This has been a passionate debate and I recognise the concerns raised by my hon. Friends the Members for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) and for Croydon South (Richard Ottaway), both of whom spoke passionately and with knowledge. I hope that they accept, as I do, that the concerns have been raised a number of times and I hope we are moving towards a solution. The concerns were raised at a meeting with me before the Committee stage of the Bill. I hope that I will be able to allay some of them by explaining why the Government have chosen the non-statutory safeguards that complement the statutory provisions in the Bill. I understand that they have been agreed in principle by industry in its widest sense, by the Department and in principle although not in detail by the RYA. In total, there are 12 safeguards, some of which are detailed in the Bill. Others are non-statutory and I want to focus on them.
A set of harbour directions will be made available for harbours to adopt, as will guidance on how to use the power. A code of conduct covering good practice on consultation and a mechanism to resolve disputes about harbour directions before they are made will be developed by representatives of the port and the port users. An independently chaired panel will be established to develop and maintain the code of conduct and model harbour directions and I have given assurances on Second Reading and in Committee that the Department will actively engage in ensuring that there are guidelines for what should be covered in the code of conduct, how the harbour authority should make those directions and whom they should be consulting.
I expect the code of conduct to be agreed. I want it agreed by all sides—that is, not just by my Department but by the RYA. That is why the meeting in December is greatly important, as it will bring together a number of
the major key stakeholders: the RYA, the UK Major Ports Group, the British Ports Association and my Department. I hope that given my assurance that I expect the code to be agreed or, if it is not agreed, amended as promised in the other place, my hon. Friends will consider that as basis for accepting some reassurance today.
Secondly, on clause 5 and amendment 7, I have tried explicitly to give the assurance that, when a harbour authority expects to participate, it will have to sign up to the code of conduct before it makes the application.
2 pm
Clause 5, as drafted, places specific requirements on harbour authorities. To be fair, many are similar to those in the Local Government Act 1972. My hon. Friend the Member for Croydon South has gone through several, but let me be clear that the statutory requirements in the Bill are that the directions must be in writing; the harbour authority
“must consult such representatives of users of the harbour”;
the harbour authority must publicise the harbour direction at least 28 days before it is given; a harbour authority must
“make harbour directions available for inspection, and… supply a copy to anyone who requests it”,
and
“As soon as is reasonably practicable after giving a harbour direction the harbour authority must publish a notice in a newspaper specialising in shipping news”.
Those conditions are similar to provisions in the 1972 Act. I hope that I have reassured my hon. Friends the Members for Worthing West and for Croydon South that I will not only expect, but ensure that we work to secure agreement on the code of conduct, and that I have provided assurances about the Department’s expectation and mine that harbour authorities will commit to the code. I therefore hope that that gives them some comfort and that they will feel able to allow the Bill to proceed today without pressing amendment 8, which would remove the clause, or amendment 7.
Amendment 17 is a sensible amendment on the ability to drive down the cost to business and provide effective and efficient policing for ports. Amendments 18 and 19 effectively give powers to commence provisions in the Bill immediately following Royal Assent. The important point about amendments 18 and 19 is that they replicate the arrangements for Welsh Ministers. Again, that is sensible. I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West will feel able to withdraw the amendment, and I look forward to the Bill’s making progress.