Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I shall speak to Amendment No. 131. Clause 3(3)(b) states that Natural England may,"““commission or support (by financial means or otherwise) research into any such matter””." The amendment probes whether Natural England should take account of existing bodies. It holds the purse strings for a lot of research that can take place into biodiversity and other issues. I am interested to know whether it will take account of existing bodies that have done a terrific job, and their research—for example, the county records office, funded by Defra, and the wildlife trusts, which continually research into all sorts of things; I should declare that I am a member of both Somerset and Devon Wildlife Trusts—and not simply take what may often be the quicker and easier route of going straight to consultants. Of course, universities now play an interesting part. As so much of their finance comes from independent consultancies, without the Minister saying clearly what is meant by the clause, there is a danger that Natural England could not take account of the bodies that have been in the business for a long time and commission research left, right and centre, to the detriment of the bodies that I mentioned—there are a number of others that I will not take the time of the Committee by mentioning now. By whom does the Minister imagine that the research may be carried out?