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10.11 pm
Mr. Barry Gardiner (Brent, North): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich (Mr. Henderson) on his maiden speech on this extremely important topic. It is important because 95 per cent. of all our imports and exports come in and leave by sea. At £2.6 billion, shipping is our fourth biggest service earner, and we carry 4 per cent. of world trade in our vessels, which on the whole are well managed, technologically advanced and run with some of the highest safety standards in the world.
Shipping's contribution to British invisibles is enormous, and maritime London's pre-eminence relies on the raw material which former masters and chief engineers provide. They bring their expertise to the offices of the Admiralty solicitors, Lloyd's of London, the Institute of London Underwriters, the Baltic exchange, general average adjusters and the merchant bankers who finance the fleets. The industry is fundamental to maritime London and the whole service sector that depends on it.
I have an interest to declare, in that, before arriving in the House, I used to run a company of general average adjusters--so my interest in the debate is more than a passing one. In that capacity, I was invited last week to give the keynote address at the European ship managers conference in Glasgow, on the subject of crewing and training.
I am delighted to say that, after 18 years during which the Conservative Government went through more Shipping Ministers than Liz Taylor went through husbands in the same time, the shipowners and managers to whom I spoke in Glasgow expressed their profound thanks that this Government have a transport team--including the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Transport in London, my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Ms Jackson)--who are clearly committed to the maritime industry. My right hon. and hon. Friends are going to be around for a long time; they understand the industry, and they want to get it right.
In limited time, I do not want to dwell on the former Government's record--the decline in our fleet by two thirds, the 50 per cent. decline in the contribution of the UK-owned fleet to the UK service sector, the 55 per cent. decrease in its contribution to gross domestic product. I shall focus on the fact that the numbers of British seafarers have declined by 60 per cent. since 1980, from 52,000 to 20,000.
The Cardiff report shows why it is fundamental that the Government take the actions that my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich mentioned to put the support for maritime training programme into effect. The report predicts a frightening shortfall, and the implications for the whole UK maritime sector are equally frightening.
The Minister for Transport in London (Ms Glenda Jackson):
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich (Mr. Henderson) on an excellent maiden speech,
My hon. Friend the Member for Harwich brings a wealth of personal experience and commitment to what is not only his constituency but his birthplace. He described the degree to which the sea has influenced his constituency, from King Alfred's day to the present time.
The reliance of Harwich, and the United Kingdom, on the sea remains undiminished. Shipping is crucial to all of us, a fact perhaps not sufficiently appreciated, for 95 per cent. in weight of our trade--77 per cent. in value--is carried by sea. Ferries to and from our islands carry more than 55 million passengers a year. The UK shipping industry and maritime London contribute substantially to the UK's balance of payments.
Without shipping, our country would not have defended our interests in the past; without shipping we could not maintain our quality of life today. We all rely on the sea, whether for our food, for the goods we use, for transport, for leisure or for our defence.
However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich said, in recent years we have witnessed a dramatic decline in the size of the UK merchant fleet and in the number of trained British seafarers. That cannot be allowed to continue. The Government are committed to halting the decline and giving the industry its due prominence. Let there be no doubt: we believe that a revival in the UK fleet is long overdue.
That is why we have established a shipping working group to see how Government and industry, working in partnership, can reverse the years of decline. The group's first meeting takes place this week. It will include representatives from the Chamber of Shipping, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, the National Union of Marine, Aviation and Shipping Transport Officers and the Transport and General Workers Union. It will consider how to obtain the maximum economic and environmental benefit from shipping, how to reverse the decline in the UK fleet, how to increase the employment of UK seafarers, and how to encourage the wider maritime industry to commit more resources to seafarer training.
Our object must be to encourage a high-quality shipping sector, able to flourish in increasingly competitive markets. I hope that the group will maintain a healthy balance between exploring innovative and well-constructed ideas and maintaining the momentum and sense of urgency necessary for such an important issue. I hope that it will not be another talking shop; it is action that counts.
I know that my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister is keen for the group to produce a package in time for inclusion in our White Paper in the spring.
Shipping is a high-tech, high-quality industry, demanding drive, commitment and determination. A competent, well-trained crew must be the most significant factor, not only in terms of the contribution to individual companies but in the wider context of maritime safety and environmental protection--a point also made by my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich. We must do all we can in this, the International Year of the Seafarer, to ensure that the prospects for that invaluable national asset--the British seafarer--are not neglected.
The United Kingdom already has a high standard of seafarer training, but many of the ships that call at our ports, pass our shores or carry UK passengers are crewed by seafarers who have not been trained in the UK. It is therefore important to secure high standards of training worldwide. Proper implementation of the International Maritime Organisation's revised standards of training, certification and watchkeeping convention will be central to achieving that objective. The UK played a leading role in updating STCW, and we have subsequently been determined to apply its provisions promptly and effectively.
When I gave the opening address to the IMO assembly this morning, I reaffirmed our support for the international safety management code, which aims to create a safety culture embracing those on board ship and those ashore. Passenger ships, tankers and bulk carriers must achieve ISM code certification by 1 July 1998. UK ships required to comply are well on course to do so, but many recent reports show that some companies do not take the deadline seriously, and that a large number of ships may not comply in time. Some have even speculated that the deadline might be extended.
The IMO secretary general has stated that the deadline will stand, and the United Kingdom Government fully support that. We shall ensure that effective action is taken to deal with non-compliant ships arriving in our ports after the deadline, and we are working with our European partners to ensure that measures are in place to achieve that throughout the Community.
In addressing the IMO, I focused on implementation, which is the key to improving safety standards around the world. The Government firmly believe that the primary responsibility for safety rests with the flag state. We can no longer accept the apparent abdication of that responsibility by some flag states. The UK is taking the lead at the IMO in developing proposals to ensure that that is dealt with.
I am determined to involve as many parties as I can in the general debate on raising standards. I am particularly concerned that some of the service providers in shipping, such as bankers and insurers, which are crucial to the very existence of the shipping industry, are often not directly involved when policy issues are discussed and decisions on regulations made. I wish to change that.
Next month, as an experiment, I shall host a seminar with representatives from maritime London to hear their ideas about what they can do to help us improve standards. I trust that that will lead to more dialogue in the future. We are also working to ensure that all shipowners have the means to meet their liabilities to third parties. That policy, which is supported by the Chamber
of Shipping, should protect responsible shipowners from unfair competition from operators of sub-standard and uninsured ships.
We shall continue to work to ensure that all UK ships continue to enjoy the navigational rights and freedoms enshrined in the international law of the sea. We are now better able to do that following our accession to the UN convention on the law of the sea this August.
My hon. Friend the Member for Harwich referred to the importance of training, which must be a priority in any maritime policy that is committed to creating a meaningful and worthwhile future for the British shipping industry. We are under no illusions about the scale of the task required to ensure an adequate supply of seafarers, not only to serve at sea but, ultimately, as my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, North said, to provide the pool of experience essential for the whole range of maritime-related industries.
Last year's university of Wales report into the UK economy's requirements for people with experience of working at sea concluded that, even to maintain the present maritime status quo at sea and ashore, the industry needs to recruit 1,200 new cadets a year, against a current intake of about 400. Clearly, that problem needs to be addressed urgently.
My hon. Friend the Member for Harwich referred to the new support for maritime training scheme--SMART--which commences next April. SMART will be a flexible long-term vehicle to deliver Government financial assistance for seafarer training. It will improve the delivery of training support by integrating the existing GAFT--Government assistance for training--and docks schemes into a modular training scheme to operate under a single contract and budget.
New modules will make explicit provision for ratings and will provide support for STCW skills upgrading. Although SMART will initially focus funds on the key priorities of new entrants and ratings, its modular nature should mean that it is possible to add other elements, as required and as funding permits.
SMART is simply the vehicle. Whether we are able to make a fundamental difference will depend on the industry's commitment to forging a real partnership, and, in so doing, contributing to the achievement of our common objectives. Government support can therefore only ever provide half of the equation. For any training scheme to make a truly significant impact, the active support of all sides of the industry must be engaged. That is why we will be looking to the industry to make a direct contribution, through actions and financial commitment, to the training of future seafarers.
Although there have been some notable exceptions, for too long much of the maritime-related sector has regarded training as the shipowners' problem, and too many shipowners have simply failed to invest in training. We cannot allow the issue to be side-stepped. If Government are now facing up to their responsibilities, so too must the shipping industry.
I am hopeful that the working group will provide the vital spark necessary to encourage more companies to start training programmes, and for the industry to pledge additional funding to supplement Government support.
With matching levels of drive and commitment, it must surely be possible for this partnership to make real progress towards the common goal of increasing the number of highly trained seafarers.
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