Commentary on provisions of Act Section 55: Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses
This section amends the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 ("the 1995 Act") to provide for additional Ministerial appointments to the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses (NLB) and to impose duties on the NLB to send the accounts produced under section 218 of the 1995 Act, and any reports produced under section 198(4)(b) of the 1995 Act to the Scottish Ministers. The section imposes a duty on the Scottish Ministers to lay the reports and accounts passed to the Scottish Ministers by the NLB before the Scottish Parliament.
	The amendments to Schedule 8 of the 1995 Act contained in the section provide that the Commissioners of the NLB will include a person appointed by the Secretary of State (in addition to the person who can be nominated under paragraph (d) of Schedule 8), and an additional person appointed by the Scottish Ministers. The total number of Commissioners will remain the same because the section reduces the number of elected Commissioners from five to three.