State of Climate and Nature

Debate between Baroness Hayman of Ullock and Lord Teverson

Monday 21st July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The noble Lord asks an excellent question, and I thank him for all his work in this sphere. It has been really important that we have had cross-party work on this over a number of years. Part of the reason for laying the Statement is that the Government believe that we have a duty to inform the British people about the scale of the climate and nature crises and the actions that government is taking in response. That is the start of a broader public discussion around this. If we are to move into a very different way of working in respect of energy—for example, moving away from fossil fuels and expecting people to make decisions about their heating, the cars that they drive and the costs of bills, as has been discussed—it is extremely important that we bring the public with us.

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, I have not heard many Front-Bench Statements from the Opposition as sad, inaccurate and negative as the one that we have heard this evening. I find it incredible. I hear no solutions whatever. It is a symptom of a party that has completely lost its way and feels under threat from another party, further to the right, which voters will vote for rather than this one if this is their issue. I make that warning. It suits us as Liberal Democrats—if they want to lose another 50 seats from middle England, they can go ahead and we will accept them.

Moving to nature, I too welcome this report and that it will be annual. I want to ask about 30 by 30. It is important that we are not negative about this situation. We must be optimistic but realistic that we can meet our targets. The paper issued by Defra last October defined the types of land that can be included in 30 by 30. At the moment, only 7% of that land can be included. Could the—

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

I am going to ask the question. Can we find a way to define 30 by 30 land that includes ELMS, for instance, that makes that target attainable? At the moment, I believe it is impossible.

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The noble Lord asks a really important question. To meet the target, which we want to and believe that we can, we must be sure of the best way to achieve that. The land identified will be critical for that—and whether it is land or sea. A number of recent announcements will help us to work towards that—for example, the land use framework will be part of it. Banning bottom trawling in the marine protected areas will also help in the blue areas.

We are working through identifying the land that will make a difference. In the past, land that has been included—all SSSIs, for example—has not necessarily been in good enough condition to be taken into account. Taking that out has set the target back, but that is an honest approach. However, if we are being honest like that, we must be very careful about how we will achieve it and what land we are identifying. All I can say to the noble Lord is that these are really important points that we in Defra are looking at really hard to work on. We are looking at ELMS and the next batch of SFI, and what we should include in that to make the biggest difference.

Forest Risk Commodities

Debate between Baroness Hayman of Ullock and Lord Teverson

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The noble Earl takes every opportunity to talk about squirrels. The important thing is that the action plan is well under way. I spent quite some time on it myself, because, again, it is important that we make such pieces of guidance effective so that they will make the difference. We know that there are issues with grey squirrels damaging trees, as well as the impact on red squirrel populations. As I said before, I am very pleased that we have red squirrels in our garden, so I want to see them protected. I have very much appreciated the work that the noble Earl has done on the grey squirrel action plan, and I appreciate the conversations and discussions that we have had and the work that he and his colleagues have done. I look forward to continuing those discussions as we publish the plan.

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, as a Defra Minister, will the noble Baroness welcome, and help the House consider, amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that better protect ancient woodlands?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

As the noble Lord is aware, I will be taking forward Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, and I very much look forward to working with the House on that part of it. I understand that amendments are being discussed at present, and I am sure that we will see those in due course.

Farming: 25-year Road Map

Debate between Baroness Hayman of Ullock and Lord Teverson

Monday 28th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I assure the noble Baroness that food production and self-sufficiency will be at the heart of the road map as it is developed. We work very closely with DESNZ around where energy projects are sited. With the land use framework also being developed, there is a lot of discussion about the best use of farmland, because we do not want good agricultural land taken out of food production.

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, in order to meet the combined objectives of food security and nature recovery, we need a much more nature-friendly form of farming. However, to make that transition, it is absolutely essential that we have a much firmer policy framework that people in farming can predict. When will the sustainable farming initiative be reinstated? Beyond that, can the Minister say that there will be an end to the stop-start funding that is so difficult for farmers when it comes to their own planning?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

One of the challenges that has faced farming for many years is the lack of long-term security. The noble Lord is absolutely right to raise that. We are currently discussing the next stages of the SFI, so I do not have information about the dates at the moment. We will of course announce that when we have more information. We want to make sure that the next iteration of the SFI is fit for purpose and will deliver what we need the farming sector to deliver. On the noble Lord’s questions on nature and the environment, it is absolutely imperative that we get this right. We have to ensure that food production and support for nature and biodiversity work together, hand-in-hand, to create the long-term environment that we need for our country.

Thames Water: Bids

Debate between Baroness Hayman of Ullock and Lord Teverson

Monday 28th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I would be more than happy to dig in the archives.

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, is it not time that Ofwat was put out of its misery?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I shall feed that back to the commission.

High Seas Treaty

Debate between Baroness Hayman of Ullock and Lord Teverson

Monday 10th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

Let me confirm that the Government are completely committed to ratification of the BBNJ agreement, in line with our determination to re-invigorate the UK’s wider international leadership on climate and nature. We are working on the measures needed to implement the detailed and very complex provisions of the agreement before we can formally ratify.

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, it is great news that we have the high seas treaty in what is otherwise a lawless area of our oceans. However, treaties are no good if they are not enforced, and this treaty does not say how it will be implemented. How does the United Kingdom feel that it can be enforced? Will it lead in that process internationally given its experience of the Blue Belt programme around our overseas territories?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The BBNJ agreement establishes the mechanism to designate marine protected areas and other areas-based management tools in areas that are beyond national jurisdiction. We have commissioned research to develop a shortlist of the potential area-based management tools that we could develop to use in future proposals once the BBNJ agreement comes into force. We believe this will help to ensure that this agreement supports the achievements that are required by the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework target.

Biodiversity Net Gain

Debate between Baroness Hayman of Ullock and Lord Teverson

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, the Government inherited in their departmental diary a provisional date of November 2025 by which to include biodiversity net gain for nationally significant infrastructure projects. Will the Minister confirm that they will go ahead with that on that date? I encourage them to do so.

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I can confirm that we are planning to consult very shortly on applying biodiversity net gain to nationally significant infrastructure projects—NSIPs—without any broad exceptions.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I am happy to go back to the department on this. We are going to open up the high-level applications next year, as I am sure the noble Lord is aware, and we are also looking at what we do with the legacy payments. I am happy to discuss this issue with him further, because we are making quite a lot of decisions on how we move forward.

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, is not the answer to the question from the noble Lord on the Conservative Benches that if we do not have biodiversity and nature recovery, we will not have an agriculture industry in 30 years’ time?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

It is really important that we get the right balance between food production and environmental considerations. It is an important thing for any Government to take forward, and we are taking it very seriously. That is partly why we are doing the land use framework—to ensure that we deliver properly on both areas.