Debate on the Address

My Lords, we have had a wonderful debate on the Motion for an humble Address. It has seemed far more coherent than in previous years. The business managers who decided to put the topic of local government with those of agriculture and the environment did very well. In previous years, we have addressed the environment together with education, and the debate has not flowed as it has done this afternoon. The four maiden speakers certainly showed what a great addition they will be to the House, particularly at this time of climate change. They all have very relevant experience and we look forward greatly to hearing from them at more length. I shall refer to their contributions later. We welcome the fact that there will be a Climate Change Bill and that it will set targets for carbon emissions. My noble friend Lord Redesdale addressed what the targets should be. I pay tribute to him for his Private Member’s Bill last year, which was full of practical measures, as was the Bill on home efficiency introduced by my noble friend Lady Maddock, which has been on the statute book for some time. We hope that such practical solutions will form part of this Bill and that it will not simply be a wide framework that relies on statutory instruments brought in at some future date to achieve those practical solutions. My noble friend Lord Teverson said, in his excellent contribution, that legislation is no substitute for action. I am sure that the rest of the House shares our confidence in him. He is also a futurologist, so we will be relying on him to predict all sorts of things for us. The Stern report has been referred to many times this afternoon, not least by my noble friend Lord Teverson. I remind the Government that Sir Nicholas Stern said: "““Adaptation is the only response available … over the next several decades before mitigation measures can have an effect””." While we welcome the Climate Change Bill, we also have to keep a very close eye on what the Government are doing about adaptation. Over the past six months there have been some terrible blows to our ability to deal with adaptation; for example, the cuts in research and development funding to the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, which has to be at the cutting edge of this work; the decision, which I accept was not a Defra decision, but is necessarily a government one—I hope it is not a precursor of the Government’s attitude to this kind of thing—to cut funding to Natural England as it, too, has to be at the forefront of this work; and, as other noble Lords have mentioned, the decision to cut, for example, the flood defence budget funding. When I questioned the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, on this—he is not in his place at the moment—he said that the funding was not being cut, but according to the figures in the forthcoming programmes for next year, the effect of what is being promoted is a cut. I turn to local government. My noble friend Lady Scott of Needham Market made a speech which was quite rightly referred to by my noble friend Lord Greaves as outstanding. I do not believe I can add anything to it. Coming from a local government background, I wholly endorse the thread that ran through the contributions of my noble friend and many other noble Lords that the lack of democracy at the heart of the local government system offends. When my noble friend Lord Greaves spoke of neo-fascists, I saw an expression of disagreement on the Minister's face, but when one is on the receiving end of local government diktat, that is how it feels. We hope that the forthcoming Bill will take considerable steps to relieve that. I share the bemusement of the noble Lord, Lord Bruce-Lockhart, at one day being in local government and the next day being here. I welcome his contributions to this Chamber and his passion for the countryside. In our debates on the countryside and rural development, we need all the expertise available to us in this House. I share the view of the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Hudnall, on aviation. The House will not be surprised to know that we on these Benches share her views, because our aviation policies and the Oxford Policy Institute’s paper to which she refers are extremely similar. Starting with many of the noble Baroness’s suggestions would be a good way forward. If there were a change of attitude, the transport Bill might be a good place to start bringing forward some of the necessary changes referred to, for example, by my noble friends Lord Bradshaw and Lord Glasgow when they spoke of practical ways to improve the railway system. That would mean legislation was actually translated into something real on the ground—indeed, on the rails. The theme of the contributions from these Benches this afternoon is that people expect practical action. My noble friend Lord Redesdale talked of the public’s expectations of what will happen in the face of our biggest threat. Change must be aimed at helping them to solve things on both an individual and a community level. I was struck by the quotation from the noble Lord, Lord Sheikh: "““You must be the change that you want to see in the world””. " Enabling people to take personal responsibility for bringing about the necessary changes is extremely important. The role of the Government is to ensure that there are no barriers to that change, even, for example, in the tax regime, ensuring that there is no VAT on home insulation materials and that the permitted development referred to by my noble friend Lord Redesdale does not stop small-scale innovation in energy generation. There are many practical measures to be taken. Two other themes run through the debate this afternoon: farming and—something which we have not seen in the gracious Speech—the marine Bill. There have been several notable contributions on farming issues. The noble Lord, Lord Rooker, implied that everything was pretty rosy. The noble Lord, Lord Bach, developed that point. It may be, as the NFU has said, that there is an upturn in farming, but it is pretty limited. It is definitely limited to areas not referred to in some of the other speeches this afternoon, such as the upland areas and those full of small, traditional farms, particularly dairy farms. They are facing all sorts of pressures at the same time: not only the restructuring of the CAP, but also the capitalisation involved in creating, for example, nitrate-vulnerable zones. I could list further pressures, but I do not have time. I am glad to see the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, in his place, because I want him to hear this comment. While the outlook may have improved somewhat, it cannot be taken for granted that there is an upturn in outlook for all farmers—far from it. There may be a geographical divide. The Government need to look at rural development funding as the Treasury considers whether to match that funding and to help with diversification. The noble Lord, Lord Rooker, referred to young entrants, but I do not believe that a young entrants’ scheme is being considered for ongoing funding here in same way as it is in other European countries. Other noble Lords have referred to the dairy sector, so I shall not go into that. This is also a time of opportunity, in that the Competition Commission is looking at whether there is a fair grocery market—not only at whether small shops are being put out of business by aggressive supermarket behaviour but also at retail prices. There are linked issues—for example, concerns about the aviation miles involved in flying food in and the ability of our farmers to produce food throughout the season, together with consumer demand for seasonal food, show that the public are beginning to grasp the issue more than they did three or four years ago. The Government could build on that. I am pleased that the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, of the School Food Trust will take part in the debate about food and education, as expertise is critical. The long-promised marine Bill was not in the Speech. It was first promised in Labour’s 2005 manifesto, although I think it was first talked about as long ago as when the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, was in charge of the Department for Transport—he is holding up his hands—which, along with Defra’s Marine Consents and Environment Unit, was looking at streamlining all sorts of things. The Bill has been on the books for a very long time, and it is particularly disappointing that, yet again, it is not even promised as a draft Bill. In last year’s legislative programme, the Government announced that they would publish a draft marine Bill. I appreciate that it is a very complicated area to legislate on, but I personally feel the loss of the Bill because I live on the coast and spend any time I can walking or sailing there. As a result, I see the pressures on the communities around me. We have an estuary forum that deals with the pressures between recreation, the economy and the environment. It does the best it can, but it is a voluntary forum with no funding or statutory basis. It is trying to deal with all the pressures which are a microcosm of what is happening at a national level. The pressure has been exacerbated by our demands for offshore energy, which I fully support. Shipping is becoming busier—as I look out towards Lundy, I can see that more ships are going up to Bristol—and mineral extraction is not lessening. At the same time, we have become more aware of the necessity for marine conservation areas. There are huge pressures, and many sectors, not just the environmental sector, are disappointed that a marine Bill was not mentioned in the Queen's Speech. I believe that this debate will give us many pointers towards a more detailed examination of the issues and the links between them. The year ahead will be challenging as we deal with some of the issues that we have touched on this afternoon. We look forward to helping the Government do that and to proposing practical ways in which their Bills can enable us to make progress on these issues.