Ian Blackford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department conducted an economic impact assessment of the proposed byelaw changes for the waters between the mainland of Scotland and the Island of Raasay.

Mark Lancaster

The views submitted by members of the public and other local stakeholders as part of the public consultation on the proposed changes will be used to inform if the Ministry of Defence is justified in producing an economic impact as this is not required as part of the review process.

Full and proper consultation on the proposed new byelaws with local fishing communities and stakeholders is part of the current byelaws review process. The review was preceded by initial discussions between QinetiQ and local fishing communities over the summer. While the byelaw review has been extended to the end of November 2015, there is no plan to suspend the on-going public consultation phase of the byelaw review.