Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Greenway, particularly given his association with Trinity House. It is many years since I became a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, but strangely enough the reference to the Irish question in this debate reminded me of when I took its exam. There was a particular question saying, "list the slow Irish ports", which I understood at the time was a technical expression. Alas, I was quite unable to list the slow Irish ports. Fortunately, there were other questions which apparently I succeeded in answering correctly. None the less, it is important for us to have this opportunity and I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, on obtaining time for it. I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, who I understand is to reply to this debate, on the first occasion that I have seen him in action on the Front Bench, together with what one of his new colleagues described yesterday as the "wacky world of the Whips’ Office"—a description I presume applies only to the present Government. Be that as it may, this is important. We have a helpful attachment to the order itself, consisting of an Evidence Base (for summary sheets). I will not quote from it at length, but some paragraphs are totally incomprehensible. The evidence base states: ""Government intervention is necessary given the market failure that results from the public good aspects of aids to navigation, i.e. the provision of aids to navigation such as lighthouses are ‘non-rival’ in consumption as use by a given ship does not detract from that of other vessels"." Perhaps the Minister should go back to his department, find out who is producing this gobbledegook and see if something can be done to improve it. More interestingly in the document is a summary that lists what policy options have been considered, along with a request to justify any preferred option. Five options are given, but there is no option 6 to eliminate the subsidy as far as concerns the Irish arrangement. However, I understand from the position that has already been mentioned that, in 2004, Mr Darling —then the relevant Secretary of State—gave an assurance that the matter would be dealt with. I gather that the extent of the subsidy would be virtually sufficient to eliminate the present deficit. Will the Minister clarify what that deficit is forecast to be? It is described in the papers as a "forecast deficit". Will the proposed increase in fees be sufficient to eliminate the deficit, or will it merely maintain the present situation with the deficit continuing into the indefinite future? Another thing worthy of comment is that we were helped by a memorandum from the Merits Committee on the matter, which it felt ought to be debated. It referred to increases in the levy of 11 to 43 per cent. The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, suggested that in some cases the increases may be as much as 80 per cent. If that is so, we should ask the Minister to clarify the exact increase. Clearly, this increases costs to the shipping industry, particularly the cost of exports from and imports to this country, at a time when we all recognise that financial circumstances are very stringent. I hope that the Minister will reply to those points. Once again, I congratulate the noble Lord on securing the debate.