Committee
Environment and Rural Development Committee, 24 Jan 2007
24 Jan 2007 · S2 · Environment and Rural Development Committee
Item of business
Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Agenda item 2 is the first day of stage 2 proceedings on the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill. I welcome Sarah Boyack, the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development. She will steer us through stage 2, from the Executive's perspective. I extend that welcome to the minister's officials.Members should have before them a copy of the bill as introduced; the marshalled list of amendments that was published yesterday; and the groupings of amendments, which sets out the amendments in the order in which they will be debated. The running order is set by the rules of precedence governing the marshalled list. Members should remember to move between the two papers. All amendments will be called in strict order from the marshalled list—we cannot move backwards.The target for today is to reach the end of section 19. There will be one debate on each group of amendments. I will call the member who has the first amendment in each group to move that first amendment and speak to all the other amendments in the group. Members who are not proposers of amendments in the group but who wish to speak should catch my attention in the usual way.Debate on each group will be concluded when I invite the member who moved the first amendment in the group to wind up. If the minister has not already spoken in the debate on any group, I will invite her to comment just before we hear the winding-up speech. Only committee members are entitled to vote. After we have debated the amendments, the committee must decide whether to agree to each section. A short debate on that point will be allowed, if it will be useful to allow discussion of points that have not been raised by the amendments.There are no amendments until section 6, so the first question is, that sections 1 to 5 be agreed to.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Agenda item 2 is the first day of stage 2 proceedings on the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill. I welcome Sarah Boyack, the Deputy Minister for Envir...
Sections 1 to 5 agreed to.
Section 6—Enforcement notices
The Convener:
Lab
Amendment 1, in the name of Alasdair Morrison, is in a group on its own.
Mr Alasdair Morrison (Western Isles) (Lab):
Lab
Amendment 1 makes provision for appeal against enforcement notices. Members will recall that the issue exercised many witnesses during our evidence-taking se...
Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP):
SNP
I would like to explore further the timescales that would be involved. Involving a sheriff could lead to an extended period between the putting in place of a...
The Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development (Sarah Boyack):
Lab
I very much welcome Alasdair Morrison's amendment on appeals. As committee members know, the Executive agreed to lodge an amendment at stage 2 to introduce s...
Mr Morrison:
Lab
The minister has addressed all the points adequately, so there is no need for me to wind up.
Amendment 1 agreed to.
Section 6, as amended, agreed to.
Section 7—Code of practice
The Convener:
Lab
Amendment 24, in the name of Rob Gibson, is in a group on its own.
Rob Gibson:
SNP
At stage 1 the committee was exercised by the potential for review of the code of practice. We were concerned that the code should promote best practice, rat...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
I accept Rob Gibson's desire to probe on the issue, so I will take slightly longer over amendment 24 than I did over amendment 1. Amendment 24 is basically a...
Mr Morrison:
Lab
I thank the minister for that detailed explanation. As I am sure she will fondly recall, underuse of sites was raised time after time at stage 1. I would app...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
It might be helpful for me to reassure the committee that, as my predecessor Rhona Brankin said, the Executive is working with the competition authorities on...
Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP):
SNP
Is the minister aware of whether companies apply for new licences when they already have sites that are unused? To me, that is the crux of the issue. If comp...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
I do not have that information at present. Our main position is that the perception in the industry is that aquaculture sites are not easy to come by. If a m...
Rob Gibson:
SNP
The committee said in its stage 1 report that it considered"that the long-term retention of sites which are left inactive is unacceptable."My amendment 24 ad...
Amendment 24, by agreement, withdrawn.
Section 7 agreed to.
Sections 8 to 14 agreed to.
Section 15—Construction of barriers to movement of fish, treatment of waters with chemical agents etc
The Convener:
Lab
Amendment 2, in the name of the deputy minister, is grouped with amendments 3 to 5.
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
Amendments 2 to 5 are technical amendments to the provision on barriers. Amendments 2 and 3 will replace the term "construction" with "creation". That wider ...
Amendment 2 agreed to.
Amendments 3 and 4 moved—Sarah Boyack—and agreed to.
Section 15, as amended, agreed to.
Section 16—Further powers by regulations under section 31(1) of the 2003 Act
Amendment 5 moved—Sarah Boyack—and agreed to.