Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

My Lords, I start by declaring my interest. The noble Lords, Lord Sterling and Lord Greenway, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, and I are all distinguished Elder Brethren of Trinity House—unpaid, of course, but proud and pleased to be part of an organisation that has saved the taxpayer very considerable amounts of money, has been efficient and effective and goes back to the days of King Henry VIII. I am probably the only Member of the House who has a lighthouse on his coat of arms. I was born in the police station in Port Ellen on the Isle of Islay, which was about six feet away from the Atlantic Ocean. That gave me a unique qualification to be Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and also a keen appreciation of the dangers, problems and difficulties of those who live and work around the coasts of the British Isles. The 20,000 miles that the three general lighthouse authorities have to look after—the Northern Lighthouse Authority where I was born, Trinity House and the Irish authority—are extremely dangerous, highly unpredictable and in considerable need of the maritime aids that are provided. I commend my noble friend for securing the debate. Although I disagree with what he is arguing for, the debate has allowed us to highlight a subject with which not many people are conversant. It also highlights the importance of the issue both to the shipping industry and to those who use the coasts of our country. The problem with the debate is that my noble friend is using it to highlight a problem between Governments which can only be addressed by the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. He is applying a method to object to what is a justifiable increase in the light dues, which would have a direct and considerable impact on the operations of the lighthouse authorities as well. I hope that we can try to put a division between those two objectives. My noble friend may or may not be right about the Irish subsidy but that is a matter that can only be resolved between the two Governments. I dare say that the Minister and those in charge at the new omnibus business department which has been created will pay careful attention to the points that have been made. However, the issue cannot be resolved through this statutory instrument. This instrument is essential given the shortfall in funding for the GLAs. It must therefore be passed so that we can continue the major benefits that come from the lighthouses and navigation aids. It is interesting that the ship owners are now making the case that with modern shipping, modern techniques and satellite aids, there is not the same necessity for the navigation aids that exist at present. However, I think that the management of Trinity House would say that the current number of collisions with buoys and navigation aids amply illustrates and gives evidence to the fact that they are still required. Although the ship owners appear to have a very strong view about the impact of the light dues, it appears that the captains and masters are unanimous in their view that the physical navigation aids should remain. The noble Lord, Lord Greenway, made a point about GPS—the global positioning system—and its European successor, as yet untested, Galileo. I have a little knowledge about both those systems. The global positional system, organised by the United States of America, is a military system that is lent on a free basis to the rest of the world. However, it is obviously commanded by the American authorities, which at any point can turn it off. All these systems are vulnerable to what the Government pointed out in last week’s national security strategy is a substantial threat of cyber attack. This week alone three departments of state in the United States of America came under a sustained and very considerable attack on their computer capabilities. So this is not something that we can easily dismiss. As the noble Lord, Lord Greenway, said, tests done with very simple over-the-counter pieces of equipment have shown that today’s high-technology, high-cost ships can be rendered into relying on some of the oldest means of navigation aid available. Of course any organisation involved in supplying services to industry must clearly give a good and efficient service. However, no one can doubt that the general lighthouse authorities have made a huge contribution to efficiency savings. I simply underline what the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, and others have said: there has been no increase in light dues since 1993, but there has been a 50 per cent reduction in light dues over 10 years. My noble friend was able to say that this was the biggest increase in 10 years. That is thanks to the efficiencies of the GLAs over that decade and a three-year holiday in the past three years. Inevitably that £21 million gap has to be made up. You can go so far with efficiencies, and we have probably now reached the limit. These navigation aids are still required. This mechanism gives relief to the taxpayer, who pays absolutely nothing to the maintenance of these aids. It imposes a small and proportionate burden on those who conduct international trade by sea. This statutory instrument should be given a fair wind.