Nick Ainger: Does my right hon. Friend recall that in January 1993, at the depth of the last Tory recession, the claimant count in Wales stood at 140,000? Last month in Wales, after the most sustained and deep global recession, it stood at only 78,000. Does not that show that the package that the Government and the Welsh Assembly Government have put together of a fiscal stimulus, bringing forward public...
Nick Ainger: As the coastal path goes through the constituency of the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer) he will learn the huge benefits that will flow from it, as I have in my constituency where the 187 miles of the Pembrokeshire coastal path is seen as a huge economic benefit to the area as well as an opportunity for people to see some of the best maritime scenery not only in this...
Nick Ainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress is being made by the Financial Action Task Force of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in its work on effective due diligence by banks and the ending of secrecy on beneficial ownership of companies and trusts; and if he will make a statement.
Nick Ainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what steps the Financial Services Authority is taking to ensure that UK-regulated banks are compliant with requirements on due diligence to prevent funds from corrupt sources entering the UK; (2) what powers the Financial Services Authority has in respect of UK-regulated banks in the event of their failure to carry out effective due diligence on...
Nick Ainger: I welcome the statement, and particularly the fact that households will now be incentivised. The idea of spreading the cost of energy-saving equipment in the home is excellent. May I come back to the issue of social tariffs? Hundreds of thousands of rural households cannot benefit from social tariffs for their heating. Can the Secretary of State assure me that, in the legislation that he is...
Nick Ainger: The Minister will know that work has already started on the £1 billion, 2,000 MW gas-fired power station at Pembroke, in my constituency, and that there will be up to 2,000 construction jobs. A local firm, Dawnus, has already won a contract and is employing local labour. Will he join me in encouraging other Welsh and UK contracting companies to bid for work on the power station, so that we...
Nick Ainger: I remind the hon. Gentleman of the quote that I gave to the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, in which the Welsh Minister clearly does accept the need to report annually to the Assembly. Did the hon. Gentleman actually receive the letter that I received? It makes it quite clear that she wants to report annually, and she will be making a statement to that effect.
Nick Ainger: The hon. Gentleman mentioned Elin Jones, and I am sure that he has received the same letter as me, in which she states: “Following a recent meeting with the Countryside Council for Wales I have considered reporting requirements further and I will be making a commitment to report annually to the Assembly on the exercise of fisheries functions. I will be setting this out in a statement...
Nick Ainger: I will not comment on the sadness of people who get excited about this issue. My constituency has some of the finest fishing areas in the UK—the Tywi, the Teifi, the Taf and so on—and I am appreciative of the huge income that that generates for the local economy. However, rather than talking about migratory sea fish, I want to return to something that the Minister and I discussed...
Nick Ainger: One of the current sea fisheries committee areas is North Western and Wales, which runs from Cardigan in the south right up to north of Fleetwood. How will that be changed? When the Bill comes into force, Welsh Ministers will obviously have responsibility for the Welsh zone. Therefore, the IFCA for the north-west will not cover down to Cardigan, although the current body does. Will the...
Nick Ainger: One of the most contentious issues in recent years has been the management of the cockle fishery on the Dee estuary. Obviously, a single sea fisheries committee has covered both sides of the boundary, so that in itself was not a problem, but other incredibly complex issues have arisen. I am concerned that a boundary between the Welsh zone and the north-western zone that runs through the...
Nick Ainger: The Minister referred earlier to the funding arrangements for IFCAs, and indicated that there will be a levy from local authorities from which IFCAs will receive an additional £5 million. My experience of sea fisheries committees in Wales was that they were insufficiently funded to do what they were required to do or what they would have liked to have done. Are the current funding...
Nick Ainger: I wish to raise my concerns about the resourcing of the MMO and its staffing, and about the Welsh Assembly Government Departments that will take on the responsibilities of the MMO in Welsh waters. The hon. Member for St. Ives spoke about the consent process for offshore wind, tidal and wave power. My local authority area’s coastline has four projects in various stages of planning or...
Nick Ainger: I have to confess that I am also an assistant regional Minister. The Minister was talking about the MMO “reaching out”. May I suggest that he looks at the model that we have in Pembrokeshire: the Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum? That organisation pulls together all these interests in one forum. The model has worked elsewhere, such as on the Devon and Dorset coasts. If we had a lot more...
Nick Ainger: In light of the Minister’s assurances that something will be brought forward on Report, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Nick Ainger: I listened carefully to the Minister, and he seems to accept that the Bill does not address the issue correctly, that the blanket defence is too widely drawn and that something needs to be done about it. He argues that we cannot get rid of a whole part of the clause, because he would face infraction proceedings from the Commission. I understand that argument. He also argues that we have to be...
Nick Ainger: I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s point. Certainly, mid-water trawling should not cause problems on the sea bed, but he knows as well as I do that some techniques cause significant damage to the sea bed. Some forms of trawling use a chain, which churns up the surface of the sea bed, causing enormous damage to areas of sea grass and maerl. I accept that certain techniques should not cause...
Nick Ainger: I beg to move amendment 35, in clause 141, page 96, line 11, at end insert— ‘(c) the act occurred on the seaward side of the 0-6 nautical mile fisheries zone in a location where European vessels have fishing rights.’. The amendment stands in my name and the names of my hon. Friend the Member for Reading, West and of the hon. Member for Broxbourne. It touches on a very...
Nick Ainger: I will not repeat what the hon. Member for Clwyd, West has said. We have both received the same communications, and I am sure that the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire has also received correspondence from the CCW. I am chairman of the Pembrokeshire coastal forum, which was set up nearly 10 years ago as a secretariat to bring together the public and private sectors, statutory agencies,...
Nick Ainger: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship on this beautiful morning, Mr. Pope. I have a couple of questions on clauses 129 to 134, which includes byelaws in Wales to protect marine conservation zones. Again, I have been approached by the Countryside Council for Wales, which would like to know whether it would be possible for byelaws to control movement, not just in MCZs, but in the...