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Dept of Transport;Marine Safety Agency

Answer

Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the proposed increase in the Marine Safety Agency survey fees; what factors underlie the scale of increase; with whom he has consulted on the matter; and what arrangements he has made in respect of disseminating information relating to the increase. [14697] Mr. Bowis: [holding answer 7 February 1997]: I have asked the chief executive of the Marine Safety Agency to write to the hon. Member. Letter from R. M. Bradley to Mr. Elliot Morley, dated 10 February 1997: The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your Question about the changes to Marine Safety Agency's survey fees. The survey fee rate was increased from £45 to £60 per hour on 1 February 1997. The overriding reason for agreeing this increase is that the fees generated by the merchant and fishing vessel survey service have not been covering the full operating cost, and this situation has to be corrected. Before making the increase 55 organisations were consulted and 14 replied with comments. The change was promulgated by way of a Press Notice on 7 January 1997. A copy of the Press Notice is enclosed. Marine Safety Agency fees change On 1 February 1997, the Marine Safety Agency (MSA) will be changing some of its fees. The main change is that the hourly rate charged by the MSA will increase from £45 to £60. The following changes to fees charged by the MSA will also come into force on that date. Maximum fees for tonnage measurement performed by the authorised measuring authorities will no longer be set by the MSA. The fees will be set by the measuring authorities. Current fees for Safe Manning Certificate will be replaced with a revised range of fees reflecting more accurately the work involve. Charges will be introduced for follow-up inspections of UK registered ships detained abroad. All work performed on or after 1 February will be charged at the new rate. The overriding reason for the increases is that the merchant and fishing vessel survey service has been making a large annual loss, which has to be borne by the taxpayer. The fee increases will bring the service back into line with normal Government policy that users pay the cost of the service provided. The new fees will be listed in a Statutory Instrument, the Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 1997, covering all of MSA's statutory fees. This will be available from branches of the Stationery Office. Notes of editors Marine survey fee hourly rate Government policy requires that the fees for services provided by Government should be set at a level to recover the full cost of those services, to ensure that no subsidy is provided or supplementary taxation levied. A recent review of the fees set by the Marine Safety Agency revealed that only the marginal costs of the services were being recovered with the result that the taxpayer was subsidising the services. In order to rectify the situation we needed to increase the hourly survey fee rate from £45 to 60 to bring income in line with costs. The new rate will not recover any of the past losses. Whilst the increase is significant we believe that it is still competitive against rates charged by the Classification Societies, particularly as it is inclusive of UK travelling expenses. The Marine Safety Agency (MSA) went out to consultation with the shipping industry on 9 September about proposed changes to the MSA fees. Six weeks were allowed for consultation and responses were received from 15 organisations. Concern was expressed by the industry, particularly the fishing industry, about the scale of the increases. However, Ministers have noted that the taxpayer is subsidising the service in excess of £1 million per annum and this is the overriding reason for agreeing the increase. Fees for detention of UK ships: follow up actions It has been proposed that MSA should carry out follow-up inspections of UK registered ships detained abroad. The Chamber of Shipping had been consulted and commented favourably on the proposal. The intention is that these ships will be inspected on return to the UK wherever possible, but inspection may need to be undertaken overseas if the ship does not return to the UK within a reasonable period following the detention. These inspections will be charged for at the new rate of £60 per hour. Tonnage measurement It has been agreed that the fees for tonnage measurement by delegated measuring authorities be deleted from the Fees Regulations and left for the authorities to set individually as happens on all other delegated work apart from radio survey. Any residual work done by the Marine Safety Agency will be charged at £60 per hour. This change was proposed under the deregulation initiative on the basis that reasonable competition exists between the delegated authorities. Safe manning certificates The charges for Safe Manning Certificates are presently at fixed rates even where similar work has been undertaken on a sister ship or only an amended certificate is required. The new fees moved to a fairer basis of charging as follows: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. £ a) Certificate for a passenger ship 540 b) Certificates for other vessels: 350kw and over 300 under 350kw 180 c) Technical amendments e.g. involving manning changes 180 d) Certificates for sister ships were manning requirements are 60 identical to those for which a Safe Manning Certificate has previously been issued. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. For further information please contact: Miss Sarah Lay Bay 2-23 Marine Safety Agency Spring Place 105 Commercial Road Southampton SO15 1EG Tel: 01703 329257 Fax: 01703 329289 All Press Enquiries please contact: Miss Annette Bowman Bay 3-30 Marine Safety Agency Spring Place Commercial Road Southampton SO15 1EG Tel: 01703 329403 Tel: 01703 329122.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

14697; 290 c65-8W

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Fees and charges Inspections Merchant shipping Shipping Surveys Marine Safety Agency

Legislation

Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 1996

Contains statistics

Yes