The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 23rd May 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to prevent oil spills by the Russian shadow fleet in the English Channel.
Lord Davies of Gower (Con, DfT): The Government is working with likeminded partners, including the G7+ Coalition, to respond to violations of the Oil Price Cap and to disrupt Russia’s shadow fleet. This includes imposing additional sanctions measures on those engaged in deceptive practices while transporting Russian oil. The UK has already imposed sanctions on individuals and entities involved in Russia’s shadow fleet and we are preparing to bolster our existing powers to target individual shadow fleet vessels.
We are also enhancing monitoring and enforcement and supporting industry with sanctions compliance by updating rules and regulations as necessary. This includes the Oil Price Cap Compliance and Enforcement Alert issued by the G7+ Coalition on 1st February this year. The alert sets out the shadow fleet’s methods of oil price cap evasion to support stakeholders with identifying evasion and reporting it, so that enforcement action can be taken.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce sanctions on vessels that are part of the Russian shadow fleet and on the international shipping companies that own and operate them.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con, FCDO): The UK has sanctioned over 2000 individuals and entities under the Russia sanctions regime, including those who support Russia’s efforts to circumvent UK and G7 oil sanctions. We will build on this action by enhancing our power to sanction individual vessels under the Russia sanctions regime. The enhanced power will allow us to be even more targeted and will increase Russia’s costs further, including where Russia uses the shadow fleet to export its oil by sea.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce regulations to require vessels travelling through the Strait of Dover to provide proof of adequate insurance.
Lord Davies of Gower: It is not possible as a matter of both international and domestic law to introduce regulations of this nature.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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