Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

This amendment will presumably come as no surprise to your Lordships. Much as we support the overall provisions of this Bill, we are, as I and my noble friends have said before, deeply concerned not only by what is definitely to be carved out of the Marine Management Organisation remit but also by what might potentially happen in the future. I hope that we have been consistent in our argument. Certainly there is no ambiguity in this amendment. It would ensure that, if there were to be any delegation of planning functions to a public body outside the areas devolved to Scotland, that body would be the MMO. That is, I understand, the Government’s very sensible intention, so we would like to see that intention set out on the face of the Bill. The Minister will no doubt say that flexibility is needed in the event that the MMO proves incapable of exercising these functions effectively. Surely, however, if that were the case, the Secretary of State would, first, withdraw the functions back into the department and, secondly, reconsider the whole approach to marine planning, with the appropriate legislation following. Watching the MMO fail and not taking the proper steps to dissolve it and to replace it with a more effective body would be the worst possible way to proceed. Of course, this principle also applies to marine licensing. Although I have not tabled an amendment to that part of the Bill, I hope and trust that the Government’s intentions are to delegate the relevant licensing powers to the MMO. However, this is nowhere indicated in the Bill. Perhaps the Minister might consider ways in which this could be made more explicit in the wording of the Bill. I beg to move.