Blog

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the working group conducting the Post Implementation Review of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011 will make recommendations on the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage for seafarers employed on (a) UK and (b) non-UK registered vessels.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Although the working group had considered looking at National Minimum Wage (NMW) enforcement it was quickly recognised by all members of the group that due to international law this is a very complex area and that it would be more beneficial to discuss in a separate forum. It has been agreed in principle to convene a cross government and social partners working group to look at the application of national minimum wage in regard to seafarers. As the Department responsible for NMW legislation, this would be led by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The working group has reviewed the existing guidance produced by BIS for seafarers and it is expected that revised guidance, taking into account recommendations of the group, will be published in Spring 2016. The Nautilus Telegraph will also publicise the revised guidance. This is a respected publication produced by the officer’s union Nautilus International but widely read by all seafarer ranks.

I also understand from officials at RMT that they have recently had positive discussions with my Right Honourable Friend, the Minister of State for Skills and Equalities on the application of NMW to seafarers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the working group conducting the Post Implementation Review of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011 was set up; and how many times that group has met.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Working Group conducting the Post Implementation Review of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011 was created in June 2014 and has met three times.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the recommendations for increasing the training and employment of UK seafarers in the Maritime Futures report by Professor Helen Sampson of Cardiff University, published in January 2015.

Mr Robert Goodwill

A number of recommendations made within the Maritime Futures report were put forward in the call for evidence for the Department’s Maritime Growth Study and the Department has taken forward a number of those.

The Department provides support for the training of officers and ratings through the £15m Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) scheme. A company or group which elects for the Tonnage Tax is required, each year, to recruit one new officer trainee for every fifteen officer posts in its fleet. Following a proposal from the UK Chamber of Shipping, RMT and Nautilus to allow companies to recruit and train three able seafarer ratings in place of one trainee officer, a pilot to allow ratings to be counted against the training commitment started on 1^st October 2015.

Apprenticeships are at the heart of the Government’s drive to give people of all ages the skills employers need to grow and compete. Maritime is a key part of this with the Maritime Trailblazer which is employer led and has one approved standard for deck ratings and a further three in development for maritime mechanic, maritime caterer and onboard services.

The UK government’s position on island cabotage remains unchanged but this is kept under constant review. At present those providing such services remain significant employers of UK seafarers.

UK seafarers working for UK companies on a UK flagged vessel are not entitled to an exemption to national insurance payments. They may, however, benefit from the Seafarers Earning Reductions tax relief for income tax.

An ‘in personum’ approach to the application of national minimum wage is preferred as it ensures that those who are entitled to it will benefit. International law prevents the UK from interfering in the ‘internal market’ of a vessel, this includes wages, and is applicable to those vessels visiting or operating out of UK ports. HMRC is responsible for NMW enforcement and the government takes non-compliance of the legislation very seriously.

The Carter Report was commissioned under a previous administration and was already considered at the time of the drafting of the Equality Act 2011 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) 2012 regulations.

The Maritime Growth Study, chaired by Lord Mountevans, was published on 7 September 2015 and contained a number of recommendations for government and industry on skills, including to help maintain the UK’s future supply of seafarers. The Government formally respond to the Study in December 2015 accepting all the recommendations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many seafarer (a) cadets and (b) ratings were trained by shipping companies operating in the UK in each year since 2000-01.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) does not collate figures for seafarer cadets and ratings who have been trained by shipping companies operating in the UK.

However, the MCA does collate the number of new cadets, the number of cadets in training and the number of trainee watch ratings who start training each year and these can be found in the tables below.

The figures in Table 1 show the number of cadets supported by the Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) scheme who started training in each year since 2000-01.

Table 1: UK officer cadets under SMarT1 scheme (1999-2015)

These figures are derived from SMarT returns for SMarT1 training and may include a small number of EU trainees resident in the UK. Numbers are rounded to nearest 10.

The figures in Table 2 below show the number of watch rating trainees who have been supported by SMarT each year since 2011-12. The data held by the MCA for ratings training prior to 2011-12 includes concessionaire training and does not provide an accurate reflection of watch rating training.