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Systematics and Taxonomy (S&TC Reports)

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Sutherland, and his committee and welcome their work on systematic biology and taxonomy, which has reminded us of the importance of taxonomical skills. How appropriate that this debate should take place in the year of the bicentenary of the birth of Darwin, who was responsible for arguably the most fundamental revolution in taxonomy. He took it from a finite science to one which recognised the evolution of species. My noble friend Lord Selborne spoke of the ongoing importance of the collection and classification of specimens which evolution, among other things, makes so important. Indeed, it was Darwin who really showed us that homology of one organism with another was about both structure and derivation from a common ancestor. While this field does not often grab much parliamentary attention, it is very important that we give due consideration to these matters. My noble friend Lord Selborne said that some people might think that the committee was obsessed with this subject. Thank goodness somebody is because the scientific process of classifying organisms and understanding their relationships is fundamentally necessary to meaningful comparative research into the natural world. The noble Lord, Lord Krebs, said that it underpinned much of biological work. He described it, very eloquently, as the infrastructure. It provides invaluable data to help with the conservation of species and, indeed, entire ecosystems. As the report says, it underpins understanding of how large-scale events such as climate change and global health threats affect the world, and my noble friend Lord Soulsby has explained his concerns in the area of entomology in particular. I am sure that Members of the Committee will join me in paying tribute to those people who work tirelessly in the fields of taxonomy and systematics, too often for inadequate recognition. It is because of that that we welcome the Government’s response to a number of the committee’s conclusions and recommendations. In large part, the Government have said that they agree with the committee’s recommendations. For example, they recognise, as do we, that a decline in taxonomy and systematics in the United Kingdom has an adverse knock-on effect on related research in policy areas such as conservation, the monitoring of climate change, as the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, and others have said, and food security. The report recommends—I think all noble Lords will support the proposal—that importance is attached to field trips and other practical exercises in schools, to which the noble and learned Lord, Lord Sutherland, referred, which raise awareness, understanding and early enthusiasm for taxonomy. I hope that the Minister will agree that schools and schoolchildren should be encouraged, for many reasons, to participate in this kind of activity. What steps are the Government taking to remove the fear of the compensation culture which, by frustrating efforts to organise outdoor field trips, may well stifle enthusiasm for science and the development of an early interest in taxonomy? As the report rightly points out, it is the school pupils who gain an interest in these fields who will go on to be future volunteers, creating invaluable involvement in biological recording. My noble friend Lord Soulsby, and the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, have lamented the state of university-level study in this area too. While I accept that the Government have a point when they say that responsibility for encouraging volunteering in a sector lies primarily with that sector itself, I fear that they are being a touch disingenuous in distancing themselves so fully from the report’s recommendation that they should show leadership in encouraging volunteers. The Government have a role to play here and, as the noble Lords, Lord May and Lord Krebs, and the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, among others, have said with some force, what is currently lacking is any sense that the Government are co-ordinating their own departments properly. This brings me to the Government’s response to the recommendation that the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills should take the lead in co-ordinating matters relating to systematic biology. I accept that there will be a need for different departments to be involved but, like the noble Lord, Lord Haskel, I fear that the Government’s response is a trifle unhelpful. The committee’s recommendation would not preclude the involvement of different government departments but it would allow for one department to co-ordinate activity, investment and information exchange among the others. A reduction in lost or duplicated material would surely be almost inevitable in such a scenario. Like the noble Lord, Lord Sutherland, I wonder if the Minister could not reflect again on his Government’s response. Having said that, I urge some caution in promoting the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills as it is currently configured as the lead department. The Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee report, published in January and based on DIUS’s first departmental report, was somewhat less than glowing. The opinion of the committee was that the department, ""has not yet found its feet"." I hope it was not government embarrassment over this that led to their rejection of the Science Committee’s recommendation for departmental leadership. While my noble friend Lord Selborne referred to it in his contribution today when he talked about the prioritisation of effort, I noticed no reference to Europe in the Government’s response. What effort, if any, are they making to co-ordinate work on taxonomy and systematics with our fellow members of the EU? Other noble Lords have referred to co-ordination with Scotland and my noble friend Lord Soulsby mentioned the importance of the United States in this field, particularly in entomology. Again, it would be interesting to know what co-operation was going on across the Atlantic. We on these Benches realise that the critical importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to our economy and our society means that improvement in our national performance in those subjects must be central to a future Conservative Government’s policies. The report indicates that we have some form on this, in that it refers back to its own predecessor, Systematic Biology Research, published in 1992, to which the noble Lord, Lord Sutherland, referred and which my noble friend Lord Selborne said he was jointly responsible for. That report served to stimulate several measures that were implemented during the term of office of a Conservative Government, including the Natural Environment Research Council’s taxonomy initiative and the Wellcome Trust biodiversity initiative. The report acknowledges that those initiatives of the early 1990s were successful and that their contribution is still felt today. I recognise and welcome the resources that the present Government have made available in past years for the promotion of science, but it would be encouraging indeed if they were to use the current report as a springboard for fresh initiatives which would secure the United Kingdom’s standing in this area for another generation.