Marine Navigation Aids Bill [HL]

Lord Boyd of Duncansby Excerpts

Friday 21st January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Boyd of Duncansby]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chairman of the Northern Lighthouse Heritage Trust and as a former commissioner of the Northern Lighthouse Board.

As other speakers have recognised, we have been here before—the same Bill had its Second Reading less than a year ago—but, nevertheless, like my noble friend Lord Reid, I pay tribute to the tenacity of my noble friend Lord Berkeley in bringing this issue of lighthouses before the House. As has been said, shipping is a vital part of our trade and it is important that these issues are looked at properly.

Much has happened since the Second Reading last February. First, there has been an agreement between the British and Irish Governments on the so-called subsidy to the Commissioners of Irish Lights. The Minister, Mr Penning, can take real credit for having reached that agreement, particularly in the face of the difficulties that the Irish Government face. Of course, the Minister was building on work that had been done by his predecessors, but, nevertheless, to have secured that deal last week is significant.

The second major thing that has happened since last February is the publication in March 2010 of the Atkins report. I am sorry that my noble friend did not say more about that, given that the new Government quickly accepted most of the report’s recommendations, which have now been implemented or are in the process of being implemented. The report was established by the previous Government to look at the structure and funding of lights in the UK and the efficiencies that could be made by the general lighthouse authorities. We now have a joint strategic board, which I understand has settled down well after a shaky start and is producing real benefits. The authorities are now monitoring each other’s business plans with a view to co-ordination. Another recommendation that has been accepted is the rationalisation of the buoy yards, with a buoy yards study addressing significant overcapacity in Harwich and Swansea.

The RPI minus X formula, which is designed to produce a year-on-year reduction in running costs, has also been accepted. Each GLA has its own value for X because they start from different bases. The Commissioners of Irish Lights, as I understand it, has accepted a target of just over 6 per cent given the need to achieve a significant reduction in manpower. For the Northern Lighthouse Board, the target is just over 3 per cent. To be clear, that means that, if the RPI is under 3 per cent—which may be just a hope at the present time—there will be real and absolute savings through efficiencies. The savings will be 17.4 per cent over the next four to five years. I understand that the recommendation on light dues was not accepted by the Government, but Mr Penning has made it clear that there will be no increase in light dues for at least the next three years, which is to be welcomed.

What should happen to this Bill? First, I commend my noble friend on his decision to drop the restructuring of the general lighthouse authorities and the establishment of a marine navigation aids commission and office of marine navigation aids regulation. For various reasons that I will not go into now, I believe that to be the right decision. However, I will make one comment, which is that, given the deal that has been reached between Mr Penning and the Irish Government, it is important that we bolster the Minister and make sure that we are not accused of bad faith by trying to restructure the general lighthouse authorities.

My noble friend has informed the House that he contemplates a radical restructuring of the Bill. Of course I bow to the Clerks and the House authorities on whether those changes are within the scope of the Bill, but I draw to the attention of noble Lords that the purpose of the Bill is to,

“Establish a Marine Navigation Aids Commission; to establish an Office of Marine Navigation Aids Regulation; to amend the Merchant Shipping Act 1995; and for connected purposes”.

We are now informed that the purpose of this Bill is to be significantly altered. However, I make no complaint that I did not receive the letter, as I did not put my name down to speak in this debate until yesterday and the letter was in fact passed on to me by friends in the Northern Lighthouse Board, so I was aware of it.

As I understand it, there are two elements to the amendments that my noble friend wishes to make to the Bill. The first would require the Government to reduce the light dues for ships entering UK ports by codifying reduction targets annually for a five-year period. The second would require the Government to cease providing the Irish subsidy by a certain date. In my submission, the second proposal is now otiose, given the agreement between the UK and Irish Governments. I do not see any merit in providing some sort of legal backbone to the agreement, because there is no reason to suppose that the Irish Government will renege provided that we keep our side of the bargain. On the proposal to issue some kind of reduction target, I have to say that I am always sceptical of attempts in legislation to impose rigid budget constraints, which require us to attempt to look into the future to see how financial circumstances may or may not change.

A better method would be to give some stability in the setting of light dues—I have already welcomed the announcement of the freeze that is to apply for at least the next three years—and to ensure that operating costs are reduced so that efficiencies are obtained. We have already seen that with the progress that has been made on implementing the Atkins recommendation on RPI minus X. That will produce real and significant savings. I accept that progress has to be monitored, which will happen through the lights users committee and the work of the department.

Mention has been made of different funding methods such as those that are used in Australia. It is clear that our system of funding is now unique—in other countries, the funding comes out of general taxation—but I think that we should be careful when we seek to draw analogies between different systems of funding. It may be that there is time to look at whether the current method is the right one for the future, but I have to say that many of us would be concerned if we moved away from the principle of the user pays to placing a burden on the general taxpayer. However, that is a debate for another day on a different Bill.

I believe that the right course for my noble friend would be to withdraw this Bill and to bring forward legislation in a more proper form that we can debate on its merits.