Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, Amendment 102, together with the majority of the amendments in this group, is largely technical, and the two amendments of substance are Amendments 108 and 103B. Amendment 108 has been tabled in response to the eloquent case made in Committee by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler. I was going to lavish great praise on him from this Dispatch Box today but, as he has withdrawn to other pursuits, he will have to be content with the fact that the Government are responding to the case that he made. I have no doubt that the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, will carry back the good news as though it came from Ghent to Aix. In Committee, the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, sought to change the test that the licensing authority would apply when deciding whether information pertaining to a licence application should be withheld from the licensing register. The wording suggested by the noble Lord was that used in the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, which he commended to the Committee. It would have provided that the disclosure of information could be withheld from the register only to the extent that its disclosure would adversely affect the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information where such confidentiality was provided by law to protect a legitimate economic interest. We revisited the wording used in Clause 98(5)(b) and, in the light of the arguments presented by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, I have now tabled Amendment 108. This amendment would replace the test currently in the Bill with wording equivalent to that in the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, which the noble Lord brought to our attention. Amendment 103B—the other substantive amendment in this group—removes the requirement that appeals against monetary penalties issued by Scottish Ministers in relation to licensing breaches in the Scottish offshore region must be directed to either the First-tier Tribunal or another tribunal. This change is being made at the request of the Scottish Executive and will enable determination of what is considered to be the appropriate appellate body. I am sure that the House will see the advantage of complying with the Scottish Executive’s request in these terms. As I said, the other amendments in this group are all minor and technical. Accordingly, I beg to move.