As set out in the White Paper “A Sea Change”, published in March 2007, the UK Government intends to use the Marine Bill to set up a new marine management organisation to deliver many of our objectives for the marine area.
The Government are committed to publishing a draft Marine Bill as part of the legislative programme in this 2007-08 session of Parliament. We expect this will be in the spring of 2008. The timetable for the introduction of a Marine Bill to, and passage through, Parliament will be subject to the outcome of scrutiny of the draft Bill and the availability of parliamentary time.
Alongside preparing the legislation, we are planning the practical steps to be taken to set up the organisation.