Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

My Lords, I take it that this is really a probing amendment, in the sense that the noble Baroness wants to start a short debate—which she has done very successfully—on the Natural Environment Research Council and the decisions it has recently taken. I appreciate that there are strong feelings on this issue and I congratulate the noble Baroness on bringing this to the Floor of the House. NERC is an independent body. Decisions of this kind are solely for its council, which is made up of many eminent scientists. The NERC council, as we were told, has published its response to comments made during the consultation that preceded its recent decision. That, and the responses of Defra and its agencies, are all in the public domain. I understand that the NERC council has confirmed its plans to restructure the CEH. It agreed that the original drivers for restructuring—namely, funding only the highest quality science, reducing the trend in external income and ensuring long-term financial sustainability—all remain. However, after consideration of the various issues raised within what is described as the ““stakeholder consultation”” it has made some amendments to its original proposals. I understand that these changes will result in up to 40 of the 200 posts at risk in the business plan being saved. A plan to focus staff and research on four of the existing sites at Bangor, Edinburgh, Lancaster and Wallingford is unchanged. There are still plans to close the four research sites at Banchory, Dorset, Monkswood and Oxford. I also understand that to reduce any risk and ensure that critical work is not only maintained but enhanced, the NERC council has revised its funding allocation, adding £1.3 million to the original £50 million per year. Defra, for its part, agrees with the importance of placing the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology on a secure financial footing for the future. We welcome NERC’s reassurance that that existing contractual obligations will be fulfilled to the highest standards. It is our intention, and the intention of Defra’s agencies, to endeavour to work closely with NERC in the longer term to ensure that the research carried out following restructuring continues to be relevant to, and consistent with, Defra’s priorities. We also welcome the amendment of the restructuring proposals to strengthen biodiversity and climate change research areas. I was asked whether Natural England, once established, can provide financial support to the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. It is clear that Natural England will have broad powers to enter into agreements with, and fund, other bodies where it is in its interests to do so and where it will help its objectives. However, a decision on whether or not to do so in any particular instance will, of course, be a matter for the board of Natural England. I cannot help the noble Baroness in relation to Parliament’s role but, for my part, I cannot see any reason why the issue surrounding this decision cannot be raised in the normal way by any Member of another place or in this House, if that is what the Member wants to do. But, as I understand the legal position—I am repeating myself now—NERC is an independent body and the decisions that it reaches are solely for its own council. I do not think that I can help very much further.