HC Deb 26 April 1995 vol 258 cc589-90W
Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the number of ship inspectors employed at each marine office for each of the last five years. [19381]

Mr. Norris

This is an operational matter for the Marine Safety Agency. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from R. M. Bradley to Ms Joan Walley, dated 26 April 1995: The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your Question about the number of ship inspectors employed at each Marine Office during the last five years. The number of ship inspectors, including fishing vessel inspectors, in post in each marine district are set out in the table below. The number of inspectors in post by district is not available for the financial years 1989–90 and 1990–91.

1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94
London 18 18 19
Southampton 30 23 21
Liverpool 20 19 21
Glasgow 22 21 21
Aberdeen 17.5 20 20.5
Newcastle 25 27.5 27.5
Total number of inspectors in post 129 137 132.5 128.5 130
The figure for the number of inspectors in post in 1994–95 is being collated and will be published in the MSA's annual report.

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many unannounced inspections have been carried out by the Marine Safety Agency for each of the last five years; [19383]

(2) if he will list for each of the last five years the number of ship inspections undertaken by the Marine Safety Agency. [19379]

Mr. Norris

These are operational matters for the Marine Safety Agency. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from R. M. Bradley to Ms Joan Walley dated 26 April 1995: The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your two Questions about the number of ship inspections and the number of unannounced ship inspections carried out by the Marine Safety Agency (MSA) in each of the last five years. Virtually all inspections made by the MSA are unannounced, by occasionally for operational reasons the inspection may be pre-arranged. The records held by the MSA do not identify which inspections might have been announced in advance. The number of inspections carried out in the last five years by the MSA and the Surveyor General's Organisation (before 1993) are set out in the table below. The figures include fishing vessel inspections and port state control inspections.

1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94
Total number of inspections 6,018 5,801 6,654 6,211 6,663
The inspection figures for 1994–95 are being collated and will be published in the MSA's annual report.