Ports and Port policy in Wales (with the exception of the port of Milford Haven) are devolved and are handled by the Welsh Assembly.

The Department for Transport does not designate ports as nationally significant or otherwise, and in general expects them to compete freely with each other irrespective of size. However, 52 ports are designated (based on handling more than 1M tonnes of cargo in a year) as "major ports" for statistical purposes. A list may be found at Annex A to the publication Port Freight Statistics 2020: Notes and Definitions.

(www.assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1002364/port-freight-notes-and-definitions.pdf ).

Nationally significant port infrastructure projects are defined at s.24 Planning Act 2008.

Legislation to ensure that seafarers working on vessels that regularly use UK ports are paid at least an equivalent rate to the UK National Minimum Wage, irrespective of the seafarer or flag of the vessel, will be introduced as soon as the Parliamentary timetable allows. Our public consultation closed on 7th June 2022, and we will be publishing a government response to the consultation in due course, following a full analysis of the responses.

Legislation will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows that intends to ensure that seafarers working on vessels that regularly use UK ports are paid at least an equivalent rate to National Minimum Wage, irrespective of the nationality of the seafarer or flag of the vessel.

We intend to do this by creating a condition of access to UK ports for such to demonstrate that they are paying their seafarers an equivalent rate to the National Minimum Wage.

We have published a public consultation on this which sets out full details of the proposals, seeking views on the scope of services this should apply to, the compliance process and have published this alongside a supporting impact assessment. We want to sure that potential impacts of the proposed Bill have been considered prior to introduction and have therefore published the impact assessment on which we welcome input from the public.

Legislation will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows that intends to ensure that seafarers working on vessels that regularly use UK ports are paid at least an equivalent rate to National Minimum Wage, irrespective of the nationality of the seafarer or flag of the vessel.

We intend to do this by creating a condition of access to UK ports for such to demonstrate that they are paying their seafarers an equivalent rate to the National Minimum Wage.

We have published a public consultation on this which sets out full details of the proposals, seeking views on the scope of services this should apply to, the compliance process and have published this alongside a supporting impact assessment. We want to sure that potential impacts of the proposed Bill have been considered prior to introduction and have therefore published the impact assessment on which we welcome input from the public.

Legislation will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows that intends to ensure that seafarers working on vessels that regularly use UK ports are paid at least an equivalent rate to National Minimum Wage, irrespective of the nationality of the seafarer or flag of the vessel.

We intend to do this by creating a condition of access to UK ports for such to demonstrate that they are paying their seafarers an equivalent rate to the National Minimum Wage.

We have published a public consultation on this which sets out full details of the proposals, seeking views on the scope of services this should apply to, the compliance process and have published this alongside a supporting impact assessment. We want to sure that potential impacts of the proposed Bill have been considered prior to introduction and have therefore published the impact assessment on which we welcome input from the public.

Legislation will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows that intends to ensure that seafarers working on vessels that regularly use UK ports are paid at least an equivalent rate to National Minimum Wage, irrespective of the nationality of the seafarer or flag of the vessel.

We intend to do this by creating a condition of access to UK ports for such to demonstrate that they are paying their seafarers an equivalent rate to the National Minimum Wage.

We have published a public consultation on this which sets out full details of the proposals, seeking views on the scope of services this should apply to, the compliance process and have published this alongside a supporting impact assessment. We want to sure that potential impacts of the proposed Bill have been considered prior to introduction and have therefore published the impact assessment on which we welcome input from the public.

We will publish in coming weeks a full public consultation that will detail our proposed enforcement regime, including the role of Ports and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. This will seek views on how this could work in practice and seek views on other workable solutions respondents have.

Legislation will be introduced as soon as possible into Parliament that intends to make access to UK ports conditional on the payment of seafarers equivalent to National Minimum Wage for vessels visiting UK ports on a frequent and scheduled basis. This is to close gaps in legislation to ensure seafarers with a close connection to the UK receive this pay protection. We will shortly be publishing a public consultation on this, setting out full details of the proposals, and seeking views on the scope and enforcement.

Government is engaging with port authorities on this issue. To ensure that seafarers are being treated fairly, the Government is giving British port authorities new statutory powers to ensure all regular ferry services must comply with National Minimum Wage law.

We have announced a nine-point plan to address the appalling way P&O have acted. This includes closing legal loopholes which allow ferry operators to undercut British workers.

The measures will also step up enforcement of existing laws, financially penalise companies which fire and rehire, and work with international partners to create minimum wage corridors.

We will work together to explore the creation of minimum wage corridors between our nations, as well as asking unions and operators to agree a common level of seafarer protection on these routes.

The UK ports industry is a highly successful, competitive, and a predominantly privately run sector. The sector has continually demonstrated its commitment to the UK through ongoing investment and enhancement to facilitate the 95% of imports and exports vital for the UK economy that arrive by sea. UK Ports have also played a key resilience role in keeping goods flowing through the pandemic and other recent challenges. There are no government plans to change the status of UK ports.

The Government has already taken extensive steps to sanction Russia, including by prohibiting Russian-linked ships docking at UK ports.

I am working with my international counterparts to ensure more countries follow this type of action.

Tuesday 1 March 2022. This was a vital measure to take in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The Government has acted decisively.

In 2020, there were 400 voyages (an arrival to a port where cargo is unloaded, or a departure from a UK port where cargo has been loaded) where cargo was either loaded or unloaded at a UK port by 81 unique Russian vessels (flagged, owned or managed by Russia/Russian companies as at latest fleet information available).

The funding was available for both port and ferry operators serving the Isles of Wight and Scilly. All bids received have been assessed and offers have been made to all successful applicants. Full details of the awards will be published in due course.

Operational systems and IT platforms are a commercial matter for the ports concerned, and the Department for Transport does not hold records of the systems used by each port or assessments of systems available for procurement by ports. The Department for Transport regulates transport Operators of Essential Services under the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations 2018 to improve standards of cyber security and resilience and is supported by technical advice and guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), as the UK’s national technical authority.

We were proud to launch Operation Zero at COP26 to accelerate the decarbonisation of this important and growing sector. We are delighted to have four ports or port groups, collectively servicing nearly one third of North Sea windfarms, signed up to the initiative. This is alongside our Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, which includes projects on shore power, and our planned consultation on the appropriate steps to support the uptake of shore power in the UK.

The Harbours Act 1964 (the Act) sets out the legal framework relating to charges levied by ports and Statutory Harbour Authorities (SHAs) across Great Britain. The functions and powers of the Secretary of State in the Act relating to charges have been devolved to Scottish Ministers for SHAs in Scotland.

The Act gives SHAs the power to levy charges for use of their harbour. It requires that certain charges of SHAs are reasonable (see section 27 of the Act) and also provides a right of objection to ship, passenger and goods dues levied by an SHA (see section 31), amongst other provisions. For SHAs in Scotland, the right of objection in section 31 is to the Scottish Ministers.

UK ports and the UK maritime sector that rely on our ports, are covered by the Net Zero 2050 target and our national carbon budgets under the Climate Change Act. As part of the implementation of the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, we are accelerating the development of zero emission technology and infrastructure in the UK via a £23m Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition.

Building on the success of this programme, the Net Zero Strategy announced our intention to extend this to a multi-year programme, delivering real-world demonstrations and technology trials of clean maritime vessels and infrastructure to decarbonise the maritime sector. This is part of our commitment to a UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions.

We also support UK ports through other ways, including through the Freeports programme, which is already seeing green investments – for example, GE Renewables is locating its new offshore wind blade manufacturing plant in the Teesside Freeport, and Siemens Gamesa is investing £186m to expand its offshore wind manufacturing in the Humber Freeport.