§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to consult trade unions when seeking to move staff employed by the Marine Safety Agency-designate in Southampton to alternative posts elsewhere.
§ Mr. NorrisThe Marine Safety Agency has no plans to move staff employed in Southampton to alternative posts elsewhere.
§ Sir David MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects Lord Donaldson to publish his report on maritime safety.
§ Mr. MacGregorWe intend to publish his report tomorrow at 2.30 pm; copies will be placed in the Vote Office on publication.
§ Mr. GerrardTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents involving(a) maritime transport sinking or (b) collisions have occurred in the Irish sea and the English channel during the last five years.
§ Mr. NorrisThe figures given in the table relate to incidents involving one or more United Kingdom-registered merchant or fishing vessels where it has been established that the accident happened in either the Irish sea or the English channel.
The figures only are given for the years shown as information relating to a particular sea area and type of accident can only readily be obtained from the Marine 323W Accident Investigation Branch computerised accident database. The database contains data from 1991 onwards only. To obtain the information requested for 1989 and 1990 would entail a great deal of research of the manual records for those years.
Year Losses Collisions and Contacts Irish sea 1991 5 5 1992 4 3 1993 3 6 1994 to date — — English channel 1991 10 10 1992 10 9 1993 7 9 1994 to date 1 4