships. These proposals retain damage stability requirements for some vessels.
The MCA believes that the enhancements to damage stability, life-saving appliance carriage requirements and pumping arrangements will improve the outcome in the event of an incident.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department last met National Historic Ships UK to discuss the potential effect on older UK passenger boats of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals for those vessels.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department held a dedicated meeting with representatives of National Historic Ships UK on 14 February 2019 to discuss proposals resulting from the review into standards for older UK passenger ships and in particular how these may affect those commercial passenger vessels on the National Historic Ships Register and the National Historic fleet.
National Historic Ships UK were also present at the stakeholder workshop on 26th March 2019 to discuss the review.