Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times his Department has issued guidance to individual Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities since 2010.

Defra issued guidance notes to the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) in March 2011 describing how they should make a contribution to sustainable development and implement their statutory duties using evidence-based marine management and risk-based enforcement. Guidance was issued on annual planning and reporting obligations including success criteria and high-level objectives so that all IFCA’s annual plans and annual reports have a common framework against which IFCAs can demonstrate performance.

To be exact, IFCAs have been issued with the following guidance which is published on GOV.UK:

- Guidance on the byelaw making powers and general offence under Part 6, Chapter 1, Sections 155 to 164 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009;

- Guidance to Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities on their contribution to the achievement of sustainable development given in accordance with section 153 (4) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009;

- Guidance to Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities on Annual Planning and Reporting given in accordance with section 177 and section 178 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009;

- Guidance to Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities on evidence based marine management given in accordance with section 153 (3) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009;

- Guidance to Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities on monitoring and evaluation, and measuring performance given in accordance with section 153 (3) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009;

- Guidance to Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities on the establishment of a common enforcement framework given in accordance with section 153 (3) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.