Speeches by Gardiner.

“Well, you say it has been in force. It has been the law, but has it been the practice? Has it been carried out and implemented?”

“Ms Searle, assessing the presence of ecological features requires a specialist skillset that you train people in but many local authority officers, planning officers, do not have that skillset. How are we going to be able to proceed with BNG on a site if they cannot even assess what features are there in the first plac…”

“To ensure that there is consistency and quality in the BNG market should there be some minimum qualification or standard? This is now dependent on the developer saying, “Here is the ecological assessment that we have commissioned.” They are marking their own homework.”

“At the least would you like to see this Committee highlight in its report that at best the quality of BNG programmes will be variable unless some standardisation of the ecological qualifications is introduced?”

“Thank you. How will the Government’s planning reforms change how your organisation operates and delivers its services?”

“I am sorry to rush you, but we have limited time. In terms of how this Committee should approach it, particularly what you have said about the dropping of the protected species’ requirements, should we draw that to the attention of the Government as a threat and something that needs to be offset within any BNG that is …”

“Ms Searle, assessing the presence of ecological features requires a specialist skillset that you train people in but many local authority officers, planning officers, do not have that skillset. How are we going to be able to proceed with BNG on a site if they cannot even assess what features are there in the first plac…”

“The point here is that by dropping that requirement biodiversity net gain will not be a net gain but will be a net loss. Is that correct?”

“Thank you. Would you say that in the report that we are producing there should be a recommendation about the training in ecology for enforcement officers? Obviously the lack of skills there will also be a problem because they have to ensure that they can enforce these contracts.”

“That is another recommendation this Committee can make. Thank you very much.”

“Should we be making any recommendations about increased funding for training and skills development?”

“What recommendation should this Committee make about that point?”

“I am sorry, I am going to have to cut you short.”

“Well, you say it has been in force. It has been the law, but has it been the practice? Has it been carried out and implemented?”

“Food is the means of life, and it must not be used as a weapon of war. The Foreign Secretary has rightly condemned its use as morally wrong, but it is also a breach of international humanitarian law. He has condemned as unjustifiable and disproportionate Minister Smotrich’s proposals to cleanse Gaza and displace and de…”

“If you are renting a property, it is down to the landlord to put resilience measures in place. There is now a minimum energy performance requirement of EPC C to be able to rent out your property. Would it be a good recommendation to say that there needs to be a minimum FPC in order to do the same? Secondly, when people…”

“If I get accused of prompting the witness, I will plead not guilty.”

“Absolutely. I hope that anybody who is watching this has taken note of all the things you have said, because it is a real lesson in what is available and how to combat it. When responding to the Chair, you said that if there was one message that you would like to get across, it was not to cut flood defence budgets. So …”

“You would be able to afford your resilience measures.”

“If you are renting a property, it is down to the landlord to put resilience measures in place. There is now a minimum energy performance requirement of EPC C to be able to rent out your property. Would it be a good recommendation to say that there needs to be a minimum FPC in order to do the same? Secondly, when people…”