To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many certificates of equivalent competency have been issued to foreign seafarers in each year since 2000. (117629)

The number of full certificates of equivalent competency issued to holders of certificate of competency under the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers 1978 as amended in 1995, each year since 2000 is as shown in the following table. Complete information about CECs in 2000 and 2001 under the unamended 1978 convention can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The 1995 amendments to the 1978 convention came into force in 2002.