My Lords, we move from powers to revoke or replace to powers to update. I am very grateful for the support that I have got from the noble Baronesses, Lady Willis of Summertown and Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, on this amendment. I express the apologies of the noble Baroness, Lady Willis, who was in your Lordships’ House earlier this afternoon but has had to go back to Oxford. She did very well to come up here for the time that she did, given the timetabling of the debate today.
There has been increasing concern that aspects of environmental policy have been and are being formulated based on evidence that is questionable in its methodology and therefore reliability. Our amendment seeks to remedy that by ensuring that future regulations will be based on a proper assessment of the best scientific evidence—and not only that, but the evidence needs to be assessed using standardised approaches to ensure robust outcomes.
Our proposed new subsection (3) would require regular reviews of the scientific evidence. There has been a lot of specious talk about the Government resiling on European standards on environmental laws, as if they were an unimprovable factor as enacted. Much more worrying, surely, is the automatic adherence to what is law without question, setting more concrete rules that damage the environment.
Back in 2004, a Cabinet Office paper stated that
“policy-makers need to understand the value of evidence, become more informed as to what evidence is available … and critically be able to appraise it”.
Indeed, the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, who I am delighted to see in his place, in one of our debates on the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, stated that
“scientists do not absolutely agree on everything”.
He went on to say that
“when there is a centre of gravity of opinion, there are always outliers. Sometimes those outliers turn out to be right and there are transformations”.—[Official Report, 25/1/23; cols. 221-23.]
A good example of a recent transformation are the outcomes of interim results from a 20-year study by York University into moorland management, which the Government must take note of and study carefully. Policy must reflect broader approaches to conservation and be a living entity that can change as our knowledge of both ecological processes and individual contexts changes.
There is another point to make, which is that research must be allowed to continue. Recently, I read an example where the precautionary principle was being used as a reason to block research. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust wished to undertake research to provide more evidence but was refused permission to burn very tiny experimental plots on EU-designated sites because Natural England could not give consent, as the current habitat directive gives no exemption for experimental work or any sort of de minimis rules. In my view, the argument is both circular and not proportionate. Does my noble friend the Minister—I am delighted to see my noble friend Lord Benyon answering this debate—believe that there should be a presumption that scientific research is permitted? If not, how do we reduce the scientific uncertainty about sites or issues in question, and how can the Government legislate properly?
Proposed new subsection (4) asks that the quality of the scientific evidence is considered and based on standard principles. Not all scientific evidence is the same in quality or validity, and therefore reliability, which is important if directly impacting on decision-making. A standardised protocol would give confidence to all stakeholders involved, including the authors, and prevent unreliable evidence being given due weight, resulting in unintended impacts and wasted effort. For example, Natural England guidance on how to systematically review evidence recommends categorising the different types of study from 1, the strongest scientific studies based on meta-analysis and randomised control trials, to 4—the weakest, as based on expert opinion. This and its evidence standard underpin its approach of putting the best available science at the core of its decision-making. Will that approach be followed throughout government?
8.45 pm
The third part of our amendment is proposed new subsection (5), which requires that the review of scientific evidence takes a sufficiently wide view of ecological impacts. This will be frustrating for many well-meaning NGOs focused on one particular interest or objective, whose rationale for their relentless pursuit of that occasionally emotional objective risks upsetting the delicate balance in nature, with unintended consequences.
Research outcomes are rarely black and white. The complexity surrounding evidence-based conservation is emphasised by the Conservation Evidence database website, which states:
“We do not make recommendations. This is because it is difficult to give evidence-based conservation advice that is appropriate for every context”.
Consequently, policy that legislates for binary outcomes is likely to result in unintended consequences. This is particularly so for the environment, where underlying
conditions can change within a few metres, if not centimetres. I ask noble Lords to think of when they last walked on moorland, woodland or farmland.
Wrapped up in our amendment is the well-recognised problem of keeping policymakers and their advisers up to date. It would be useful to have a mechanism that opened the influencing to a broader spectrum of research bodies. Would my noble friend consider whether there could be a process for academics or research institutions to provide, for example, synthesised papers rather than primary research, using a standard template to inform government? I appreciate that there are scientific advisory committees and external policy advisers, but, if you ask the same people, you get the same answers. That is an easy trap into which the Government and their advisers often fall.
These are three simple subsections to be added, hopefully, to Clause 17. I hope my noble friend will give them favourable consideration, because it is very important that we get any laws relating to the environment as right as possible. I beg to move.