Memorandum submitted by the Public and
Commercial Services Union (DMB 73)
1. The EFRA select committee is currently
looking at the coastal access provisions in the Draft Marine Bill.
PCS is fully supportive of giving greater coastal access to the
public in England as well as other parts of the UK.
2. We are particularly concerned that on
14 May 2008 the Government's Draft Legislative Programme as published
lists a Marine and Coastal Access Bill without any reference to
the existing Draft Marine Bill, or any explanation for the change
of name. As a result of the inclusion of coastal access in the
Bill title all the ensuing publicity in the media focused on coastal
access provisions in England and not the protection of the marine
environment or organisational changes from the Marine and Fisheries
Agency to the proposed Marine Management Organisation (MMO).
3. The Bill contains provisions that merit
a far wider scrutiny. Provisions regarding the employment terms
and conditions regarding our members in the current Marine and
Fisheries Agency are of particular concern to us.
4. We would therefore like to ask the Committee
to take into consideration the impact the coastal access provisions
and the apparent change in name have on staff employment terms
and conditions.
5. If the Bill is enacted all the posts
currently occupied by civil servants in the Marine and Fisheries
Agency would be transferred over to the Marine Management Organisation.
Under Schedule 1 of the draft Marine Bill those posts would be
filled by post holders not enjoying the status, immunity and protection
of a Crown Servant. The Bill envisages the MMO to be set up as
a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB). This significant change
in status merits special scrutiny and should not be overlooked.
6. There are related proposals to set up
the headquarters (HQ) of any future MMO outside London, the current
HQ location of the MFA. It is assumed that 90% of staff would
not move with their posts to a coastal location, which could seriously
undermine the objectives of the Draft Marine Bill.
7. Staff in other public bodies mentioned
in the Bill would not suffer a similar deterioration of their
employment rights. Neither would staff in the devolved administrations
with similar responsibilities suffer the loss of their civil service
status.
Public and Commercial Services Union
June 2008
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