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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I congratulate my noble friend on taking us back to the debate about the relationship between the Marine Management Organisation and the Infrastructure Planning Commission, and the relationship between marine planning statements and the MPSs that will come through because of changes in the Planning Act 2008. I hope that the circumstances he has suggested never arise. The thought of the IPC commissioning scientists to come to one view and the MMO commissioning scientists to come to another is not what I envisage, and I would be horrified if that were the case. I will make two points. First, as I have said, we expect the marine planning statement and the MPS to be consistent. Secondly, the science and research will be available to both the MMO and the IPC to enable them to make the judgments that they are called upon to make. If an offshore renewable infrastructure planning decision, because it is above the threshold, is not made by the IPC but by the MMO, I would expect that, in making the decision, the MMO would make available to the IPC all the relevant expertise and scientific and research evidence. That is how it will work.