The Lords agree to the following amendment by the Commons: In page 28, line 30, at end insert— '(11) A report made under section 17(1) of Schedule 3 to the Nature Conservancy Council Act 1973 for any year shall set out particulars of any areas of land as respects which orders under this section have come into operation during that year.'. but propose the following amendment thereto: No. 9, in line 1, leave out "made under section 17(1)" and insert "submitted by the Council to the Secretary of State under paragraph 17".
§ Mr. MacFarlane:I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
This is a technical amendment. The Nature Conservancy Council submits annual reports under schedule 3(17) to the Nature Conservancy Council Act 1973. The Lords amendment corrects an erroneous reference to reports made under section 17 of the Act. It is as simple as that.
§ Mr. Graham:I agree with the Minister that this is a technical amendment. However, it provides the opportunity, which we intend to take on every occasion this afternoon, to underline, not our suspicion of, but our sensitivity over, the aspirations of the Bill being carried forward. We are here to support the Minister and his departmental colleagues in what we consider will be the battles that they will have to fight inter-departmentally, particularly with the Treasury.
>The amendment refers to a part of the Bill that will
set out particulars of any areas of land as respects which orders under this section have come into operation during that year.We envisage that additional land will be acquired for management and other purposes and that moneys will have to be found. We do not wish to see another Act full of good intentions placed on the statute book, with Ministers with their hands on their hearts having said upstairs, in another place and here, that they want to see it work, only to find that the public say cynically that all that has happened is that a duty has been laid upon a body to carry out certain things but that the moneys to carry out those responsibilities have been denied. We do not wish to see increased responsibility and diminished funding. 1017 Will the Minister give the assurance that when he refers to meetings that will take place—it was helpful in the context of today's debate that he replied to my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport, North (Mr. Bennett) yesterday—they will not be along the lines of the Minister informing the bodies that their aspirations will have to go into cold storage? Will he listen sympathetically to the bids that will be made to him? Will he accept that the bodies asked to carry out the duties placed upon them by the Act will feel entitled to tell him that they require certain sums of money? I acknowledge that these are difficult times, but we want the dialogue with the bodies, particularly the Nature Conservancy Council, to be meaningful and not a sham.
§ Mr. Macfarlane:I understand what the hon. Gentleman says. His remarks echo largely those of his hon. Friend the Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell). I have indicated our plans for the next few months. I shall not anticipate the dialogue. That is hypothetical. I acknowledge the points made by both hon. Gentlemen on the Opposition Front Bench. Those points will form an integral part of the dialogue with the agencies, but I can give no guarantees this afternoon.
§ Question put and agreed to.