Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

In opposing the Question that Clause 16 stand part of the Bill, I wish to find out how the power to give Natural England directions will be used. The existing literature on directions—in Craies on Legislation 2004, for example, states:"““Acts frequently require or allow a Minister to give directions, generally in respect of some administrative matter. So long as there is a duty to comply with the direction it can be seen as a form of subordinate legislation. Generally the duty to comply will be express, but, particularly where the direction is given to a public body that is susceptible to the administrative law process of judicial review, it may be appropriate for the duty to comply to be left to be implied””." Clause 16(1) reads:"““The Secretary of State may give Natural England general or specific directions as to the exercise of its functions””." I draw attention to ““general””, as it is related to ““functions””. This does not sound like administrative matters. On Second Reading, the Minister said, in his reply to the debate:"““Natural England will be no less independent that its predecessor bodies””.—[Official Report, 7/11/05; col. 470.]" Yet I can find no directions clause in, for example, either the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 or the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 which is in any way comparable to Clause 16. Presumably, however the clause is implemented, it is not intended to reduce—nor will it have the effect of reducing—Natural England’s independence. What, then, is it for? There is a clue in the Defra memorandum to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee’s sixth report, which states on page 40, paragraph 81:"““Clause 16 (directions to the Natural England)       Power conferred on: Secretary of State       Power exercisable by: Direction       Parliamentary procedure: None””." I suppose that directions have hitherto been meant to deal only with administrative matters. If they have done more, or are intended to, surely there would be a parliamentary procedure at least equivalent to that applied to statutory instruments. No Secretary of State would wish to deny Parliament access to policy change. However, Defra goes on to say:"““These . . . powers of direction contained in the bill are drafted in similar mode so that they must all be in writing and published in a way that the person giving the directions thinks is suitable . . . All directions may either be of general or specific nature. It is considered by the department to . . . have these direction making powers in circumstances where a body with significant responsibilities is not acting in a way that is consistent with the purposes for which it is established””." That could be interpreted as meaning that a Bill is laid before your Lordships’ House, debated on Second Reading, Clauses 3 to 10 are debated in detail in Committee and on Report and yet, once enacted, the Secretary of State can introduce detailed rules of the game without reference to Parliament—new and unexpected rules, perhaps. Am I right to conclude that Clause 16 goes wider than any similar clause in predecessor Acts? What is the Government’s policy on directions, and how will it be applied to Natural England? Will the House be able to consider, before Report, a draft of the directions which the Secretary of State intends to make?