The operational management of the franchise will be a matter for the operator, First Trenitalia West Coast, who can be contacted via First Group.

The UK has adopted upper age limits for both single and multi pilot Commercial Air Transport operations as set out in both EU legislation and International Civil Aviation Organisation standards. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has commissioned and published research on this matter and we will consider any proposals for change that are made by EASA.

The Government has taken forward the actions identified in the notice on seafarer certificates published in September 2018. We have introduced the Merchant Shipping (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The regulations correct deficiencies in domestic legislation that would otherwise have existed as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. This enables continued recognition of seafarer qualifications from EU and EEA countries.

Before the original date of 29 March for UK’s departure from the EU, the Government lobbied Member States to initiate the process of recognising UK certificates following the well-established EU process for recognising certificates from third countries.

The Department does not hold this information. Govia Thameslink Railway, the operator of Thameslink services, has procedures in place for instances where a service operating without a second member of staff on board calls at an unstaffed station. For passengers who require assistance, there are a range of measures in place depending on the type of assistance that is required and the specific station. These measures are set out in Thameslink’s Disabled Persons Protection Policy (DPPP) which is available through this link: https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/travel-information/travel-help/assisted-travel/disabled-persons-protection-policy.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) have both confirmed that the driver operating the doors is a safe method of working. It is vital that train operators have policies in place so that passengers with disabilities are able to travel with confidence. ORR is the organisation which is responsible for the approval and monitoring of operators’ Disabled People’s Protection Policies (DPPP). Following the introduction of driver-controlled operation on Southern, ORR carried out a period of enhanced monitoring to ensure that policies were in place on Southern so that disabled passengers, regardless of whether they had pre-booked assistance or chose to travel spontaneously, and regardless of whether they were travelling to a staffed or unstaffed station, were able to complete their journey. ORR concluded that GTR had provided assurance that it has the systems and processes in place for this purpose. ORR continues to monitor operators’ compliance with their DPPP, and the Department supports it in doing so.

The Department does not hold information on the reasons why a conductor was not available to operate those services.

The operation of services is a matter for the operator and they are generally best placed to respond to queries regarding practices like driver-controlled operation.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency routinely invite a range of Government and industry stakeholders to a preparatory briefing meeting prior to each International Maritime Organisation session, including the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC).

At these meetings the attendees will discuss the maritime issues on the agenda and provide advice on these issues. Both the UK Government and its maritime stakeholders are committed to maritime safety including (a) seafarer and (b) ferry industry safety. No specific discussions on either of these issues were raised at this session of the MSC.

Some areas of discussion were on: the development of further measures to enhance safety of ships relating to fuel oil; shipborne towing and mooring; testing of lifesaving appliances; and, proposed new outputs for the Organisation, which will have an effect on the overall safety of seafarers.

Within the South Western Railway (SWR) /Network Rail (NR) joint control centre, there are systems that have already been put in place in order to take account of rolling stock and disruptions caused by train crew issues. These include a Train Crew Rostering System, Decision Support System and Fleet Diagnostics System. These are in addition to the usual Control Centre systems and software (and hardware) upgrades that SWR have introduced across the business that are not specific to the Control Centre.

We are currently in the process of implementing this policy and will be laying an SI when Parliamentary time allows. I have met with my Ministerial counterpart at BEIS and we will continue to engage going forwards. My officials are also in regular contact with their counterparts to ensure smooth progression of this policy.

While an attempt was made to collect information from companies who are not members of the UK Chamber of Shipping, the response rate was not sufficient to allow a robust estimate of the number of ratings and officers employed by these companies to be produced.

Data on the (a) age and (b) gender profile of UK seafarers active at sea employed by UK Chamber of Shipping member companies are published in Statistical Table SFR0302. Data for non-UK nationalities are not held at a sufficient enough quality to allow robust estimates to be made.

The MV European Endeavour has been sold to Eckero Line and will operate on the Helsinki/Tallinn route. P&O have confirmed that another vessel, the Mistral, that operated the Liverpool-Dublin route while the MV European Endeavour was undergoing a refit will continue to operate the route after the sale of the MV European Endeavor.

P&O have made a commercial decision to replace a passenger ro-ro ferry with a ro-ro cargo vessel to meet the changing demands of the freight market and particularly a rising demand for unaccompanied freight. Seafarers are required to meet the minimum standards of training as set out in the STCW Convention and no assessment is proposed to be made on the standards of seafarers operating in the Irish Sea.

The choice of which crewing agency to employ seafarers from is a commercial decision and a matter of choice for any shipping company to make for itself. The Government does not hold data relating to which crewing agencies shipping companies use.

There have been no recent meetings with P&O where employment was discussed.

The MV European Endeavour has been sold to Eckero Line and will operate on the Helsinki/Tallinn route. P&O have confirmed that another vessel, the Mistral, that operated the Liverpool-Dublin route while the MV European Endeavour was undergoing a refit will continue to operate the route after the sale of the MV European Endeavor.

P&O have made a commercial decision to replace a passenger ro-ro ferry with a ro-ro cargo vessel to meet the changing demands of the freight market and particularly a rising demand for unaccompanied freight. Seafarers are required to meet the minimum standards of training as set out in the STCW Convention and no assessment is proposed to be made on the standards of seafarers operating in the Irish Sea.

The choice of which crewing agency to employ seafarers from is a commercial decision and a matter of choice for any shipping company to make for itself. The Government does not hold data relating to which crewing agencies shipping companies use.

There have been no recent meetings with P&O where employment was discussed.

The MV European Endeavour has been sold to Eckero Line and will operate on the Helsinki/Tallinn route. P&O have confirmed that another vessel, the Mistral, that operated the Liverpool-Dublin route while the MV European Endeavour was undergoing a refit will continue to operate the route after the sale of the MV European Endeavor.

P&O have made a commercial decision to replace a passenger ro-ro ferry with a ro-ro cargo vessel to meet the changing demands of the freight market and particularly a rising demand for unaccompanied freight. Seafarers are required to meet the minimum standards of training as set out in the STCW Convention and no assessment is proposed to be made on the standards of seafarers operating in the Irish Sea.

The choice of which crewing agency to employ seafarers from is a commercial decision and a matter of choice for any shipping company to make for itself. The Government does not hold data relating to which crewing agencies shipping companies use.

There have been no recent meetings with P&O where employment was discussed.

The MV European Endeavour has been sold to Eckero Line and will operate on the Helsinki/Tallinn route. P&O have confirmed that another vessel, the Mistral, that operated the Liverpool-Dublin route while the MV European Endeavour was undergoing a refit will continue to operate the route after the sale of the MV European Endeavor.

P&O have made a commercial decision to replace a passenger ro-ro ferry with a ro-ro cargo vessel to meet the changing demands of the freight market and particularly a rising demand for unaccompanied freight. Seafarers are required to meet the minimum standards of training as set out in the STCW Convention and no assessment is proposed to be made on the standards of seafarers operating in the Irish Sea.

The choice of which crewing agency to employ seafarers from is a commercial decision and a matter of choice for any shipping company to make for itself. The Government does not hold data relating to which crewing agencies shipping companies use.

There have been no recent meetings with P&O where employment was discussed.

The MV European Endeavour has been sold to Eckero Line and will operate on the Helsinki/Tallinn route. P&O have confirmed that another vessel, the Mistral, that operated the Liverpool-Dublin route while the MV European Endeavour was undergoing a refit will continue to operate the route after the sale of the MV European Endeavor.

P&O have made a commercial decision to replace a passenger ro-ro ferry with a ro-ro cargo vessel to meet the changing demands of the freight market and particularly a rising demand for unaccompanied freight. Seafarers are required to meet the minimum standards of training as set out in the STCW Convention and no assessment is proposed to be made on the standards of seafarers operating in the Irish Sea.

The choice of which crewing agency to employ seafarers from is a commercial decision and a matter of choice for any shipping company to make for itself. The Government does not hold data relating to which crewing agencies shipping companies use.

There have been no recent meetings with P&O where employment was discussed.

The MV European Endeavour has been sold to Eckero Line and will operate on the Helsinki/Tallinn route. P&O have confirmed that another vessel, the Mistral, that operated the Liverpool-Dublin route while the MV European Endeavour was undergoing a refit will continue to operate the route after the sale of the MV European Endeavor.

P&O have made a commercial decision to replace a passenger ro-ro ferry with a ro-ro cargo vessel to meet the changing demands of the freight market and particularly a rising demand for unaccompanied freight. Seafarers are required to meet the minimum standards of training as set out in the STCW Convention and no assessment is proposed to be made on the standards of seafarers operating in the Irish Sea.

The choice of which crewing agency to employ seafarers from is a commercial decision and a matter of choice for any shipping company to make for itself. The Government does not hold data relating to which crewing agencies shipping companies use.

There have been no recent meetings with P&O where employment was discussed.