§ Mr. LazarowiczTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 15 January 2002,Official Report, column 208W, on piracy, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) shipping and (b) port security measures in the United Kingdom. [29279]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe United Kingdom has a comprehensive security regime in place for maritime passenger operations.
The basis of this security regime is the Aviation and Maritime Security Act (AMSA) 1990, which enabled mandatory measures to be introduced for the maritime industry. These measures are formally required by Directions served on the industry covering a range of security issues, including searching of passengers and vehicles, the establishment of Restricted Zones (in which only passengers and other authorised persons are allowed) and pass wearing.
These Directions establish the security standards that the Government expect the industry to comply with, by ensuring that appropriate procedures are in place.
Inspectors from my Department undertake a continuous and comprehensive system of compliance visits to passenger ports and also undertake ship inspections, to ensure that effective security regimes, in accordance with the Directions, are maintained. They are empowered to take enforcement action against harbour/ship operators if the required standards are not being met.
1104WFollowing the events of 11 September 2001, the UK's maritime passenger industry was required to operate in accordance with increased levels of security requirements. These increased measures are kept under constant review.
Consideration has also been given to additional initiatives. This work has been undertaken within Whitehall and has included, for the first time, offering general security advice to non-passenger ships and non-AMSA ports.