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Mr. Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan): The hon. Gentleman puts the case fairly. No one would argue that bodies should be recovered in every possible instance. There may be many circumstances in which they cannot be recovered. Equally, there are some in which they can. We need an organisation to judge the appropriate response to a family's request. Families find that, without such an organisation, they operate in a vacuum. The Sapphire was raised by the petition and fund-raising efforts of the families involved. Through their efforts in raising it and recovering their loved ones for Christian burial ashore, valuable information about the causes of the sinking was found that could not otherwise have come to light. That has already been reflected in the report of the marine accidents investigation branch.
Mr. George: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for bringing that to our attention. The recovery of the Sapphire provided evidence helpful to the MAIB investigation. The Margaretha Maria lies a good deal further offshore, 70 miles south of the Lizard in more than 300 ft of water. It would be a highly expensive operation, but the families are determined to consider it. They are raising funds to consider whether it is a realistic possibility. If it provided information helpful to the inquiry, it would be all to the good.
The first and foremost question is the consultation paper. I appreciate that it involves not only the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions but the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. There needs to be consultation between the two Departments, and I greatly appreciate the presence of the Minister responsible for fishing. We want progress. Every day that publication is delayed and action not taken is another day in which men risk their lives at sea because we are not learning the lessons of past tragedies. I urge the Minister to bring publication forward. She can be sure that I will respond positively and constructively, as will others, especially the families who have learnt from these tragedies. It would be helpful if the Minister could not only say when the paper will be published but give the timetable for the consultation and for turning the proposals into action.
What plans has the Department to assist voluntary efforts to establish ship-to-shore radio systems to allow regular reports on vessel location to avoid what happened with the Margaretha Maria? A FRAPS, or fishermen's reporting and positioning system, has been set up voluntarily at Newlyn by fishermen's wives after that tragedy. Its fund raising is voluntary and it is struggling
to establish itself properly. Departmental support that did not put additional commercial pressure on vessels and respected confidentiality would be helpful.
What assessment has the Minister made of the need to require boat owners to insure the lives of crew as well as vessels? When will her Department publish the redraft of the code of practice for smaller fishing vessels under 12 m? What lessons have been learnt from the previous effort? My discussions with the inshore fleet around Cornwall revealed concern about the expense of inspection and monitoring. It would be helpful if the Department recognised that investment in assisting fishermen with safety features in their boats is money saved in searching for boats at sea later. It is investment well made.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Angela Eagle):
I am grateful to the hon. Member for St. Ives (Mr. George) for raising this important subject. Although the responsible Minister is on Government business abroad, I am responsible for health and safety. There are many cross-overs between health and safety on the shore and at sea.
By almost any measure, the industry has an unacceptable safety record. Over the past five years, the accident rate for UK fishing vessels has increased significantly. In 1997, there were about 60 accidents per 1,000 vessels, compared with about 45 in 1992, an increase of a third in only five years. Put another way, there is worsening safety with a falling number of vessels. As the number of vessels in the fleet falls, the safety record has worsened.
In terms of lives lost per 100,000 employees, the industry has a worse record than any other sector. In 1995-96, the rate of fatal injuries was 77 per 100,000 fishermen, compared with 23.2 per 100,000 employees in the mining and quarrying industry, which is the next worst category in that year. Last year, 29 fishermen lost their lives, as the hon. Member said. Five have lost their lives so far this year. In considering these sad and difficult issues, we send our condolences to those who have lost their loved ones.
The number of reported accidents to crew is increasing. We may suspect that many injuries go unreported. In the past, the industry was thought reluctant to spend money on safety. The Government's approach to regulating and enforcing safety, which I shall outline, seeks the active and positive co-operation of the industry. Fishing is a potentially hazardous occupation, but it is not good enough to accept that with a shrug of the shoulders. We are determined to reduce the accident rate, and I shall also mention what the industry is doing to help.
The regulations governing safety are enforced where appropriate by a survey and inspection regime, as the hon. Member for St. Ives knows. All UK-registered fishing vessels of 12 m and over in length must be surveyed every four years and issued with a UK fishing vessel safety certificate.
Fishing vessels under 12 m in length are not surveyed, but they must comply with relevant sections of the safety provisions rules that were introduced in 1975. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency carries out a large number of inspections of UK-registered fishing vessels each year--more than 6,000 in the past three years--with effort concentrated primarily on vessels of under 12 m.
Clearly, it is important to ensure better standards of safety for all fishing vessels, but the under-12 m sector remains a high priority as significantly more vessels--the vast majority--fall into this category. The MCA has been considering the safety of such vessels with the fishermen's federations, and I welcome the willingness that fishermen have shown in tackling this difficult and essential issue. Earlier discussions concluded that safety could best be improved by the introduction of a code of safe practice. The code would replace the 1975 safety provisions rules for smaller vessels and would ensure that each vessel was inspected regularly.
As the hon. Member for St Ives knows, a draftcode, containing both mandatory requirements and recommendations based on good practice, was sent to all owners of UK-registered fishing vessels under 12 m in length last year. Many fishermen felt that the draft code was too complicated and were concerned about the potential costs. We have listened to their concerns and are now working with the industry to produce a revised code in order to deliver a genuine improvement in safety standards. In answer to one of the hon. Gentleman's questions, we hope to publish that code and the revised proposals in the autumn. I am confident that fishermen will want to take their own safety seriously, and that agreement on the code can be speedily reached. I hope that all vessel owners will realise that it is in their own interests to comply with the code when it is introduced. For larger vessels, we will implement the recently adopted European Union directive, which will establish a harmonised safety regime.
We have also recently implemented EU directives to improve occupational health and safety for workers at sea, including fishermen. Our legislation places a general duty of care on employers, which is new for fishing vessels, to protect the health and safety of workers through, for example, the provision of a safe working environment--including requirements for larger vessels relating to construction and equipment--safe working procedures, training, and instruction.
So far, I have spoken mainly about standards for vessel construction and the equipment carried on board, but it is just as important to ensure that fishermen are competent.
The industry's poor accident record indicates a clear need to ensure that fishermen receive appropriate basic safety training. At the moment, the requirement to undertake basic safety training applies only to new entrants to the industry and serving fishermen born on or after 1 March 1954. A recent review conducted by the marine accidents investigation branch indicated that emergencies were handled well by trained skippers and badly by those with no safety training--rather unsurprising, one might think. The review concluded that basic training covering sea survival, fire fighting and prevention, and first aid should be extended to all fishermen. The MCA is currently consulting the fishing industry on that issue.
Fishermen must be made aware that many accidents can be prevented by following safe procedures and practices. The MAIB publishes regular safety digests highlighting problem areas which it sends to agents, companies, owners, skippers, missions and the fishing press to help to inform fishermen and to prevent accidents.
Fatigue can lead to accidents in any industry and I suspect that it is an especially important factor in the accident statistics in the fishing industry, to which the hon. Gentleman referred and which I have already raised. It is clear that the problem of fatigue needs to be dealt with. The Government are considering controls on working time for fishermen in the context of the European Commission's proposals to extend the working time directive to the sectors, including sea fishing, that were originally excluded from it. Any legislation must, of course, be workable and take account of the operational requirements and the share fishermen system.
We cannot hope to improve safety standards in the fishing industry without first gaining the active co-operation of fishermen. The MCA chairs regular meetings of the fishing industry safety group, which is attended by representatives of the industry, other Government Departments and interested organisations. This group, which meets twice a year, allows constructive discussion and consultation on policy developments and implementation, and has produced important proposals such as the draft code of safe practice for vesselsunder 12 m.
While we want fishermen to take as much responsibility as possible for their own safety, the Government have a duty to provide an appropriate level of regulation and enforce it effectively. As the hon. Gentleman will know, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency was formed on 1 April this year, by merging the Marine Safety Agency and the Coastguard Agency. Under the previous structure, the inspection of fishing vessels was the responsibility of the Marine Safety Agency. Its 15 dedicated fishing vessel surveyors, together with other marine surveyors deployed around the coastline, continue to inspect fishing vessels to ensure that they meet all appropriate safety standards.
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