National Marine Plan 2 Steering Group: terms of reference

Purpose

The NMP2 Steering Group will support the development of NMP2 by providing advice on the Statutory assessments, draft plan policies and objectives for consideration by the Marine Directorate. Governance of the NMP2 development is overseen by the plan’s Programme Board.

The group does not exist in isolation. It will make full use of links with other workstreams that deal with related matters; and, where required, refer relevant arising matters to other workstreams for attention for example, in relation to Sectoral Marine Planning or Marine Protected Area management measures  

The group will promote a structured and proactive approach to marine planning processes by providing review of-- and advice on-- statutory assessments that will inform the development of the plan

Structure of the steering group

All members are expected to behave respectfully and professionally.

The Chair will be provided by Marine Directorate

The Secretariat for the group shall be provided by the Marine Directorate

The Chair may invite other experts, as needed

Should the chair not be able to attend a meeting, then an appropriate temporary chair will be agreed by the group in advance of the meeting

Membership will seek to provide fair representation across key national stakeholder groups

Where an existing member resigns from the group, the chair will endeavour to invite a replacement from an appropriate alternative body

Members of the group should make all reasonable efforts to attend meetings (either in person or via telephone or video conference). Where a member organisation fails to attend more than 2 relevant meetings in succession, they may be asked to step down

Ways of working

The group will operate flexibly with participants’ attendance reflecting topics that are being considered. Additional ad hoc meetings can be organised, in between the Group's meetings, to discuss particular topics in more detail

Meetings will have recorded minutes and copies of any minutes and relevant documents or reports should still be circulated to all members for awareness. Once finalised, minutes will be stored electronically by Marine Directorate officials, and will be uploaded to the Scottish Government website. Members will not be individually named in the minutes of meetings released on through the website

Marine Directorate officials will present draft documents during meetings and will explain the purpose of the feedback requested from the steering group

Documents will be shared before or after the meetings in order to get written feedback from the members

Deadlines for providing feedback on each deliverable will be communicated prior to their circulation.  Members are expected to provide comments within agreed timeframes

The group may, from time to time, be privy to information that is not yet publicly available, both from the NMP2 development process and from other Scottish Government workstreams. Members are expected to treat this information with confidence

Members should be aware that all correspondence with Scottish Government, including minutes taken during meetings, are subject to Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and/or Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 requests, enabling the public to access information held by the Scottish Government and its agencies

The Terms of Reference and focus of the group will be subject to review on a regular basis, as agreed by members

Conflict of interest

Member involvement in any projects and any other potential conflicts of interest must be stated as soon as they become apparent. Conflicts of Interest whether they are commercial or academic will be covered by a standing agenda item ‘Conflicts of Interest’ at each meeting.  Where appropriate, members may be asked to leave the room until discussions of the potentially sensitive information are completed.

Communication

Meetings

It is expected that at least 3 meetings will be required to review key outputs for the development of the NMP2.

Where needed focused meetings might be required to deal with specific aspects of the assessments or receptors.

Some meetings will include an external consultant appointed to assist with the development of the statutory assessments (SEA, HRA and SEIA).

• April 2023 – Intro meeting and presentation of the Scoping Report - Review of the SEA scoping report and feedback on the report prior to consultation with the SEA Consultation Authorities and the public
• Autumn 2023 TBC - SEA/SEIA/HRA/SA methodologies - Feedback on proposed methods and scope of the assessments, data to be used, presentation of assessments and results
• Spring 2024 TBC - Environmental Report for SEA, SEIA Report, HRA report/s and SA report - Review of assessment conclusions, feedback on/resolving of issues prior to statutory consultation

Scottish Government website

Minutes from the meetings will be published on Scottish Government's website.

National Marine Planning Forum

One of the main communication channels with wider stakeholders for the NMP2 will be a National Marine Planning Forum. Members of the Steering Group will be invited to take part in each Forum.

NMP2 Steering Group’s email communication

Between the meetings there might be a need for ad hoc consultation/feedback on specific topics. NMP2 project team might be occasionally circulating links to short surveys to gather the information / ad hoc consultation on these issues.

Costs

All reasonable costs of the group will be the responsibility of Marine Directorate. This includes the cost of hosting the meetings and providing secretariat support. Other costs to be covered will be discussed and decided by the group. Paying for attendance should not feature.

Termination of the steering group

The NMP2 Steering Group will be terminated after the last meeting. We will publish the report from the activity of the group on the Scottish Government's website.