Queen’s Speech

I mean the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, I am reminded by my noble friend. I would like to talk more on the vital issue of food security. Nothing could have driven it better than the Chatham House speech by the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, John Beddington, in which he articulated the perfect storm of an expanding world population, climate change and pressures on resources, particularly on soil and water, let alone the rapidly changing diets of an increasingly affluent world. The world of plenty on which the Government based their policy up to a short while ago has gone, probably for ever. There is a moral imperative behind a drive for a more productive agriculture globally and here at home, where the percentage of self-sufficiency in temperate foodstuffs has dropped by approximately 1 per cent each year over the past 10 years. Farmers and growers need the support of science in improved technology transfer. I can point to many weaknesses in the Government’s position and their failure to provide British agriculture with the support that it needs. Instead it has become a nightmare of bureaucracy, as the Rural Payments Agency shows, and an expensive and inefficient one at that. This was a matter to which my noble friends Lord Plumb and Lord Inglewood referred, and which my noble friend Lady Byford pointed out with customary elegance. She drew the House’s attention to the burgeoning regulatory regime and the huge volume of secondary legislation that lies behind it all. We look forward to her debate on 10 December. I come to the other piece of legislation which is being introduced in our subject area which, for some, is the most important of all in the gracious Speech. The events of the past few days, most acutely in Cumbria, but across large swathes of the rest of the country as well, have brought into sharp relief the pressing need for the Flood and Water Management Bill. We have already indicated that we support this Bill. Its importance was emphasised by my noble friend Lady Knight of Collingtree; it seeks, quite rightly, to address the increasing risk of flooding to infrastructure, homes and livelihoods. We will work with the Government to ensure that the necessary provisions are enacted. However, we will, as the Government and, indeed, your Lordships’ House will expect, make sure that the Bill is properly scrutinised and debated. We wish to see an effective piece of legislation, which may mean examining the correct roles to be played by national and local authorities so that we are able to deliver laws that put Britain in the best possible position to deal with flooding emergencies. Getting the balance right between national strategy and local responsibility and knowledge is critical, as can be demonstrated by recent events. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to this debate. I doubt whether they were inspired by the contents of the gracious Speech. Indeed, the Secretary of State managed to avoid talking about its contents, or lack of them, for much of his introduction. But the House has been inspired by the challenges facing the Government in this subject area, and the debate has been of a consistently high quality. It augurs well for this brief Session. The two government Bills which are the subject of today’s business are supported from these Benches and, I believe, from around the House. Notwithstanding that, I am sure that they will be given the House’s full attention and scrutiny.