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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, for the way in which he moved the amendment, although I am not sure that I can answer all his questions quite as specifically as he might hope. I want to emphasise that Clause 14 enables the Secretary of State to authorise the MMO to perform any of his marine functions. This authorisation can be in relation to the UK marine area or parts of that area. The authorisation can apply generally or in specific cases. The amendment would—I understand from the noble Duke’s speech that this is a probing amendment—remove the provision that the authorisation given to the MMO to perform these marine functions could relate to all or part of the UK marine area. This would restrict the flexibility we seek for the Secretary of State to make appropriate authorisations. It is important that we retain the flexibility to respond as necessary as there may be circumstances where we would want to specify in which part of the marine area the MMO is to exercise the relevant function, or there may be existing bodies in certain areas—which certainly, it goes without saying, would include devolved powers—carrying out functions, and the Secretary of State would not wish for the MMO to duplicate the arrangements already in place. I hope that that reassures the noble Duke in some respects. Perhaps it would assist if we were clear what sorts of functions will be included in the types of agreements that we envisage. This would include work currently undertaken by the Marine and Fisheries Agency under the common fisheries policy—the licensing of fisheries vessels, the managing of fisheries quotas, the managing of fleet capacity and the managing of European grants schemes—or under EU regulations which are directly applicable in the United Kingdom. In the future, the MMO may need to take on new functions, such as a role of competent authority under the marine strategy framework directive, which we anticipate to have significant implications for the United Kingdom, and future marine regulations and directives which emanate from Brussels. I would emphasise this point by way of reassurance: such a system was set up under Part 8 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2008 and it works well. This clause seeks to provide a means by which Ministers can delegate these future marine functions to the MMO where appropriate. The amendment would, of course, significantly restrict our options in responding to future needs, which we cannot, at present, identify in all cases. I hope, therefore, that the noble Duke will feel that he has been sufficiently reassured to be able to withdraw his amendment.