Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, this is the first occasion on which I have spoken at this stage of the proceedings, so I declare interests from the Register in relation to renewable energy, including the chairmanship of the steering group of Marine Renewable Energy Development in Scotland, which is a working group under the auspices of the ICIT at Heriot-Watt University. Also relevant is my membership of the Commission on Scottish Devolution, set up by resolution of the Scottish Parliament and supported by Her Majesty’s Government, which is looking at devolved/reserved boundaries; indeed, I think that today it was taking evidence from the Scottish Environment Link on the respective marine Bills that we and the Scottish Parliament are dealing with. I generally support the amendment moved by the noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose. In Committee, we came back to the issue of devolved and reserved functions a number of times to try to pin down just which functions still remained the responsibility of UK Ministers and the MMO and would involve the Secretary of State or the MMO undertaking responsibilities in the Scottish inshore area. I do not think that we totally pinned them down. Defence is an obvious issue and international shipping and responsibilities for rights of passage would be another. In areas such as the Pentland Firth, where a considerable amount of renewable marine energy is anticipated, there could well be occasions when it was important to have proper co-ordination between Marine Scotland, as established by the Scottish Government, and the MMO. Therefore, it would be welcome to have some obligation beyond the normal courtesies to consult where there would be interaction in the Scottish inshore water in these circumstances. I think that the noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, has raised an important point and I look forward with interest to the Minister’s reply.