Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

This has been a very interesting discussion. I will start with the proposal from the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, for a new clause specifically on a marine plan for the Scottish offshore region. This would enable Scottish Ministers to place a duty on every public body and officeholder to further the conservation of biodiversity. The intent of the amendment is to incorporate this duty in a marine plan for the Scottish offshore region, under legislation to be passed following scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament. The amendment would also pass competence for this legislation to the Scottish Parliament. The terms ““public body””, ““office-holder”” and, "““further the conservation of biodiversity””," come from the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004. Before I respond, let me just say that I believe that we have sent noble Lords the high-level objectives in draft. Given that we have sent a lot of paper to noble Lords, I am very happy to pick up the suggestion of the noble Duke that we do so again. The first issue here is further devolution to the Scottish Parliament, which is a significant matter of principle. Noble Lords will know—this is also a response to the noble Lord, Lord Livsey—that the Bill has been drafted within the current devolution settlement. The Government and the devolved Administrations have agreed that new powers in the Marine and Coastal Access Bill will be the subject not of legislative devolution but of a form of executive devolution, under which the Scottish Government will operate the legislation. What is the relationship between executive devolution and the Scottish Parliament? As I understand it, the Scottish Parliament will be able to hold Scottish Ministers to account. Under the Bill’s planning and nature conservation provisions, there will also be a role for this Parliament—I suggest that there is a similarity here—in that it will be able to hold UK Ministers to account for the way in which they exercise their right to agree or disagree with Scottish Ministers’ proposals. Essentially, that recognises the reality of the current complex mix of reserved and devolved matters in the marine environment. We have all agreed that a new system of marine planning is needed to enable us to manage our seas better. For it to deliver the benefits that we all want, the marine policy statement and the plans underneath it need to impact across the breadth of interest in our seas. We must secure issues of national importance, such as defence, shipping, oil and gas. That is why the Government have to agree to marine plans drawn up by Scottish Ministers, which is a very important part of ensuring that such matters are protected. Scottish Ministers may exercise in any manner they deem appropriate the functions that they already have. That must include establishing Marine Scotland. Once the Bill has been enacted, Scottish Ministers will also have marine planning and the Bill’s nature conservation functions in the offshore area, with the UK Government retaining functions on defence, oil, gas and shipping. Scottish Ministers do not have the competence to give those functions to Marine Scotland. As I understand it, Marine Scotland will, legally speaking, be a part of the Scottish Executive. Therefore, Scottish Ministers do not need any powers to set it up as they wish or to give it the functions that they wish it to exercise. Legally speaking, the actions of Marine Scotland will be those of the Scottish Ministers and, from my understanding of the Scottish Parliament, I believe that Scottish Ministers will of course be held accountable by the Scottish Parliament for the exercise of those powers.