Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

: I shall be brief, as I am keen that we should have at least a couple of minutes on new clause 22. As the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice) said, my colleagues raised the issue of invasive non-native species in Committee and I raised it privately with the Minister before the Bill was produced. I welcome the steps that the Government have taken to try to close the stable door, although I should be keener if they had tried to catch some of the horses that escaped before they undertook that move. That is my concern. The Government have expressed worry about the matter over many years. Indeed, my colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath), reminded me that the Government made a pledge, or at least something akin to a pledge, during the passage of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, that they would deal with non-native invasive species, but we have not heard much about that since then. We are looking for progress, but we have not yet seen it. In Committee, the Minister made a point that I hope he will be able to pick up. He said that his colleague, the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the hon. Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw), intended to establish"““a programme board to oversee the implementation of non-native species policy across Government. The Department has allocated funds for the purpose and I expect the board to meet for the first time in the late summer.””—[Official Report, Standing Committee A, 28 June 2005; c. 213.]" I presume that the board has met and that we can hear about its achievements so far. We want the Government to put into action what they believe, as we do—that non-native invasive species need to be dealt with. The matter is urgent. For example, Japanese knotweed is not only deeply invasive and spreading rapidly but, as the Minister knows, when it is flailed it spreads even more quickly. People do not know that and many highways authorities are merrily causing Japanese knotweed to spread across the country. It is important to deal with species that are already present, but I see no action from the Government to do that, so I hope that the Minister can say something tonight to give us confidence that the issue will be dealt with once and for all.