About Defra

Sea Fisheries Inspectorate complaints procedures

If you have any complaint about the actions of Inspectorate staff, or failures to comply with the SFI Code of Enforcement which you cannot resolve immediately with the Officer concerned, you should contact your local District Inspector of Fisheries in the first place, who will look into the matter and respond to you in writing within three weeks.

If a full investigation of your complaint will take more time, an interim reply explaining why, will be sent. If you are not satisfied with the reply, you can refer the matter to the Chief Inspector of Fisheries who will investigate your complaint and respond in writing within four weeks. His address is:

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Room 509, Nobel House
17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR

If you still feel that your complaint has not been fully resolved, you can write to our adjudicator, Trevor Cook, whose address is:

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Area 7D
Nobel House
17 Smith Square,
London SW1P 3JR
Email: service-standards.adjudicator@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Trevor Cook plays no part in the management or policy of any Defra Inspectorate thus ensuring his impartiality. He will investigate your complaint and report back to you within 15 working days. If this is not possible he will write to you explaining why and letting you know when you can expect to receive a response.

If you are not satisfied with the adjudicator's decision you may write to a Member of Parliament, who may agree to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Parliamentary Ombudsman) or you can write to the Secretary of State for Defra.

This complaints procedures cannot deal with the policy underlying fisheries regulation or legal issues related to enforcement, which are matters outside Inspectorate control.

Sea Fisheries; Inspectorate Charter Document and Code of Enforcement

Contents

1. Introduction

This Code explains what the Sea Fisheries Inspectorate of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs does, how we seek to work with you in the industry, the standards we aim for and what you can do if you have a complaint about our work. We will always welcome your comments on possible improvements; and if we fail to achieve the standards set, we will take action to put things right.

This Code also incorporates the provisions of the central and local government Enforcement Concordat. This commits us to good enforcement policies and procedures.

2. What we do

Our main functions are to:

  • enforce UK and EC legislation on fisheries, fish marketing and the protection of the marine environment;
  • collect and check data on fishing activity;
  • issue and administer fishing vessel licences;
  • advise Ministers and senior civil servants about current problems and concerns within the industry;
  • provide information about fisheries legislation and other matters affecting the fishing industry;
  • maintain close contact with the fishing industry;
  • consult fishermen and others conducting maritime operations in order to minimise the potential for mutual interference.
  • provide information on the application of legislation concerning the marine environment.

We also carry out these functions in Wales on behalf of the Welsh Assembly. This Code applies equally to our activities in Wales.

3. How you can contact us

Addresses (including e-mail), telephone numbers (including those with 24 hour answering machines) and faxes for all of our offices are contained in the Contacting Defra section.

Our offices are normally staffed between 8.00am and 5.00pm (Monday to Friday), although many of our staff work irregular hours so some smaller offices may not always be open at these times.

4. Standards of service

We will ensure that:

  • we answer telephone calls promptly;
  • we see you within 10 minutes of any visit you make to our offices, whether you have made an appointment or not
  • correspondence (including letters, faxes and e-mails) will be answered within 15 days of receipt. If a full reply will take longer, we will let you know why within 15 days;
  • if the matter you raise cannot be dealt with by us, we will explain the position and if possible put you in direct contact with whosoever is most likely to be able to help you;
  • applications for fishing vessel licences and their issue are dealt with promptly;
  • everything reasonably possible is done to make our services available to everyone, including people with special needs.

Any information you provide to us will be dealt with in strict confidence except where the law requires the Department to publish certain information. If you request it, you have the option of discussing your business with us privately. You can help us to do a better job by completing statutory returns clearly and comprehensively, making returns promptly and having all relevant information and documents to hand when pursuing enquiries with us.

We shall consult industry representative bodies, owners and fishermen from time to time about the standard of service provided by the Inspectorate under this Code. We will welcome any proposals for improvements. You can at any time make comment and put forward ideas to your local Fishery Officer who will forward them to the Chief Inspector of Fisheries for consideration.

Our performance against these standards will be published each year as a News Release, and made available to the fishing industry on request.

5. Information/openness

We will assist you wherever we can by providing information about:

  • the purpose and requirements of the fisheries and marine environmental protection legislation which we enforce;
  • other fisheries matters which may affect your business activities, including vessel licensing.

We will provide you with information in response to your enquiries and discuss general issues or problems to help you comply with the legislation. We cannot provide legal advice; you remain responsible in law for informing yourself about the relevant regulations and their application to your own operations. Where rules and regulations affecting fishing activity have been enacted by other government departments, local authorities or Sea Fisheries Committees, we will try to provide the name and address of a contact who should be able to advise you.

Such assistance will normally be provided free. A charge may, however, be made for the provision of detailed statistical information. Fees for registration of fishing vessels conducted through District Fisheries Offices are determined by the Registrar of Shipping and Seamen (this service is not available from smaller local offices).

Currently, requests for information are considered in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information (2nd edition) and the Environmental Information Regulations 1992. Proposed new legislation in the form of a Freedom of Information Bill will have implications for the release of information. Requests for information will be treated in accordance with the provisions of the Act when it becomes law.

Before regulations are introduced there will, as far as possible, be consultations with the fishing industry when you can make your views known (see section 6). Once regulations have been introduced, responsibility for complying with the law rests with those to whom the law applies. If you anticipate problems in complying with fisheries regulations, you may discuss the matter with any local Defra Fishery Officers. This does not exempt you from complying with the law as it stands; Fishery Officers enforce specific legal requirements and cannot apply any lesser standard because of your problems. However they will ensure that those responsible for the regulations are informed of any problems they cause when applied.

6. Consultation and communication

Consultation documents published by Defra, or jointly with other Fisheries Departments are widely circulated to the fishing industry and related bodies. We will supply on request further copies of any consultation document. Comments on the documents are best fed back to the Department through your local or national representative body but you can also discuss the issues with any of your local Defra Fishery Officers and ask them to pass on your views. By provision of information, and effective consultation and communication we aim to ensure that the costs of compliance to the industry are kept to a minimum.

7. Proportionality

As far as the law allows we will minimise the costs of compliance for business by ensuring that any action we require is proportionate to the risk.

8. Consistency

We will carry out our duties in a fair and equitable manner.

9. Courtesy and helpfulness

We will always be courteous and try to help you.  Inspectorate staff will identify themselves by name when they meet, talk or write to you.

10. Enforcement procedures

We aim to:

  • achieve a high and consistent standard of enforcement across all industry sectors to which the legislation concerning fisheries, fish marketing and marine environmental protection applies;

  • enforce fisheries legislation fairly and without discrimination on both British and foreign fishing boats within our jurisdiction.

Fishery Officers have legal powers authorising entry into premises, markets and vessels to carry out inspections. We will not normally give advance notice of inspections but you will be advised of our intentions on arrival and informed of our findings and any subsequent action likely to be taken. We shall do our best to minimise inconvenience to your business during the course of any inspection. Your co-operation, which is required by law, will help us to achieve this.

You are entitled to ask our Officers to produce their warrants of appointment so that you may satisfy yourself as to their right to enter.

Where certain minor infractions of the regulations have occurred, the most appropriate action may be for an officer to issue guidance rather than take more formal action, providing an opportunity to discuss the circumstances of the case. In such circumstances advice from an officer will be put clearly and simply, and will, on request, be confirmed in writing explaining why improvements in compliance are necessary.

Where immediate formal action is considered necessary, this will be confirmed verbally at the time and/or in writing at the earliest opportunity. In the case of foreign vessels a written warning will be given or prosecution action taken within 5 or 10 working days.

Our investigation of apparent infringements of regulations will be fully in accordance with the requirements of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996.

11. Complaints

If you have any complaint about the actions of Inspectorate staff or failures to comply with this Code which you cannot resolve immediately with the Officer concerned, you should contact your local District Inspector of Fisheries in the first place, who will look into the matter and respond to you in writing within 15 working days.

If a full investigation of your complaint will take more time, an interim reply explaining why will be sent.  If you are not satisfied with the reply, you can refer the matter to the Chief Inspector of Fisheries, Nigel Gooding, who will investigate your complaint and respond in writing within 20 working days. Mr. Gooding’s address is :-

Department for Enviroment, Food and Rural Affairs
7th Floor Area C
3-8 Whitehall Place
London SW1A 2HH
Tel: 020 7270 8311    Fax: 020 7270 8185
e-mail: nigel.a.gooding @defra.gsi.gov.uk

If you still feel that your complaint has not been fully resolved, you can write to our adjudicator, Trevor Cook, whose address is:

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Area 7D
Nobel House
17 Smith Square,
London SW1P 3JR
Email: service-standards.adjudicator@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Trevor Cook plays no part in the management or policy of any Defra Inspectorate thus ensuring his impartiality. He will investigate your complaint and report back to you within 15 working days. If this is not possible he will write to you explaining why and letting you know when you can expect to receive a response.

You may ask your Member of Parliament to take up your complaint with the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at Defra, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.

You can also write to your, or any, Member of Parliament, and ask for your complaint to be passed to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Parliamentary Ombudsman) who is entirely independent of Government.

This complaints procedures cannot deal with the policy underlying fisheries regulation or legal issues related to enforcement, which are matters outside Inspectorate control.

If you have a query or complaint about policy issues, you should address it to the head of the relevant Policy Division whose name and address will be supplied to you by your local Fishery Office on request.

12. Annual report

In line with the government's commitment to be more accountable to the public, we will publish a Defra News Release each year reporting on our performance against the standards set out in this Charter document. The report will also be available on this website.

If you wish to comment on your experiences of our inspection procedures, or if you have any suggestions about how we can build upon our service standards then we shall be pleased to hear from you.

 

Page last modified: 3 July 2007

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs