Written question asked by Jerome Mayhew (Conservative) on Thursday, 14 May 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 19 May 2026 (named day). A holding answer was provided on Tuesday, 19 May 2026. A substantive answer was provided by Simon Lightwood (Labour) on Tuesday, 16 June 2026 on behalf of the Department for Transport.
Department for Transport: Aviation
- Question
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the answer of 24 March 2026 to WPQ 120039, what the purpose was of the flight to Mozambique; which Ministers and senior officials approved the visit; how many officials travelled on that occasion and at what grade; what the cost was of the visit; and whether an assessment was made of whether those engagements could be (a) conducted remotely and (b) combined with other travel.
- Answer
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The Department for Transport (DfT) has supported the protection of UK nationals, UK economic interests and the resilience of global maritime trade by strengthening maritime security overseas, particularly in relation to terrorism and major security threats. DfT has acted to build and enhance international maritime security capacity by working collaboratively with partner states to improve compliance with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, thereby reducing risk to the UK’s supply chains, energy routes and the UK‑registered and wider Red Ensign Group shipping fleet.
In March 2025, economy flights were procured by DfT for three maritime security subject matter experts from Mozambique to attend a capacity development event facilitated by DfT in Tanzania. No DfT officials travelled to Mozambique as part of the event.
The visit was approved by a Deputy Director (Senior Civil Servant) in DfT’s Transport Security Directorate in line with departmental policy. The total cost of the visit was £952.45.
As part of the planning process, consideration was given to whether the engagement could be conducted remotely or combined with other official travel. While some preparatory and follow up activity was undertaken virtually, aspects of the engagement required on site delivery and therefore could not be fully conducted remotely.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 1281
- Session
- 2026-27
- Related items
- Subjects
- Aviation Department for Transport Mozambique
- Contains statistics
- Yes
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-06-25 17:56:51 +0100
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