§ Mr. Brightasked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has reached a decision, following the consultation announced by his hon. Friend the Minister with responsibility for aviation, on 25 March, on increasing the limit on compensation for death or injury of sea passengers carried by United Kingdom carriers.
§ Mr. Michael SpicerYes. Following consultations I have decided to increase the limit from its present figure of £38,173 to around £80,000.
The statutory instrument necessary will use a figure of 1,525,000 gold francs, because limits under the Athens convention are at present expressed in gold francs. The conversion rate from gold francs to sterling is adjusted from time to time; using the current sterling-SDR rate, the sterling equivalent of 1,525,000 gold francs is £80,009.
I intend to press for an increase in the limits in the Athens convention, and to keep the United Kingdom limit under review.
The new limit will come into effect on 1 June.