Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the oral answer of 23 June 2009, Official Report, column 700, what mechanisms exist for the independent Marine Management Organisation to report to Parliament.
Answer
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is required to prepare an annual report for each financial year detailing how it has discharged its functions. The MMO must send this report to the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who must lay a copy of it before Parliament.The Secretary of State will be formally accountable to Parliament for the activities and performance of, and public money spent by, the MMO. He will be advised by a cross-government MMO sponsorship group which will allow UK Government Departments' interests to be represented without compromising the clear lines of responsibility and accountability.