§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the conditions for the setting up of regional advisory councils in connection with the Post 2002 Common Fisheries Policy. [51444]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Commission's proposals for the future of the Common Fisheries Policy are now expected imminently: we may expect them, if the Commission follows through with the ideas it envisaged in its Green Paper last year, to propose the establishment of regional committees which would comprise a range of stakeholder representatives. The idea of involving stakeholders more closely in management decisions relating to the fisheries in which they are interested is broadly welcome to us: the precise details of what may be adopted will need to be the subject of consultation with interested UK bodies and then negotiations in the Council of Ministers.