§ Mr. CarmichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 20 March 2002,Official Report, column 348W, on British seafarers, what performance indicators are used by his Department to assess the impact of (a) the Support for Maritime Training Scheme and (b) the Tonnage Tax on the training and employment of British seafarers. [46359]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe indicators are the number of trainees as given in the reply of 20 March 2002,Official Report, column 348W, to the hon. Member's previous question.
We recognise that this falls short of the approximately 1,400 recruits a year estimated by academic studies to meet current needs at sea and future posts in the onshore maritime sector. The validity of this estimate is to be reviewed. We believe that the recent changes to the SMarT scheme, together with the tonnage tax training commitments, will lead to a significant increase in seafarer recruitment.