Clause 12 - Power to bring criminal proceedings
Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill
5:15 pm
Jim Knight (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; South Dorset, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman said that the provision could be used for anything under the sun, but it is implicit, as with everything that follows on from the reference to its purpose, that the actions of Natural England would be confined to things that come within its purpose. There is a parallel with the Environment Agency. The Environment Act 1995 confirms that the agency can institute criminal proceedings in England and Wales. The provision is very straightforward and, read in isolation, it seems open-ended and as though it might allow the agency to prosecute people for anything under the sun. However, it is governed by the purpose of the agency as set out in that legislation. It does not go around prosecuting people for antisocial behaviour unless it is in respect of those aspects of the protection of the environment that it is responsible for. The clause provides certainty.
We have talked about ambiguity. In fact, the clause removes some ambiguity in existing legislation, in respect of English Nature and the Countryside Agency’s prosecution powers across their enforcement duties—for example, in relation to byelaws—which are not clearly expressed in legislation. We have used this opportunity to clarify the powers in respect of byelaws. I reassure the Committee that there is no intention for Natural England to become an enforcement body that goes wider than the constituent bodies that make it up.
I confess that the clause caused some confusion when the Bill was published, which is perhaps reflected in the comments that we have heard. Some stakeholders erroneously thought that it represented a wide extension of the predecessor bodies’ enforcement powers. There is no intention for those to go any wider. In some cases, in the existing legislation there are elements of ambiguity about whether the constituent bodies have enforcement powers. We have removed that ambiguity here.
As I said, Natural England will inherit the regulatory powers of the constituent bodies. I shall give some examples: English Nature’s various enforcement and regulatory functions in relation to SSSIs, nature reserves and some wildlife enforcements; the Countryside Agency’s relatively few enforcement powers, in relation to byelaw making and management agreements; and the Rural Development Service’s role in wildlife licensing and in direct enforcement, mainly monitoring and inspection activities on the ground. Those are the sorts of things we are talking about. We are not talking about going any further than that.