| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Bill [H.L.]
3.37 p.m.
The Minister of State, Department of Social Security (Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish): My Lords, I beg to introduce a Bill to restate, with amendments, Part IV of the Social Security Administration Act 1992. I beg to move that this Bill be now read a first time.
Moved, That the Bill be now read a first time.-- (Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish.)
On Question, Bill read a first time, and to be printed.
Land Registration Bill [H.L.]
Lord Brightman: My Lords, on behalf of my noble and learned friend Lord Browne-Wilkinson, I beg to introduce a Bill to amend the Land Registration Act 1925. I beg to move that this Bill be now read a first time.
Moved, That the Bill be now read a first time.--(Lord Brightman.)
On Question, Bill read a first time, and to be printed.
Merchant Shipping and Maritime Security Bill [H.L.]
3.40 p.m.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (Viscount Goschen): My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time.
This important Bill develops and builds upon the Government's long-standing commitment to the highest standards of maritime safety and of vigilance to prevent the pollution of our waters and coast. We believe that the measures in this Bill will make an important
contribution to those aims. We have been encouraged by the wide support that the thrust of our proposals has received during public consultation.Our approach to meet those commitments is fourfold: entailing the prevention of incidents occurring in the first place; mitigating the effects when they do happen; ensuring that those who suffer the consequences receive timely and fair compensation; and learning the lessons that will help to prevent a recurrence.
The Government have long taken steps to investigate the causes of incidents, a function now discharged by the independent Marine Accident Investigation Branch. As well as investigating incidents, it makes recommendations about how they could be avoided in future. However, following the grounding of the "Braer" tanker in January 1993, we decided that a broader view was needed and we appointed the noble and learned Lord, Lord Donaldson, as chairman of an inquiry into what further steps could be taken to improve safety at sea and to prevent pollution.
The noble and learned Lord, Lord Donaldson, rose to the occasion with his thorough and challenging report Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas published in May 1994, in which he made 103 recommendations for action. We warmly welcomed his report and our detailed response was published in February 1995. We accepted 91 recommendations and have now implemented over half of them. I have arranged for the latest progress report of action taken to be placed in the Library of the House. As well as having a major impact on UK maritime policy, his report has been acknowledged internationally as an authoritative major work of reference on the subject. The report recognised that much has already been done. But it identified a number of areas where measures already in place could be reinforced or where there were gaps which could be plugged.
The Government acted quickly in many areas where there was no need for international agreement or legislation. We have pursued international action on key issues and this Bill will implement the recommendations which the Government accept which require legislation.
The Bill's provisions can be grouped under a number of headings: measures designed to minimise or prevent marine accidents or marine pollution; measures to better deal with such accidents when they occur; measures to ensure that insurance is available and that reasonable compensation can be paid; and the statutory framework for a possible future charging mechanism for marine services. The opportunity is also being taken to legislate on a number of other matters relating to maritime security and safety.
I turn first to the question of prevention. We are proposing in Clause 8 to apply appropriate safety standards to foreign as well as UK registered ships operating in our waters, save those on innocent or transit passage. We are also establishing our right, recognised in international law, to inspect ships found within our territorial waters and to detain them if they are unseaworthy. Where a ship could pose a safety or pollution hazard and has no valid reason for being in our waters, we are taking powers to order them to move
on, regardless of whether it is seaworthy. For both measures, rights of innocent and transit passage would be preserved.The report looked particularly at the problem of ships undertaking fish transhipment in our waters, commonly known as "klondykers". Klondykers can provide a useful market for UK fish but it is true that they have a poor track record for safety and pose a pollution threat to our coastline. Action by the fisheries departments to restrict the numbers of licences on grounds of fish conservation has already reduced their number. We now propose, through Clause 11, to provide for safety standards to be applied to such vessels. If they are not found to comply, the clause provides for the transhipment operations of the vessel to be suspended.
To reduce the possibility of marine pollution, the report made specific reference to the adequacy of waste reception facilities in our ports. Following wide consultation, I announced in January a package of 18 measures to prevent illegal discharges of waste from ships. The measures mix the "carrot and stick" approach providing for better use of port waste reception facilities and enhanced detection and punishment of those who continue to illegally discharge at sea.
We see port waste management plans as an important way forward. Many ports are already preparing these on a voluntary basis and that is our preferred approach. However, Clause 5 would allow us to make such plans mandatory for all ports, harbours and marinas to require them to alter charging practices, if those were acting as a disincentive to the use of reception facilities and to make the discharge of wastes mandatory. If such measures were necessary, they would be carried out by order and would follow further public consultation with interested parties. The Bill also provides for five-fold increases to the fines which a magistrate may impose for an illegal discharge, through Clause 7. This is part of our policy of preventing pollution by increasing both incentives and deterrents.
I turn now to emergencies at sea. We are committed to doing all we can to take preventive action, and when incidents do occur, to minimise their impact. The first four clauses of the Bill would all assist in this aim. Clause 1 would give the Secretary of State the power to issue a direction to establish a temporary exclusion zone around a casualty at sea for reasons of safety or the prevention of pollution. No ship would be allowed to enter a temporary exclusion zone unless directed by the Secretary of State or unless exercising a right of transit passage. Ships entitled to exercise these rights would be encouraged to avoid the zones for their own safety. For other ships, failure to comply with the zones would be an offence. The inspiration for exclusion zones follows what has already been established for temporary exclusion zones in the air.
The report recommended strengthening the Government's powers of intervention to minimise the impact in cases or threatened cases of pollution from a shipping incident. The current test for intervention stipulates that the power can be exercised where an accident has occurred to or in a ship where pollution is likely to occur "on a large scale". Clause 2 would make
the test less onerous by changing the wording to "significant". The clause also extends the geographical limit of the powers. The opportunity is also being taken to give greater flexibility for fire services to fight fires at sea in Clause 4, by amending the Fire Services Act 1947.The third group of measures covered by the Bill relate to liability and compensation and to insurance. The UK has played an active part in negotiations to secure agreement where international co-operation is necessary. A recent major success has been the adoption by the International Maritime Organisation--the IMO--of the Hazardous and Noxious Substances Convention. The UK played a key role in the negotiation, ensuring that the final instrument was both balanced and workable. We believe that that convention provides major additional protection to coastlines. The UK was the first state to sign up last month. The Bill will enable legal effect to be given to the convention, through Clause 13. Its implementation is supported by all UK interests. We are working within Europe and with other key states to bring about a co-ordinated ratification, and so reduce the potential competitive disadvantage to any single nation.
The Bill contains provision in Clause 14 for the UK to implement and ratify a protocol to amend the 1976 Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims. The protocol would increase the amount of compensation available for non-oil claims.
In addition, we are taking action internationally on insurance. As a result of a UK-led initiative, the IMO is considering the development of an international regime to require all ships to carry documentary evidence of the owner's ability to meet third party liabilities. No such requirement currently exists, except for oil tankers. An irresponsible minority of shipowners operate without insurance. and are thus able to gain a commercial advantage over responsible shipowners. Clause 15 contains an enabling power for the United Kingdom to introduce a requirement for shipowners to have insurance. Our preference would be to exercise this power in the context of international agreement.
When the Government invited the noble and learned Lord, Lord Donaldson, to make his report, he was asked to consider the international and economic implication of any new measures. He endorsed the user pays and polluter pays principles, in accordance with which the shipping industry should bear the costs it imposed.
Clause 12 contains enabling powers to recover the standing costs of emergency response, emergency towing, the costs of inspection where not already recovered and the costs of standard setting activity. However, we recognise that such charges could have implications for the competitiveness not only of UK ports and shipowners based in UK ports but also for exporters and importers using our ports. We take these issues very seriously indeed for the competitiveness reasons that I detailed. We have, therefore, clearly stated that our preferred approach would be to implement these provisions in the context of an international agreement. I take considerable pains to re-emphasise that statement.
We are also taking measures to amend the way that the General Lighthouse Fund may work in the event of international agreement on charging. These changes may be necessary because the existing General Lighthouse Fund arrangements may not be compatible with any new international scheme or, indeed, may conflict with such a scheme. The provisions in the Bill relating to the fund are designed to address that precise problem. However, I understand that there are concerns from certain quarters that the effects of these clauses may go substantially further than that. That is why I can assure the House that there are no wider implications or intentions. I take the opportunity of this Second Reading debate to emphasise that assertion which was not perhaps sufficiently well explained before the Bill came to your Lordships' House.
The opportunity is also being taken to introduce a number of other, mostly minor, changes to merchant shipping legislation. For example, we are seeking to lighten the burden on the registrar general to record and preserve all documents transmitted to him, of which most are seldom required.
The measures contained in the Bill are the result of extensive work and consultation and they owe much to the careful deliberations of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Donaldson. It is a Bill which contains a wide variety of measures, all of which are designed to reduce the possibility of pollution and indeed to make our ships safer. I see that the noble Lord wishes to intervene. I give way.
Next Section
Back to Table of Contents
Lords Hansard Home Page