Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

The answer is yes, and that is without consulting my magic document. I believe that this will also help with such issues. Amendment 89JA would allow Scottish Ministers to plan for the Scottish offshore region for devolved functions without the need for the agreement of the Secretary of State. That would extend the provision already made in respect of plans prepared by Welsh Ministers for devolved matters only in the Welsh inshore region. It may help if I explain why that provision for Welsh plans is there. Unlike in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Welsh Assembly cannot legislate for marine planning in the Welsh inshore region, so we have made provision for Welsh inshore planning in the Bill. However, under current devolution arrangements, Welsh Ministers have existing powers in the Welsh inshore region—particularly in relation to protecting the marine environment—which they currently exercise without the agreement of the Secretary of State. We have therefore included this provision to ensure that the existing devolution arrangements should not be curtailed by this Bill by a need for the Secretary of State to agree plans which cover only devolved matters—to leave the status quo. Regarding the noble Lord’s amendment, the position of the Scottish offshore region is different. It is not part of devolved Scotland, and although Scottish Ministers have significant functions in that region, they are by no means comprehensive. The Scottish offshore region comprises a significant part of the UK marine area and the UK, rather than the Scottish Executive, retains many key functions in the area, including those relating to international relations with other countries that share borders with that region. The second of these amendments, Amendment 94A, would remove the definition of ““retained functions”” as applied to ““the Scottish inshore region””. We consider that that could damage the effect of the marine policy statement in that region by creating uncertainty over the decisions to which it should apply. As I explained earlier, if the Scottish Ministers adopt the MPS, it will apply to all decisions relating to the Scottish inshore region. If they do not, it will still apply to retained or reserved functions, so removing that definition would make it unclear which functions these are and threaten most the functions that are reserved to this Parliament. I understood that the noble Lord prefaced his remarks by saying this was a probing amendment. I hope it has probed a satisfactory enough reply from me for him to feel happy to withdraw it. The remaining amendments, Amendments 97A, 97B and 97C, refer to Clause 59, which sets out how any person may challenge the content of the marine policy statement or marine plans in a court of law. They specifically deal with which court should be applied to. The noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, expressed his keen interest in this matter. It will be possible to appeal against a published marine policy statement or an adopted plan. Clause 59 provides that any person aggrieved by one of these documents or by a revision or replacement will be able to apply to the relevant court on the grounds that the document is not within the appropriate power or that a procedural requirement has not been complied with. The amendments limit the courts to which applicants could bring a case. For example, for matters relating to plans in inshore areas in England and Wales, the appropriate court will be the High Court, but the marine policy statement and plans for the English, Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish offshore areas may affect a wide range of interests in those areas. It is appropriate to allow for an application challenging the marine policy statement or a marine plan for part of the offshore region to be heard in the High Court or the Court of Session. Applicants can also challenge the marine policy statement in any superior court, and we are concerned that the effect of Amendment 97B would be to remove the provision relating to where applications challenging the marine policy statement should be brought. That is why we cannot accept it because it puts at risk the protection of UK interests in the Scottish offshore region, which are extensive, and the basis on which we have agreed the Bill in our discussions with the devolved Administrations.