Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Viscount Ullswater: My Lords, the Government did not believe it sensible to come to a decision on the boundary of the agency's Welsh region in isolation from the agency's proposals for its organisational and management structure, in just the way my noble friend Lord Crickhowell indicated. It is intended therefore that the boundary of the agency's Welsh region will be determined by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales in consultation with my right honourable friends the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on the basis of proposals from the agency. Those are the words I used in Committee and have now repeated to the noble Lord, Lord Elis-Thomas.
It is important that the agency's Welsh region has a strong identity, and it is for that reason that the Bill as drafted requires the Welsh region to consist wholly of, or mainly of, or of most of, Wales. The boundary will, however, need to be consistent with the structure chosen by the agency.
The Environment Protection Advisory Committee will be set up by the agency to advise the agency on how it can best carry out its functions in its Welsh region, whatever the boundary of that region. It makes sense therefore that the Environment Protection Advisory Committee for the Welsh region should not have a remit extending beyond the Welsh region, even if it transpires that not every part of Wales is included in the Welsh region. That is different from the position in relation to the advisory committee for Wales, which will be set up to advise my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales on the carrying out of the agency's functions in relation to the whole of Wales, whatever the boundary of the Welsh region.
That is the position the Government have taken. I understand the noble Lord's concerns. However, having listened to what I have had to say, I hope he will be in a position to withdraw his amendment.
Lord Elis-Thomas: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Viscount for stating the Government's position. It does not seem to have moved from what was stated in Committee. I was pleased to hear the analysis of the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, that it might be possible to take different boundaries for different functions of the agency. Functions should lead in this matter rather than there being any question of trying to maintain an over-unified structure for what are, after all, diverse functions but functions which in the broad environmental remit of the agency complement one another. It is important that the integrity of the function and activity of HMIP in its relationship with local
government in its Wales region should not be diminished in the transitional arrangements or indeed in the final arrangements that emerge from the Bill. With that caveat, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 13 [Regional and local fisheries advisory committees]:
[Amendments Nos. 58 and 59 not moved.]
Lord Greenway moved Amendment No. 60:
Leave out Clause 13 and insert the following new clause:
The noble Lord said: My Lords, I seem to be somewhat fated with this amendment. I did not move it in Committee. I withdrew it without speaking to it because it was part of a grouping and came up at the magic hour of 10 o'clock when the Committee wanted to go home. I have brought it back in the same form and I say at the outset that it is by way of a probing amendment. However, I am slightly thrown again by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, not speaking to her two amendments which are also down in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Beaumont of Whitley. I am sorry in a way because I rather favour those two amendments as opposed to mine. They go slightly broader and include conservation as well. I had not presumed to enter into the realms of conservation.
The reason for tabling this amendment is as a result of the Touche Ross study on the potential management structure for the new environment agency. All the navigation organisations and many other respondents favoured a management structure based somewhat on that of the National Rivers Authority. They also favoured the concept of a line of management which was based on fisheries, recreation, conservation and navigation. That line would flow through head office, down through regional offices and into an area structure.
With that in mind, I propose to amend Clause 13 to include regional committees for recreation and navigation in each of the areas, as I believe it is important that these activities should be defined as part of the consultation process for the environment agency, the regions and areas.
I assumed that perhaps navigation was rather too small a part of the whole new agency to warrant representation on the main environment committee. That may have been a somewhat naive assessment. I shall be delighted if the Minister can reassure me on that point and say that there might be a way of including a navigational interest on the main committee. That original assumption made me bring forward this amendment to see whether navigation and recreation can be represented on some of the lesser committees if they have no chance of being represented on the main committee. I beg to move.
Viscount Mills: My Lords, I have some direct experience of the existing NRA advisory committees and in particular the regional fisheries advisory committees. I too had prepared an answer to the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, but I believe that the principle remains the same. The regional fisheries advisory committees already deal with matters concerning recreation and navigation where they
Next Section
Back to Table of Contents
Lords Hansard Home Page