Member

At this stage, I should also like to make a further clarification around the reference to the Secretary of State. Following the discussions on Monday and further discussions within the department, I can now clarify that the Secretary of State referred to is the Secretary of State for Defra, unless there is good reason for it to be otherwise. We are looking for the response to previous debates to clarify some of the questions that have come up around this and to make it clear to noble Lords that EDPs will be evidence-based and support the wider conservation objectives of the environmental feature.