Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

My Lords, I wonder whether I can follow on from the various amendments that have been spoken to, as I presume that the Minister will speak to his amendments at the end. The noble Lord, Lord Carter, made an important contribution. I, too, am interested in the Government’s response to the Radcliffe report. It was welcomed by the majority of the levy payer boards, but the HDC and the MDC have both raised questions about it. The future of unknown boards is something that the Minister may be able to tell us about. Obviously with the move away from single farm payments and food production subsidies and the likely move towards non-food crops, such as biomass or biofuel—to name just two—it may be that such levy boards will be created in the future. We have no idea at this stage. Perhaps the Government have some thoughts, which would be helpful. The noble Lord, Lord Carter, raised the interesting concept that, when a new board is set up and an amount has to be paid, the levy payers themselves should be consulted. He introduced a new concept that they should be able to vote on it. Again, I should be interested in what the Minister has to say about that. I, too, want to say how pleased we are to see the over-30-months scheme lifted, and I hope that we shall see a great swell of our excellent beef being sold abroad. That is what we all wish, without a shadow of a doubt. I shall not add any more to what the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, said, as his remarks were specialised. I turn to the government amendments and thank the Minister for listening to what was said in Committee. I am particularly pleased to see Amendment No. 165, which deals with offences and the levels of those offences, and Amendment No. 164, which deals with investigative powers. It is important to get the balance right, so that the law is enforced, but it must be done responsibly and proportionately. I think that the amendments meet those needs, so I am delighted to support the noble Lord, Lord Carter. I look forward to hearing more about the Government’s amendments as the noble Lord speaks to them.