Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, in the spirit of the phrase used by the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, on a previous amendment, when he said that the Committee should continue in a productive manner, I am now hopeful that I can bring the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, into this virtuous circle. Amendment 6 is a response to the points that the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, made in Committee when he asked how paragraph 20(3) of Schedule 1 was intended to work in practice. He raised this on the first day and I am grateful to him because we said at the time that he had made a significant point, and that we wanted to look again at the paragraph. The result of the Government’s consideration is Amendment 6. It should now be clear from the government amendment and the revised paragraph 20 that the MMO can indeed authorise a committee, sub-committee, member or employee to exercise any MMO function. The power is capable of repeated exercise, so if the MMO wanted, for example, to authorise a different committee to exercise a function, it could do so under that provision. Sub-paragraph (3) makes it clear that the MMO can still exercise that function itself, or get an employee to do it, notwithstanding the delegation of that function under sub-paragraph (1). In considering this amendment, we have looked at paragraph 19 of Schedule 1 to the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. We have based our drafting in this Bill on the provision in that Act. I hope we have, through the good offices of the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, who drew the attention of the Government and the House to this issue, clarified this issue. I beg to move.