HC Deb 06 February 1985 vol 72 cc922-3
3. Mr. Chapman

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many officials in his Department are engaged in liaison between his Department and the environment co-ordination unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

The Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Patrick Jenkin)

Contacts are numerous and frequent, and no precise figure can be given.

Mr. Chapman

As land use statistics relating to our dramatically changing countryside are collected and assessed by my right hon. Friend's Department rather than by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, will my right hon. Friend assure the House that there is the closest co-operation between his Department and the recently established environment co-ordination unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food? Will he also assure us that the close co-ordination and co-operation will be at ministerial level?

Mr. Jenkin

Happily, I can give my hon. Friend assurances on both those counts. There is increasingly close co-operation and also an exchange of views between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and my Department, both at official and ministerial level.

Mr. Ron Davis

I remind the Secretary of State that the level of co-operation between his Department and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has been subject to criticism by the Lords Select Committee, by the Royal Commission tenth report and, most recently, by the House of Commons Select Committee on the Environment. In the light of that, does the right hon. Gentleman not feel the need to introduce a new sense of urgency into his discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture? May we expect a statement or some new policy initiative soon to resolve the undoubted difficulties between the right hon. Gentleman's Department and the Ministry of Agriculture?

Mr. Jenkin

The hon. Gentleman is being a little unfair to both Departments. I am sure that he has noticed a number of recent conservationist initiatives taken by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, including the initiative in Brussels for the new structure directive, the change in the farm grant system to favour conservation, the participation in the new and very welcome experiment in the Broads to preserve the Halvergate Marshes, the reduced levels of financial support for drainage grants, and support for fanning and wildlife advisory groups throughout England. These all represent a considerable shift in emphasis, which I am sure is welcomed on both sides of the House.

Mr. John Mark Taylor

When he turns his mind to matters that have to do with agriculture and with the Department of the Environment, will my right hon. Friend consider the European Community fund for the preservation of the habitat of endangered species? Is the United Kingdom drawing on the fund adequately?

Mr. Jenkin

If my hon. Friend would care to put down a specific question on that point, I should be very happy to give him an answer.

Mr. Denis Howell

Does the Secretary of State agree that the Select Committee report of this House was extremely scathing, but also realistic? Will he acknowledge that since the enactment of the Wildlife and Countryside Act it has been reported that over 156 sites of special scientific interest have been damaged? Do the Government not accept considerable responsibility for that damage? They provided only £600,000 to police the Act in relation to land acquisition and management agreements. Although the Government are to provide £7 million this year, which we acknowledge and appreciate, it shows the degree of ineptitude of the Government. May we have an assurance that the Government will provide sufficient money so that all the responsibilities of the Nature Conservancy Council can be carried out?

Mr. Jenkin

I must ask the House to await the Government's response to what is without doubt an important report by the Select Committee. I thought that the right hon. Gentleman's acknowledgement of the very substantial increase in the funding of the Nature Conservancy Council—an additional £7 million—was singularly churlish. I can tell the right hon. Gentleman that this increae has been very much welcomed by the council.