NORTH WESTERN AND NORTH WALES SEA FISHERIES COMMITTEE
OFFICER’S REPORT
The UK Marine Act and SFC re-organisation in England and Wales
Report by the Chief Executive
Purpose of Report
To provide an update on progress
Recommendations
That a Committee response to an expected Defra consultation should support a single IFCA for NW England.
That the PFO should be seconded to WAG to assist with the re-organisation of fisheries in Wales if required.
1. The Marine Act
1.1 Further to previous reports, progress with the Act continues on schedule. In early November a large number of MPs signed a motion supporting the introduction of this Act and resolved that parliamentary time should be found to ensure it is completed. This shows that there is encouraging cross party support for the bill.
1.2 The latest information is that it will be introduced to Parliament in January 2009 with a view to progressing to royal assent in autumn 2009.
1.3 The CEO continues to attend an IFCA Implementation Committee chaired by Defra. This Committee is now working on the clauses for the Bill but dissemination of the clauses outside the Committee is prohibited by Defra. The ASFC is fairly content that, at this stage, all its concerns about the measures in the Act in respect of the new IFCA have been taken into account in later versions. Any further information from this Committee which next meets on 20 November will be reported verbally to the NWNWSFC on 5 December.
2. England: setting up of Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCA)
2.1 The proposed schedule is that Statutory Instruments (SI) to establish IFCA will be prepared in 2009 to become law in time to set up IFCA on 1 April 2010.
2.2 The IFCA implementation meeting on 20 November will also consider a detailed draft ‘Delivery plan’ recently circulated by Defra for implementation of the IFCA proposals. The Delivery Plan is available as a background paper from the Clerk. Outcomes from the discussion will be reported verbally on 5 December.
2.3 A meeting has been arranged for 21 November in Kendal for the local authorities in North West England to consider a range of alternative IFCA structures for this region. The CEOs and Local Authority members of NWNWSFC and Cumbria SFC have been invited. The outcomes from that meeting will be reported verbally to the Joint Committee on 5 December. A briefing paper has been sent to delegates attending the meeting and is available as a background paper to this report.
2.4 Defra intend to consult on the boundaries of the IFCA in December. There has already been a strong indication from Defra that they favour a merger between the English part of NWNWSFC and the existing Cumbria SFC to form a single North West England IFCA. The consultation will be circulated to English members when it is published and Officers will prepare a draft Committee response.
2.5 The Committee may wish to call a special meeting to agree its response to this consultation. Alternatively, Members may consider it to be appropriate that the Committee responds to that consultation with an indication of support for a single IFCA for North West England.
3. Wales: Development of a new fisheries management structure
3.1 WAG is continuing development of a proposed new structure for fisheries management in Wales. As previously reported to the Committee WAG has already made 2 fundamental decisions which dictate the structure and requirements of the proposed new regime. These are:
i) to set up a Welsh Fisheries zone extending to all territorial waters (up to 12 miles from baseline) around Wales and beyond to the median lines with Ireland, England and Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.
ii) to abolish SFC and manage inshore (0-6 nm from baseline) fisheries ‘in house’ by officers within the Welsh Assembly.
3.2 Officers have, since the last Joint Committee meeting, had 2 meetings with the new head of WAG Fisheries Policy Mr Graham Rees.
3.3 The first on 1 October 2008 included all the Committee’s staff in Wales and gave opportunity for staff to question Mr Rees about the plans for re-organisation and their future job prospects. Mr Rees confirmed that no decisions have yet been taken on the future structure of Welsh Fisheries management. He also assured staff based in Wales that they would have the option to transfer employment from the SFC to WAG under the terms of TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations). They would also be able to continue working in their current location.
3.4 The CEO agreed to send WAG HR Department details of staff job descriptions, terms and conditions so that the process of considering the implications of transferring posts to WAG could be started.
3.5 For the 3 shore based Fishery Officers the assurance in 3.3 provides some certainty that they will have the option to be retained by WAG in essentially similar posts. However, for the Principal Fishery Officer, the Master, the Engineer and the Crewman/Boarding Officer of FPV Aegis, the future is less clear. They will transfer to WAG under identical terms but the jobs they will be given are unclear at this stage. In response to staff concerns this matter was raised at the recent Chairman’s Working Party.
3.6 The second meeting with Mr Rees on 10 November attended by the CEO PFO and officers from SWSFC, EA and WAG Fisheries Management, was convened to initiate the change to the new regime as a managed project. The outcome of the meeting was that WAG will prepare by the next meeting on17 December a full report on the present role, resources, assets and staff of SFC in Wales.
3.7 Officers will attend further meetings on request and continue to provide advice and information required by WAG to effect the smoothest possible transfer to the new body.
3.8 Mr Rees also proposed that the SFC should provide direct assistance to WAG to undertake the work of the project. A possible means by which this could be achieved might be through secondment of a member of staff from each Committee in Wales to work with WAG officials for perhaps 2 days a week over a period of 6 months. This idea has not been progressed at the time of preparing the report. Any further developments will be reported verbally to the Committee.
STEPHEN ATKINS
Chief Executive
17 November 2008
LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) ACT, 1985
List of Background Papers
1. Implementation of IFCA: Draft Delivery Plan. Defra November 2008.
2. IFCA Mechanisms between the Dee and the Solway. Briefing paper for joint meeting on 21 November between NWNWSFC (English) Council members and Cumbria SFC Council members, to discuss IFCA options for NW England. P. D. Winterbottom (Editor) November 2008.