Written question asked by Matthew Offord (Conservative) on Thursday, 5 December 2013, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 December 2013. It was answered by Stephen Hammond (Conservative) on Tuesday, 10 December 2013 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Piracy: Somalia

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the findings of the Danish Maritime Accident Investigation Board inquiry into the pirate attack on the Leopold in January 2011.

Answer: The Department is aware of the Danish MAIB safety report into the pirate attack on the Danish vessel Leopard in 2011, which was published on 29 October 2013. The Department for Transport (DFT) and Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) officials have been considering the content of the report and whether there are any implications for our policies. However, it is worth noting that the anti-piracy measures that the report refers to are part of industry-led Best Management Practices (BMP) for protection against Somalia based piracy, specifically to assist ships to avoid, deter or delay piracy attacks in the High Risk Area (latter defined in BMP). DFT officials will be referring to the Danish report at this month's meeting of the National Maritime Security Committee, which includes industry representatives, in order to seek views from industry before any formal conclusions or recommendations are made about potential implications or not for DFT policies.

Secondary information