AQW 3547/22-27 Written question to the Minister for Infrastructure
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure (i) how many staff are employed to provide the Strangford ferry service, broken down by role; and (ii) when the last recruitment was held for staff for the Strangford ferry service.
Asked by Kellie Armstrong MLA on 26 September 2022
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 26 September 2022
- Answer due by
- 11 October 2022
- Answered
- 11 October 202215 days after tabling
- Department
- Department for Infrastructure
- Priority question
- No
Answer
There are currently 28.8 staff employed in the direct provision of the Strangford Ferry service as set out in the table below.
| Role | Number of staff currently in post |
| Senior Engineer (Manager) | 1 |
| Ferry Manager | 1 |
| Harbour Master | 1 |
| Marine Maintenance Supervisor | 1 |
| Shift Manager (Senior Skipper) | 3 |
| Skipper | 3 |
| Senior Purser | 4 |
| Purser | 8 (2 from an Agency) |
| Marine Fitter | 1 |
| Ferry Admin Manager | 1 |
| Admin Support | 1.8 |
| Night Watch | 3 (1 from an Agency) |
| TOTAL | 28.8 |
In addition to those listed above there are 3 Duty Ferry Managers who provide cover outside of normal office hours. These posts are filled by staff from other sections within DfI.
The last external recruitment competitions were advertised on 17 August 2020 for Skipper and Senior Purser. A senior Engineer was seconded to the service in February 2022. Agency staff have more recently been employed in late April 2022.