Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his response. I shall read very carefully what he has said. I am disappointed in his reply. Perhaps there is a technical reason why a wildlife inspector should be treated differently in legislative terms from a pesticide inspector. The noble Lord tried to explain that and I shall need to read his words very carefully. I thought he rather glossed over my point about what I described as the leading NGO and the recommendations made by the investigations officer. I hope that the noble Lord will condemn outright any suggestion that the police or the wildlife inspectors will be co-operating behind the scenes with NGOs to try to secure a prosecution. It seems to me that they have to remain absolutely independent. I hope that that will be made quite clear in the code of practice. I hope that the Minister will confirm that what I have suggested should in fact be the situation.