Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, for moving this amendment on behalf of his noble friend and for the contribution of the noble Duke. I hope to reassure the Committee on both points. As the noble Duke suggests, the UK Government are committed to meeting their EU and international obligations and this is why we have referenced these on the face of the Bill. The Bill primarily establishes a new UK tool that will complement our EU and international commitments and ensure that we designate a network of sites specific to the UK marine environment. Amendment A162 relates to the duty on Ministers to designate marine conservation zones and seeks to insert a reference to good environmental status and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive into the Bill. It is normal practice for European legislation to be transposed through secondary legislation made under the European Communities Act 1972, and for this reason we do not want to depart from that position. In addition, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive is, as it says, a framework directive which sets the overall goal of achieving good environmental status for Europe's seas by 2020, as the noble Duke said. The directive came into force on 15 July 2008 and the first task is to transpose the requirements of the directive into UK law by July 2010. We intend to do this outside the scope of this Bill by: making an initial assessment of the current environmental status within UK marine waters by July 2012; determining what good environmental status means for UK waters, and establishing targets and indicators by July 2012; conducting a monitoring programme to measure progress towards achieving good environmental status by July 2014; and establishing a programme of measures designed to achieve or maintain good environmental status by July 2016. In addition, although we do not believe that a specific reference to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive is appropriate here for the reasons I have just given, I assure noble Lords that, in as much as the provisions of that directive require improvement of the marine environment, the terms of Clause 119(4) already cover those obligations. We must also be clear that there are links between marine conservation zones and European sites—that point was made in previous debates—and that is why we have included Clause 119(4) in the Bill. The authorities designating marine conservation zones will do so to contribute to a network of sites, which will include EC sites, so it is appropriate to state here that they should have regard to relevant obligations under EU and international law. Our duty to meet these obligations applies in any event and is not dependent on what we and others do under the Bill. Amendment A163 seeks to require the report to Parliament set out in Clause 120 to include any further steps that should be taken to comply with our EU and international obligations. My reply in this case is very similar to my reply on the previous amendment. The purpose of Clause 120 is to establish a duty on the Secretary of State to report to Parliament on progress in designating an ecologically coherent network of sites. The report, initially made in 2012 and then at least every six years thereafter, will set out the number and type of marine conservation zones designated as well as any measures that could be taken to further the conservation objectives for a site. I pray in aid again Clause 120(1)(a) and (b), which specifically state that the report to Parliament must include the extent to which the objectives of the network have been met and any further steps that are required to be taken in order to contribute to the achievement of the objectives. Ministers must have regard to our EU and international commitments when designating marine conservation zones, and the report to Parliament will reflect this. I am certain that, as a result, the report will give an evaluation of how far our network goes towards meeting our EU obligations. I hope that I have reassured the noble Lord on that.