Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what powers the Environment Agency holds to require companies to release 15-minute flow data when requested, and under which regulations they have this power.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has the power to require Water Companies to provide detailed flow data under the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016. Regulation 61(1) gives the power to require the information.
Permit conditions state reports in relation to 15-minute flow data are to be provided to the Environment Agency upon request within 28 days, unless otherwise specified in writing by the Environment Agency.
Authorised officers of the Environment Agency are empowered to inspect and retain copies of records that are relevant to any examination or investigation under Section 108 (4) (k) Environment Act 1995 – requirement to produce records.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the results of the Storm Overflow Assessment Framework will be published for storm overflows potentially discharging untreated sewage into English rivers; and on what occasions there have been (1) overflows where untreated sewage can be lawfully discharged other than as a result of exceptional rainfall, and (2) overflows where untreated sewage cannot be lawfully discharged other than as a result of exceptional rainfall.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Outcomes of the Storm Overflow Assessment Framework (SOAF) investigations within calendar year are reported through the annual Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) reporting from Water and Sewerage Companies to the Environment Agency at the end of February the following year. The Environment Agency publishes these EDM reports by end of March each year.
The Environment Agency will publish the 2023 EDM report in March 2024 and this will contain outcomes from SOAF investigations completed by December 2023. The Environment Agency will assess data provided by each water company in order to assess whether they are meeting their legal obligations with regards to the discharge of untreated sewage.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to direct the Environment Agency to revise all permits issued in respect of water company sewage discharges under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, so that those permits fully reflect the combined obligations of the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations 1994 and the judgment in the case of Commission v UK, case C-301/10, of 18 October 2012.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations 1994, storm overflows are investigated using an Environment Agency framework, the Storm Overflow Assessment Framework. This framework is consistent with the Court of Justice of the be put European Union’s (CJEU) judgment in the Commission v UK case. Where upgrades or solutions are identified under this framework, the Environment Agency require that improvements in place as soon as reasonably practicable and are accompanied by necessary permit variations by the Environment Agency to reflect those requirements.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the 'polluter pays' principle will apply to the oil spill in Poole; and if it does not, what plans they have to extend the principle to include such incidents of accidental environmental damage.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The polluter pays principle does apply to the oil spill in Poole. Claims by those suffering financially from this oil spill can be made to Perenco’s insurers. Perenco have opened an email address which potential claimants can use.
When the law allows public bodies may be able to reclaim costs resulting from the response and recovery operations. Those agencies likely to reclaim costs include the Environment Agency (EA), Natural England and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science. The EA has statutory powers to recover costs from an environmental incident, in line with the polluter pays principle, and always seeks to recharge where possible.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to public bodies of the oil spill in Poole.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Environment Agency (EA), Natural England (NE), Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) amongst others have been involved in responding to the oil spill in Poole Harbour. Public agencies will be monitoring their excess costs throughout the response and recovery operations following the oil spill. As these operations are on-going, final estimates are not available; however, when possible, costs will be recovered from the polluter.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in adapting England to climate change; and what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee’s report Investment for a well-adapted UK, published on 1 February.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government welcomes the Climate Change Committee’s recent adaptation progress report for England. We will consider the report’s findings as we develop a third National Adaptation Programme which addresses all 61 risks and opportunities identified in the Government’s third Climate Change Risk Assessment. Climate adaptation is mainstreamed across Government, which means that all Government policies and programmes need to consider the risks that climate change poses to their successful delivery and outcomes.
We also welcome the Climate Change Committee’s latest report “investment for a well-adapted UK”, and the Government assessed the recommendations. The recently published Green Finance Strategy sets out plans to build a launchpad for private and public collaboration over the next 5 years to overcome barriers to investment and assist in the functioning of news markets. We will announce our approach alongside our climate adaptation finance deliverables and action plan by end of 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the international trade experience of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was deemed relevant to his new role when he was appointed to it.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The appointment of Ministers is a matter for the Prime Minister as the Sovereign's principal adviser.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to replace the single farm payment.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We intend to phase out untargeted Direct Payments in England by the end of 2027.
We are making a range of offers available to suit all farm types. Everything we are offering contributes to our 3 goals: supporting viable businesses; maintaining food production at its current level; and achieving animal health, welfare and climate outcomes.
We are offering a range of environmental land management schemes. In addition, we are offering other schemes and grants to help achieve our 3 goals. We launched funding for equipment, technology, and infrastructure that improves farm productivity and benefits the environment through the Farming Investment Fund.
Through the Farming Innovation Programme, we intend to unlock further innovation within the farming sector and contribute towards growth by supporting the development and adoption of new innovation by farmers and growers to ensure it can make a real difference.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they can provide an update on the current status of the roll-out of the environmental land management schemes; and when they expect the schemes to be fully rolled out.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The first Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot agreements started in 2021. We started to roll out core elements of the Sustainable Farming Incentive from June 2022, and we will expand those elements until we have the full offer available in 2025.
In February 2022, farmers and land managers were invited to apply for funding for Landscape Recovery, and following a competitive application process, Defra confirmed the 22 selected projects on Friday 2 September 2022. We will release more information on round 2 in due course. We will also publish more information on Local Nature Recovery by the end of the year.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee of the House of Commons on 23 November (Q324), when they will issue a response on the source of pellets used by Drax; and whether they will publish the evidence used in their analysis.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
I refer the noble Lady to my response to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, which was published on 15 December and is available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/41426/default/. A copy is also attached to this answer.