§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if British seamen on British-registered ferries employed through(a) Singapore and (b) Bermuda retain employment rights under British employment law; [76592]
(2) what measures are in place to ensure that British ferry companies enforce equal pay and conditions for all workers on their ships; [76595]
533W(3) what measures are in place to ensure that ferry workers on British-registered ferries are legally entitled to employment rights; [76594]
(4) what measures are in place to ensure that British ferry companies implement the European Working Time Directive. [76596]
§ Alan JohnsonBroadly speaking, the great majority of employment legislation applies to employees working on board ship, provided their ship is registered as belonging in a port in Great Britain, they do not work wholly outside Great Britain under their contract of employment and they are ordinarily resident in Great Britain. Where statutory minimum standards apply to terms and conditions of employment, employees can complain to the employment tribunals if they believe that those standards have not been met. There are some exceptions to the application of employment legislation to UK seafarers and I understand that the Department for Transport's Shipping Task Force is examining their position under the legislation.
Turning to the Working Time Directive, sea transport is one of the sectors that were excluded from the original Directive as it is covered by other legislation. Non-mobile workers are covered by the Horizontal Amending Directive (2000/32/EC), which is due to be implemented by 1 August 2003. Seafarers are covered by Council Directive 1999/63/EC, implemented by the Merchant Shipping (Hours of Work) Regulations 2002 and Merchant Shipping (Medical Examination) Regulations 2002 and Council Directive 1999/95/EC, implemented by the Merchant Shipping (Hours of Work) Regulations 2002. These regulations came into force in September 2002 and are enforced by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency as part of its normal inspection and enforcement regime.
§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures are in place to ensure that British ferry companies pay their national insurance contributions for the workers on their ships. [76593]
§ Dawn PrimaroloI have been asked to reply.
534W
Public Body Number and Type of Appointments ACAS 3 Members Airports Advisory Council 1 Chair Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council 1 Chief Executive, 5 Members British Coal Corporation 1 Member British Shipbuilders 1 Chair, 2 Members Business Incubation Fund Investment Panel 1 Chair, 7 Members Central Arbitration Committee 2 Deputy Chairs, 16 Members Coal Authority 1 Chief Executive, 1 Member Competition Commission 23 Members Consignia 1 Chair Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils 1 Chair, 3 Members Distributed Generation Co-ordinating Group 14 Members East of England Regional Industrial Development Board 3 Members Economic and Social Research Council 5 Members Education and Training Export Group 1 Member Employment Appeals Tribunals 17 Members Employment Tribunals 1 Member Energy Advisory Panel 1 Chair, 4 Members Engineering and Physical Science Research Council 1 Chief Executive, 3 Members Ethnic Minority Business Forum 25 Members Fuel Poverty Advisory Group 1 Chair Gas and Electricity Markets Authority 1 Member Hearing Aid Council 3 Members The Inland Revenue carry out a programme of inspections of employers' records to ensure that they are correctly operating both National Insurance Contributions and PAYE tax. UK shipping companies are included in that programme of visits. Particular attention is paid to the issue of liability to pay UK National Insurance Contributions. In addition checks are made on individual employees' details, when these are supplied at the year end, to ensure that National Insurance Contributions have been correctly calculated.