My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their consideration of these regulations. I will try to respond to the specific points raised. I must confess that I find this quite a technical issue and subject matter. Where I cannot answer questions this evening, I undertake to write on specific points to noble Lords.

The Motion mentions the delay in the introduction of these regulations. They are not part of the maritime backlog and are therefore not late in that context. The regulations were made in 2021 and implemented the latest EU directive on persons data obligations, including a deadline for the electronic reporting of data, and placed additional restrictions on exemption powers. We have progressed the changes requested by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments in the 2021 regulations with much urgency. However, for reasons of efficiency, we have used this legislative vehicle to also take forward some post EU exit opportunities, which do not reduce safety standards and go some way to relieving the pressures on operators—namely, a postponement on electronic reporting obligations and the addition of flexibility to the exemption provisions. This allows the Secretary of State, through the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, more discretion to implement the regulations pragmatically.

The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, raised some interesting issues. He questioned why the person-counting obligations do not also apply to non-passenger vessels. Non-passenger vessels that normally carry only crew are accounted for by their operators, who hold all the necessary detail required for an emergency search-and-rescue operation. The few ships that routinely carry passengers but carry fewer than 13—and therefore are not defined as passenger ships—are generally much smaller, and the application of these obligations would be disproportionate for these small vessels. This approach is the recognised one in the international maritime community.

The regulations are not part of the UK’s international maritime convention backlog, as they are not late in implementing international amendments. They are also not part of the domestic backlog, as there has been no public commitment to bring them into force. These regulations do not impose any additional burdens on industry, and in fact they refine the existing regulations to enable a more pragmatic application of obligations, furthering post-EU exit opportunities. Good progress has been made on the maritime backlog, and the department has been working on 13 international measures, 10 of which have been completed, and the final three are on track to be completed by spring 2024. Additionally, of the seven domestic measures identified, five have been completed and the remaining two should be completed in the autumn of 2024.

The regulations address some points raised by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments in relation to the drafting of a set of amending regulations made in 2021, as well as taking advantage of some post-EU exit opportunities. These include delaying the unnecessarily onerous deadline for reporting persons’ data electronically through the maritime national single window, and introducing flexibility into the exemption provision, which was made inconveniently narrow under an EU directive, enabling the pragmatic enforcement of legislation.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency held a four-week public consultation on the draft 2023 amending regulations and the accompanying draft merchant shipping notice amendment. The consultation ran from 28 February to 28 March 2023, and vessel operators affected were consulted and were supportive of these deregulatory measures.

The department has allocated more resources, particularly legal resource, to address international obligations, and it plans to identify forthcoming amendments to conventions. The negotiating stage has also been enhanced. The use of an ambulatory reference to automatically incorporate technical amendments into UK law has been incorporated into merchant shipping legislation over a period of years, to ensure prompt implementation into domestic law.

The regulations have come into force in time to postpone the reporting deadline of 20 December 2023 to 20 December 2025. Postponement of the electronic reporting deadline does not affect safety, as the necessary data is already collected and retained in a way appropriate for its purpose. These regulations are also essential to provide the flexibility required in exemption provisions for situations where particular requirements are disproportionate or impractical—for example, if a ship is in an area where there is no internet connection and cannot report the data through the internet-based maritime national single window.

The noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, raised concerns about safety. These amendments do not reduce safety standards, as the data being collected about persons on board a ship is already being satisfactorily collected by other means. Exemptions will be given only in exceptional circumstances and when it is safe to do so. The move to electronic reporting is being postponed, but the data is still being collected manually, under the 1999 regulations, by a registrar who makes it available to His Majesty’s Coastguard in an emergency—so safety is not affected. The exemption provision inherited from EU law is unnecessarily complex and cumbersome, not only to understand but to apply. The EU requirements removed the discretion for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to use pragmatism in situations that allow it.

I turn to a couple of points that the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, raised. It has not taken 24 years, as these are revisions to regulations that were previously amended in 2021. The 1999 regulations brought in the original requirements and the 2017 directive updated them and was implemented by the 2021 regulations. The 2023 regulations introduce flexibility.

The noble Lord, Lord Greenway, raised the point about passenger ships, and these regulations apply only to passenger ships—that is, to those carrying more than 12 passengers.

On the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, about how data is currently collected and reported, I can say that it varies from ship to ship. The method of collecting and reporting is checked by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

I think that it was the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, who raised this—but there were no mistakes in the 2021 regulations, which implemented EU directive 2017/2109. That directive was unnecessarily onerous in some administrative areas, to which I alluded earlier.

I am conscious that perhaps not all the technical points have been answered. As I said at the outset, I shall respond to them in writing. I hope that noble Lords agree that these regulations are important to ensure a sensible approach that combines safety and pragmatism for UK passenger ship operators. The requirements do not need to apply to non-passenger ships, as operators can make their own appropriate arrangements for the very small numbers of passengers that may be carried on those vessels.