HL Deb 23 July 1990 vol 521 cc1314-6WA
Baroness Nicol

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What discussions have taken place between the Department of the Environment and the Treasury concerning the funding and staffing requirements of the reorganised Nature Conservancy Council and Countryside Commissions.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Hesketh)

The Department of the Environment is in close touch with the Treasury, and with other government departments concerned, about the resources which will be required to implement the reorganisation of the conservation agencies. The discussions are taking place as part of the usual annual review of public expenditure. The resources to be made available to the new agencies in 1991–92 will be announced in the normal way when the review is complete.

Baroness Nicol

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many studies have been commissioned externally or conducted internally into the funding or staffing requirements of the Nature Conservancy Council, and whether they will state the terms of reference in each case, indicating whether or not the studies have been concluded.

Lord Hesketh

Work on the staffing of the three new Country Councils and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), is currently being undertaken by the Government and the existing agencies involved. This internal work has been supplemented by three external consultancies commissioned by the Government:

  1. (i) A review of the staffing and organisational needs of the scientific and secretarial support unit of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. This review was carried out by the Consultancy and Inspection Services Division of HM Treasury and is now complete.
  2. (ii) A review by PE—International (Inbucon) of the scope for certain non-scientific services to be provided by one of the new agencies on a common basis for two or all of the successor agencies and the JNCC is also complete.
  3. (iii) A study by the Central Computer and Telecommunications agency of the information systems requirements of the new agencies and the JNCC. This review is still in progress.

Baroness Nichol

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many additional staffing posts for the new Nature Conservancy Councils have been identified by the consultants PE International Plc in their recent report Strategic Roll-Forward Submission 1991/92 and whether a copy of the report will be placed in the Library.

Lord Hesketh

This report is a management document commissioned by the Nature Conservancy Council to assist in preparing their forward plans. It contains estimates of total resource requirements based on nine different assumptions about staffing levels. The report is not suitable for widespread distribution. In line with past practice, the Nature Conservancy Council's corporate plan for 1990/91 will be published later this summer.