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Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I must come to the noble Baroness’s defence on tabling this amendment, because it goes back to some of the earlier comments we made, notwithstanding the strong feelings of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, on this issue. There is indeed quite a big question mark over exactly how public money is spent, whether in duplicating things that local authorities might be providing—as mentioned by the noble Baroness—or by having consultants come in to provide them, very often in a more expensive manner, albeit that it may be cheaper because one does not have to retain staff annually. Of course there are judgments to be made. I think it is quite useful, for the record, to hear what the Government intend their agencies to do about consultants. We have seen in some areas of growth—regrettably, local authorities are one of them—very high expenditure on consultants. It is absolutely no coincidence that the Capitas of this world, for example, have their very own Private Eye column. When we look at some of the most profitable companies, they are very often those employing lots of consultants. I have no doubt that sometimes they do an excellent job, but they should not be doing a job to the exclusion of other agencies that are very capable of doing it, but simply lack the marketing skills to push themselves to Natural England. I support the spirit behind this amendment.