My Lords, the main purpose of this order, which was laid before the House on 18 November 2014, is to confer on the Secretary of State powers in relation to reservoirs in Scotland that are similar to powers that the Secretary of State already has in relation to reservoirs in England and Wales. They will ensure that a coherent national security regime is in place in relation to reservoirs across Great Britain. The order is made under Section 104 of the Scotland Act 1998, which allows for necessary or expedient legislative changes to be made in consequence of an Act of the Scottish Parliament. This particular order is made in consequence of Sections 9 and 55 of the Reservoirs (Scotland) Act 2011, which I will refer to as the 2011 Act.
The 2011 Act provides for a new regime for regulating the construction, alteration and management of controlled reservoirs in Scotland, particularly in relation to the risk of flooding from those reservoirs. When fully commenced, the 2011 Act will replace the current regime which operates under the Reservoirs Act 1975 in so far as it extends to Scotland.
Section 9 of the 2011 Act requires the Scottish Environment Protection Agency—SEPA—to establish and maintain a public register of controlled reservoirs in Scotland. The register must include, among other things, maps showing areas of land that would be likely to be flooded in the event of an uncontrolled release of water. Section 55 of the 2011 Act provides for the preparation and publication of flood plans for controlled reservoirs. The plan must set out the action to be taken by the manager of the reservoir to control or mitigate the effect of any flooding likely to result from an escape of water from the reservoir.
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Noble Lords will readily appreciate that some of the information in the maps and plans that I have just mentioned, which will be gathered and stored by public bodies and others under the 2011 Act, could be used in a harmful way if in the wrong hands. As the Committee may well be aware, the Scottish Parliament does not have the legislative competence to make provision in relation to national security matters, as these matters are reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament under Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998. Therefore, this order will empower the Secretary of State to serve a non-disclosure notice on the Scottish Ministers and SEPA if the Secretary of State is of the opinion that disclosure of any information about a controlled reservoir in Scotland would be contrary to the interests of national security. This will prohibit the disclosure of the information by Scottish Ministers and SEPA, and, in particular, will ensure that the information is excluded from the public register.
The order will also empower the Secretary of State to serve a non-publication notice on any relevant person if the Secretary of State is of the opinion that publication of a flood plan, or any information relating to the plan, would be contrary to the interests of national security. For the Committee’s information, a “relevant person” is defined by Article 2 of the order and includes those who are required to prepare or publish flood plans. As I indicated at the outset, the Secretary of State already has similar powers in relation to reservoirs in England and Wales, and this order puts in place appropriate provision for Scotland. The order will also make it an offence to fail to comply with a requirement of a non-publication notice.
Finally, the order will update the definition of the “Scottish regime” in Schedule 4 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 to clarify that the 2011 Act will now provide for the regulation of the construction, alteration and management of controlled reservoirs in Scotland, rather than the regime that currently operates under the Reservoirs Act 1975.
I consider this order to be a sensible use of the powers under the Scotland Act 1998 and I believe that it demonstrates once again this Government’s continued commitment to working with the Scottish Government to make the devolution settlement work. The order was debated in Committee in the other place earlier this afternoon. I commend the order to the Committee. I beg to move.