Marine Management Organisation                            GME0063

Supplementary written evidence submitted by the Marine Management Organisation

EAC Extracts

Q175 Barry Gardiner: Ms Willis, you said that you work very closely with DESNZ. Last month it published the “Building the North Sea’s Energy Future” consultation. Did you work closely with it on that? That consultation document talks about the transition from oil and gas to clean energy, but it does not seem to focus on the challenges of marine spatial planning.

Michelle Willis: We did not work as closely as we could have done, but I would need to come back to the Committee with a bit more information on that specific consultation.

Q206 Alison Taylor: Referring to the Corry report, do the recommendations on pay flexibility help you, first, employ and retain some of the specialist staff you need, particularly in the light of some of your earlier comments?

Michelle Willis: It is an opportunity we are open to exploring.

Q207 Alison Taylor: On a further comment from the Corry report, will there commendations on digitalisation in the review assist with any of your operations?

Michelle Willis: Absolutely. Yes, that is quite important for the whole environment. Having user-centric services accessible and easy to use and that integration will be quite key, yes.

Q208 Alison Taylor: I appreciate you have not had a lot of time to consider all there commendations. Do you want to follow up in writing on any of this?

Michelle Willis: I am more than happy to take that away and follow up in writing with some further examples.

Responses

Q175 Barry Gardiner: The document DESNZ published is not only an early-stage statement of policy but has a focus on oil and gas – which the MMO are not involved in regulating – and is aimed at ‘audiences’ other than public bodies such as the MMO. As such, we are not concerned that we were not closely involved in the drafting stage of the document. We work closely with DESNZ and associated organisations such as the North Sea Transition Authority where relevant including on initiatives of mutual interest like strategic planning for the marine space”

Q208 Alison Taylor:  Firstly, In England, the Defra SoS is the marine planning authority. They delegate most functions to the MMO, such as plan preparation, implementation, monitoring and reporting, whilst retaining some functions, such as the decision to publish plans or lay evaluation reports in parliament.  

Secondly, our successes are celebrated in that the UK was one of the first countries in the world to publish marine plans. English waters are divided into 6 marine plan areas with each having a plan as required by the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (MCAA). In April 2014, the East Marine Plan was the first to be published, with the South published in 2018 and the final four marine plans published in 2021. This is a huge achievement, reflecting effort by government, partners and stakeholders and not just the MMO.  

It was noted by a previous witness that whilst we have had terrestrial planning for 80 years, we have had marine plans in England for 10 years, so we are still learning and evolving. 

However, plans need to continue to evolve: Times have changed and the context - policy, evidence, stakeholders - is more conducive to taking a more spatial and prescriptive approach where needed. At the same time, compared to the last marine planning process, let alone compared to when we prepared the first marine plan, there are now significant ‘marine spatial planning-type’ initiatives in play, e.g., Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP), TCE’s Marine Delivery Route map initiative, and the oversight and insight provided by MSPri.  

Increased interest to bring a more spatially planned approach to protection and use of the marine area is welcome. It does, however, present challenges and requires the different responsible bodies and departments to work together. The degree to which areas of sea can be ‘zoned’ and either allocated to an interest or various interests excluded, results from an interplay between government policy steer, strength of evidence, and stakeholder views (see relevant points made above about the role of central government). Marine planning, wherever it takes place, also needs to strike a balance between providing certainty and enabling flexibility in how much and how prescriptive you 'zone'.  

Some key (post EU Exit) agendas, such as FMPs and MPA management are being managed in parallel with development of marine plans. 

Marine plans have less influence on some decision-making, leaving room for other strategic planning initiatives to be established, and undermining delivery of a coherent approach to planning for the marine space that was originally envisaged in the development of MCAA. For example, whilst most permitting decisions are required to be taken “in accordance” with marine plans, others (eg NSIPS) only have to meet the weaker test of ‘have regard to’. We are still living with the consequences of that change.  

We continue to make improvements, such as improvements in stakeholder engagement, cross-governmental working, testing new policy areas with stakeholders, such as marine net gain, developing new policies from rapidly developing policy areas (e.g. carbon capture usage and storage), developing the evidence base, particularly in relation to social science (e.g. social baselining), and development of Explore Marine Plans digital service, which enables users to overlay marine plan policies and data layers to identify areas that are most suitable for their specific proposals. 

There is more work to do to be more strategic, integrated and effective. To do that we are doing work on MSPri, sustainable renewables, place-based delivery, collaborative and co-management approaches. So we are evolving to be strategic and integrated, it is a journey for our time and there is more to do.  

Marine spatial planning, wherever it is pursued in the world, cuts across different government departments. To facilitate cross-government input and steer, the MMO established a Programme Board (and Management Group) to oversee the preparation of marine plans from 2016-2021. There were limits to how much the NDPB (MMO) of one department (Defra) could influence or be taken account of by other government departments. It could be argued that establishment of the Defra-led cross-government Marine Spatial Prioritisation Programme (MSPri) is more effective at fully representing and influencing across departments than the programme board established and chaired by the MMO.