Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I do not agree with the noble Lord. As I explained, a central part of the remit of the proposed organisation will be to deal with what are often conflicting pressures with the sea and its management. That is why the title ““MMO”” was developed. It has been asked: what is in a title? A number of the NDPBs sponsored by my department, Defra, have different titles but none the less have the same status. The important matter here is: what is its role and accountability, which we will debate under later parts of the Bill? I understand that there will often be disagreement about the name of an organisation. Noble Lords are fully entitled to suggest that ““the MMO”” does not reflect what they think that the organisation is here to do. I reassure them that there has been extensive debate about the name. I know that during consultation stakeholders raised issues about the name with the previous Bill Minister, Mr Jonathan Shaw. He challenged stakeholders, if I may call them that, to come up with other names, but no consensus was reached. The question is: will this be an effective organisation that will make a major contribution? I am clear that it will. The status of the organisation as contained in the Bill ensures that it will have sufficient independence within the overall policy direction that must fall to Ministers to give. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, asked, finally: will the organisation be able to set its own culture? The answer must be yes, of course it will set its own culture. Will it be listened to by government? The answer must be yes, it will be listened to by government. The body has a crucial role to play. I am satisfied that the legislative framework in which it is to be established will ensure that it can do so. I accept that we will not always agree about names, but we can set this organisation up and running to do an effective job.