My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this short debate on the amendments. I particularly thank the noble Lord, Lord Randall, for talking about the difficulties in getting Private Members’ Bills through, especially with the Government not often being receptive. The purpose of Private Members’ Bills is often to prod the Government to do something that they should do as part of their obligations.
I thank the Minister for setting out the Government’s response. Many of their aspirations are worthy of the points set out in the Bill. However, considering that we are looking at reducing and reversing biodiversity loss globally, it seems odd that we cannot actually bring forward the Bill and place it as an obligation for the Secretary of State. The Minister mentioned that we are looking at a plan for 2023 but, if we are to achieve this by 2030, we are only seven and a half years away. By 2023-24, we will be talking about trying to undertake this in five years, which does not bode very well. While I recognise the enormous amount of work being done by Defra and its officials to try to move this forward, there will be a major issue coming up with the amount of money available to undertake these policies, especially in the present economic crisis.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Green, for his contribution. The Natural History Museum is one of our premier institutions, and I am very glad that Dippy is back—that was a great loss. I remember taking my nephew when he was five years old, and he almost fell over when he saw it; it is one of the most impactful exhibits I have ever come across. The scientific database is amazing; it is quite marked how differently the people who began the collections from 18th century onwards would have seen the world, compared to today.
The noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, asked about the overseas territories, in which I know that she has a particular interest. I apologise to her, because I did not talk about the overseas territories; however, it is incredibly important that we work closely there, especially with introduced species. I know that albatrosses have been heavily impacted by the import of mice that eat chicks, so ensuring that they have the finance to halt some of the degradation that we have brought to those environments is important.
I thank the Labour Front Bench for its support for the Bill. I know that there are many from the Labour Party in the Commons who might look to take this Bill forward. I just say to the Minister that I do not think it is a party-political Bill. We did some research
and 255 of his colleagues in the other place have already signed petitions to achieve the objectives in the Bill. Therefore, if it went to the other place, I think it would be quite a popular measure. I very much hope that the Minister could take that back and, before COP 15, maybe grab this proposal and give it government time. It would be a simple measure that would move towards the Government’s targets—maybe moving us a little further, though not a great deal.