Commons Bill [HL]

Perhaps I may respond to the points made about agricultural sustainability. That appears in the Bill. I note that the Minister’s Amendment No. 142 to Clause 30 goes a considerable way in defining what we are talking about. I just draw attention to that and go no further and say that there is no economic or social content in that particular aspect of the Bill. Certainly, if we are talking of sustainability of families on the land, in particular their ability to continue living there and not become a rare species, those aspects need to be contained within a broad description of agricultural sustainability. The other thing I want to mention is that in Amendment No. 21, as my noble friend Lord Tyler pointed out, the regulations and the criteria that I am addressing involve the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales, which clearly has the expertise from an economic point of view to make correct and objective judgments about what is going on.