Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, in moving Amendment 20, I shall speak to several other amendments in the group. Noble Lords will see that they make substantive amendment to Clause 4. They partly result from agreement reached with Scottish Ministers to enable the Marine Management Organisation to enter into agency arrangements with Scottish Ministers in relation to reciprocal licensing of fishing vessels. That is another indication that a good working relationship has been established. The licensing of English fishing vessels operating out of Scottish ports and Scottish fishing vessels operating out of English ports is an administrative convenience currently undertaken on a reciprocal basis by Scottish Ministers and the Secretary of State, although, in practice, the Secretary of State’s licensing function in England is carried out by the Marine and Fisheries Agency, an executive agency of Defra. Unlike the Northern Ireland Act and the Government of Wales Act, the Scotland Act has no provision enabling Scottish Ministers to enter into agency arrangements with any public body to exercise functions on their behalf. Specific provision for that is therefore required in the Bill to enable the Marine Management Organisation, as a non-departmental public body, to enter into those arrangements with Scottish Ministers to maintain the status quo. Consequential Amendments 20, 23 and 36 have been made to delete subsections (2), (7) and (8) and Clause 14(3)(b), which are no longer required. In addition, Amendment 23 replaces subsection (6) with new subsections (6) to (8) appropriately to convey the scope of the transitional provisions that may be required when the MMO comes into being. The clause provides that licences already granted by the Secretary of State will, once the Bill is commenced, be treated as having been granted by the MMO. The amendment ensures that the same principle applies to licences that have been varied, suspended or revoked by the Secretary of State before the Bill is commenced; such licences will be treated as if varied, suspended or revoked by the MMO. Similarly, any application for a licence made to the Secretary of State that has not already been determined or withdrawn by the time that the MMO is established will be treated as an application to the MMO. I beg to move.