The UK considers the status of Western Sahara to be undetermined. We support UN-led efforts to reach a lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to this issue that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.

The UK considers the status of Western Sahara to be undetermined. We support UN-led efforts to reach a lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to this issue that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.

The twenty-five points of learning, including the Charter, made by Bishop James Jones in his report on the experiences of the Hillsborough families span a number of departments and organisations which are considering their respective responses. The Home Office is coordinating those responses and the Government will therefore provide a full response in due course.

The Exchanges of Notes concluded with the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies in 2016 provide for the exchange of information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and legal entities incorporated in these jurisdictions. As ships are assets, and not corporate and legal entities, the beneficial owners of merchant ships registered in the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies would not be covered by the Exchanges of Notes, unless the vessels are owned by corporate and legal entities incorporated in these jurisdictions.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency requests beneficiary ownership details, when an application is received to register a merchant vessel on the UK Ship Register, through the requirement of the Bill of Sale, or if the vessel is new build, the New Build Certificate; the Declaration of Eligibility; and the Certificate of Incorporation, to be supplied as part of the registration process.

Apart from the UK Ship Register, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency does not collect information on the beneficial ownership of merchant vessels from the other Red Ensign Group registers operated by the Governments of the UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Records will be maintained by the individual Governments.

Details of Ministerial UK official visits and official meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly and made available on the gov.uk website.

Details of Ministerial UK official visits and official meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly and made available on the gov.uk website.

The Hunting Act 2004 came into effect on 18 February 2005 and bans all hunting of wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales, except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions set out in Schedule 1 to the Act. Many hunts have since turned to trail hunting as an alternative to live quarry hunting.

The Government neither has plans to assess the risk of laying scent trails nor to assess the merits of banning the laying of scent trails. There are also no plans to assess the risks posed by hunting hounds using scents laid by trail hunts drifting across the transport network.

The Hunting Act 2004 came into effect on 18 February 2005 and bans all hunting of wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales, except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions set out in Schedule 1 to the Act. Many hunts have since turned to trail hunting as an alternative to live quarry hunting.

The Government neither has plans to assess the risk of laying scent trails nor to assess the merits of banning the laying of scent trails. There are also no plans to assess the risks posed by hunting hounds using scents laid by trail hunts drifting across the transport network.

Since May 2015 there have been four meetings of the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee. The United Kingdom was represented at all of these meetings by:

Head of Delegation

Miss Katy Ware, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to IMO, Head, International Maritime Coordination, Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)

Advisers

Mr. Bennett Ng, Environmental Policy Specialist, MCA

Mr. Jonathan Simpson, Head, Environmental Policy, MCA

Mr. Kevin Hunter, International Relations Manager (Technical), MCA

Mrs. Leanne Page, Policy Adviser, MCA

Ms. Lorraine Weller, Senior Policy Adviser, MCA

Dr. Zabi Bazari, Managing Director, Energy and Emissions Solutions

In addition, the following delegates represented the UK at these meetings:

MEPC 68 – 11 to 15 May 2015

Advisers

Ms. Claire McAllister, Assistant Director, Maritime Safety and Environment Division, DfT

Mr. Godfrey Souter, Head, Climate Change and Environment, DfT

Mr. Ian Timpson, Senior Policy Adviser, Ship Emissions and Recycling, DfT

Mr. Tony Cunningham, Policy Adviser, Climate Change, DfT

Mr. Ben Rattenbury, Senior Policy Adviser, Department of Energy and Climate Change

Ms. Victoria Volossov, Policy Adviser, Department of Energy and Climate Change

Mr. David MacRae, Marine Surveyor, MCA

Mr. Bjorn Emtage, Assistant Policy Adviser, MCA

Mr. Ronald Allen, Policy Lead, Stability, MCA

Mr. Paul Grace, Technical Policy Lead, IOM Ship Registry, Department of Economic Development, Government of the Isle of Man

Mr. Motonobu Tsuchiya, Principal Specialist for IMO/IACS, External Affairs, Lloyd's Register EMEA

Mr. Dimitris Argyros, Environmental Specialist, Lloyd's Register EMEA

Mr. John Bradshaw, Principal Specialist, Engineering, Marine Technology and

Engineering Systems, Lloyd's Register EMEA

Mr. Jonathan Morley, Technical Lead, MARPOL, Lloyd's Register EMEA

Ms. Katharine Palmer, Manager, Environment and Sustainability, Lloyd's Register EMEA

MEPC 69 - 18 to 22 April 2016

Advisers

Ms. Lola Fadina, Assistant Director, Maritime Safety and Environment Division,

DfT

Ms. Laura Marquis, Head of Climate Change and Environment, DfT

Mr. Tony Cunningham, Policy Adviser, Climate Change, DfT

Mr. Edward Donaldson-Balan, Policy Adviser, International Aviation and Climate Change, DfT

Ms. Melanie Pennant, Senior Lawyer, DfT

Mr. Robert Cheeseman, Legal Officer, DfT

Mr. Neil Beauchamp, Policy Adviser, International Negotations, Climate Diplomacy Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Mr. Paul Grace, Technical Policy Lead, IOM Ship Registry

Mr. Martyn Oates, Policy and Research Officer, IOM Ship Registry

Mr. David Balston, Director, Safety and Environment, UK Chamber of Shipping

Ms. Anna Ziou, Policy Assistant, UK Chamber of Shipping

Mr. Motonobu Tsuchiya, Principal Specialist for IMO/IACS, External Affairs, Lloyd's Register EMEA

Ms. Yue Yao, Principal Specialist and Statutory Section Leader, Shanghai Technical Support Office, Lloyd's Register EMEA

Ms. Christiana Ntouni, Specialist, External Affairs, Lloyd's Register EMEA

Dr. Wei Chen, Head of Research and Development, Hamworthy Water Systems

Mr. Ian Timpson, Senior Policy Adviser, Ship Emissions and Recycling, DfT

Mr. David MacRae, Marine Surveyor, MCA

Mr. Andy Wibroe, Policy Lead-Marine Equipment Directive, MCA

MEPC 70 – 24 to 28 October 2016

Advisers

Ms. Claire McAllister, Assistant Director, Maritime Safety and Environment Division (MSE), DfT

Ms. Laura Marquis, Head, Climate Change and Environment, DfT

Mr. Ian Timpson, Senior Policy Adviser, Ship Emissions and Recycling, DfT

Ms. Stavroulla Economou, Policy Adviser, Maritime Climate Change, DfT

Ms. Kim Brown, Senior Environmental Inspector, Defence Safety and Environment Authority - Defence Maritime Regulator, Ministry of Defence

Ms. Samantha Langford-Holt, Marine Environmental Protection Officer, Ministry of Defence

Ms. Lindsey Hibberd, Senior Policy Manager, Global Carbon Markets, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Ms. Anna Croos, Engagement Adviser, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Mr. James Luetchford, Parliamentary and Ministerial Relations, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Mrs. Rebecca Austin, Deputy Receiver of Wreck, MCA

Mr. David Balston, Director, Safety and Environment, UK Chamber of Shipping

Ms. Anna Ziou, Policy Assistant, UK Chamber of Shipping

Ms. Yue Yao, Principal Specialist in Charge, Statutory Section, Shanghai Technical Support Office, Lloyd’s Register Asia

Dr. Nagaraja Reddy Devalapalli, Principal Specialist, Strategic Research, Lloyd’s Register EMEA

Dr. Wei Chen, Head, Research and Development, Hamworthy Water Systems

MEPC 71 – 3 to 7 July 2017

Advisers

Ms. Claire McAllister, Assistant Director, Maritime Safety and Environment Division, DfT

Ms. Katie Carleton, Head, Climate Change and Environment, DfT

Ms. Stavroulla Economou, Policy Adviser, Maritime Climate Change, DfT

Ms. Hannah Gray, Legal Officer, DfT

Mr. Gwilym Stone, IMO and EU Lead, MCA

Mr. Stuart Hannam, Principal, EU and International Standards, MCA

Mr. Yue Yao, Principal Specialist in Charge, Statutory Section, Lloyd’s Register Asia

Ms. Anna Ziou, Policy Director, UK Chamber of Shipping

Mr. Wu Shilel, Senior Emissions Specialist, Engineering Systems, Lloyd's Register EMEA

Mr. Ralph Bunch, Policy Adviser, Environment Strategy, Department for Transport (DfT)

The number of ships detained by Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspectors for breaches of Standards in Title 2, Conditions of Employment in the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, since August 2014, when the MLC came into force in the UK, for ships registered to countries on the Paris MoU White List is shown below, with their flag of registry:

The number of ships detained by Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspectors for breaches of Standards in Title 2, Conditions of Employment in the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, since August 2014, when the MLC came into force in the UK, for ships registered to countries on the Paris MoU White List is shown below, with their flag of registry:

The number of ships detained by Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspectors for breaches of Standards in Title 2, Conditions of Employment in the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, since August 2014, when the MLC came into force in the UK, for ships registered to countries on the Paris MoU White List is shown below, with their flag of registry:

The number of ships detained by Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspectors for breaches of Standards in Title 2, Conditions of Employment in the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, since August 2014, when the MLC came into force in the UK, for ships registered to countries on the Paris MoU White List is shown below, with their flag of registry:

The number of ships detained by Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspectors for breaches of Standards in Title 2, Conditions of Employment in the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, since August 2014, when the MLC came into force in the UK, for ships registered to countries on the Paris MoU White List is shown below, with their flag of registry:

The UK strongly supports action on the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from shipping, and is committed to fulfilling our obligations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. Our strategy for the shipping industry is led by the Department for Transport and the UN body with responsibility for this area is the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which since 2003 has been working on measures to reduce GHGs from international shipping. In April 2018, Member States are due to agree the first comprehensive global strategy on the reduction of GHGs from ships at the IMO. The UK has been an active participant in these negotiations and is working to achieve a credible and ambitious outcome in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.