Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, this comes back to a small but important issue—the size of the board of the Marine Management Organisation. It is identical in meaning to an amendment that I moved on Report. The only difference is that it uses words that Government draftsmen prefer rather than those that I had written. That seems to be perfectly reasonable. We had a long discussion in Committee about the size of the Marine Management Organisation. As set out, there will be at least five and not more than eight members, plus the chairman; so the total will be between six and nine, including the chairman. There was discussion about whether this was big enough, and what the right size was. The Government made clear their intention that the size will be eight plus the chairman, at least in the beginning. The amendment I moved on Report stated that the provision that the Secretary of State has in the Bill to change the range of five to eight, plus the chairman, should not be used to reduce the size below five, which would not be satisfactory. That is the point I put forward on Report and that is what I put forward again in the amendment. I thank the Government for their assistance in drafting the amendment. I beg to move.