Drought: Impact and Policies
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(1 week, 3 days ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
Clearly, I am not in a position to tell noble Lords what will be in the Bill, but I can assure the noble Lord that nature-based solutions are a very important part of the Government’s work in managing the situation regarding climate change and drought. Providing more integrated sustainable solutions is where we make the difference—even things such as creating better soil quality can make a huge difference. The three main aims around nature-based solutions for water that we are looking at are better groundwater resources, improving low flows in rivers, and improving our resilience to drought. We need to look at the effective schemes that we can bring forward, and that does not have to be just through the water Bill.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
My Lords, Thames Water, which I am a customer of, will run out of money within the next few weeks. Eighteen months ago it was given £3 billion to keep going and now it is asking for a further £2.4 billion. Why on earth is Thames Water not in special administration already?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
The simple answer to that is that the rules for special administration make it quite difficult for the Government to put Thames Water into special administration while it is still financing itself. I know the noble Baroness is saying that it is about to run out of money, but on paper and in its finances, it is continuing to operate as a company and to provide water. The question is: how long are the Government prepared to accept the current situation? That is something we are looking at.
Summer Drought: Future Supply Disruption
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
One important thing we need to be doing is not necessarily asking people to drop boreholes on their land but water saving more broadly. It is something we could definitely improve on as a country. The Government are keen for water companies to look at how they encourage more water saving across all their customers.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
My Lords, in the past few weeks the Prime Minister has been talking about public control of water companies. What we have had since privatisation has been a disaster. Yesterday he actually mentioned public ownership. Does that mean renationalisation in other words? By the way, Havant Thicket is a disaster and I would be very happy to meet the Minister to explain exactly why and bring some campaigners as well. I save water in water butts.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I would be very happy to meet the noble Baroness. She may be better off meeting the Water Minister, to be honest, but I am always happy to meet her. She raises important points, but we have to get this right. On public ownership, my understanding is that that same report stressed that public ownership was not the same as nationalisation. I need to understand better what the different options are.
Data Centres: Water Resources
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(1 month, 4 weeks ago)
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Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)
We will hear from the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, next. He has been trying to get in.
Bycatch Risk Prioritisation Framework
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
To ask His Majesty’s Government when they intend to publish the Bycatch Risk Prioritisation Framework.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Baroness Hayman of Ullock) (Lab)
My Lords, a report on the bycatch risk prioritisation framework will be published by the end of the year. The framework will identify where we expect bycatch risks to be greatest across the UK. This will help us to target monitoring and mitigation efforts on the species, areas, fishing gears and fisheries that need the most attention. The report will provide a snapshot of current understanding, while the framework will be updated over time.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
I thank the Minister for her Answer. At the moment, every year, fishing boats are catching—this is an underestimate because not all boats are monitored—at least 10,000 seabirds, 1,000 cetaceans such as harbour porpoises, common dolphins, humpback whales and minke whales, and around 500 seals. That is absolutely appalling. Will the Minister take that back to this new Government, who want to do the right thing? When will the Government publish bycatch action plans for seabirds, cetaceans, seals and protected fish species? When will the Government require remote electronic monitoring on all fishing boats in UK waters, including those under 10 metres in length?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I am aware of the impacts on sensitive species. The noble Baroness outlined that very well. We recognise that different action plans can help towards progress in reducing bycatch by bringing co-ordination and structure, and targeting the species that are being impacted. It is important, however, to notice that these plans are complex. They require significant time investment to ensure that they are evidence-based and deliverable. The seabird bycatch action plan will be designed to provide a valuable template to build on for future plans. However, it is important that we ask whether we should be focusing on the action that this plan will enable us to take or spending all our time on writing different plans. We need to get this plan off the ground and working, and then we can use it as a template. On REM, we are now working towards making it a statutory requirement in the pelagic fishery. That will apply to UK and EU vessels. We are planning for it to become mandatory in other fisheries, in due course.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I would never want to disagree with my noble friend about the requirement for more ships.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
My Lords, one of the points I was trying to make was that we do not actually know how large the bycatch from all the fishing ships is. We cannot make plans or solve the problem if we do not know how many other species are being killed. That is why the remote monitoring is so important. As the noble Baroness said, it is about all ships and all boats, not only the larger ones.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
It is also about the greatest impact, which is why we start work with the ships that have the greatest impact. I gently say that, 10 years ago, I was the shadow Fisheries Minister, and we were talking about REM coming on board ships then, and it had not happened. We are actually starting to do this, and it is really important that we are finally starting to do something that is going to make a difference and will start to provide us with the data that we need in order to target in the way the noble Baroness suggests.
Clean Water Bill: Chalk Streams
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
The noble Baroness must have misheard me. I absolutely did not say that the Bill was not coming in this Session. It is absolutely our intention to fulfil the pledge made in the King’s Speech that we will bring in the clean water Bill this Session.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
I do not understand the Government’s reluctance to take Thames Water into special administration when it so clearly behaved appallingly and refuses to clean up the mess it has made of not only our chalk streams but the rest of our countryside.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
Very strict conditions have to be met before the Government are allowed to do that. However, we have said that we will keep all options on the table if it comes to that.
Plastic Pollution Reduction
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(6 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I am quite shocked to hear that the Greens are not as good as we would have expected them to be. I am sure the noble Baroness opposite may have something further to say on that.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
Actually, that is just mean and I am going to say something else. I am sure the Minister knows that there is accumulating medical evidence of the damage to human health done by microplastics—impaired immune systems, cell damage, affected metabolic systems and so on—so getting this done quite quickly is important. Will the Minister make a recommendation to No. 10 to take on the noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, as an adviser, because she seems to know what she is talking about?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I certainly agree that the noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, knows what she is talking about. She has spoken authoritatively and knowledgeably on this for many years. But the noble Baroness is absolutely right to talk about microbeads and microplastics. As I said, we will publish our circular economy growth plan fairly soon. We need to ensure that we tackle the issue of microbeads and microplastics.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
The noble Lord is right. Of course, another issue is inconsistency across the country as to how that is done, which can confuse people when they are staying in other places. The key to resolving that issue is the work that we are doing with local authorities, because this is a local authority responsibility. The Government need to work with local authorities so that they have the resources and the powers that they need to make this work effectively.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
My Lords, further to my earlier question about microplastics and human health, this could cost the NHS a huge amount of money, so it is quite an urgent matter. Will the noble Baroness take that message back to No. 10 as well, please?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
One of the things we are doing is working much better across departments, including with the NHS, so I will ensure that it is aware of the noble Baroness’s concerns specifically on this issue.
Marine Protected Areas: Bottom Trawling
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(6 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
One of the reasons for bringing in this proposal to extend the protections to 41 more areas is entirely to support our ambition of delivering on 30 by 30. As I have said before, it is much more complex to deliver that in a marine environment, which is why it is so important that we get it absolutely right. I do not have the further detail the noble Baroness mentioned, but I am sure we can pick that up another time.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
My Lords, I would like to ask why No. 10 is so eco-stupid, but that would be very rude of me, so instead I ask the Minister, because I know she feels strongly on these issues, to please explain to No. 10 or whoever produces these policies that we need nature and that bottom trawling destroys a complete ecosystem that is irrecoverable for decades, so it actually militates against any sort of food stocks for the future?
Sustainable Farming Incentive: Small Farms
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(7 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)
It is the turn of the Cross Benches.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
The noble Lord is absolutely correct that there is a cap of £100,000. The first tranche is open to small farms and those who do not have an agreement, and then there will be another tranche in September, which will be open to all. That is why the cap is important.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
My Lords, the sustainable farming incentive is trying to put a sharper focus on water quality and biodiversity, which small family farms are often quite good at. I am concerned that their value is appreciated from a local economy point of view and because they are quite often very sustainable and organic. Does the Minister feel that they are going to be properly valued?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
The short answer is yes, I very much hope that they will be. We are keen to support organic farming and to see more farms become more, shall we say, environmentally friendly.
Global Biodiversity Loss and National Security
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(8 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
The noble Baroness is absolutely right that there has been terrible flooding. Much of the change in our weather systems is inevitably caused by climate change. We are working very hard to invest more, not just in flood defences but in natural flood management. Regarding sustainable food and food security, we are trying to better support farmers on food security in sustainable practices. The new SFI offering will look more at small farmers and sustainability in order that we prepare for the long term for exactly these kinds of outcomes.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
My Lords, the Government sound very good on all these policies, but, in fact, they are not meeting their targets. They are not meeting their targets on tree-planting, marine protected areas or flooding. It is going to be a contest between which comes first—World War III or climate collapse. Do the Government agree?
Yorkshire: Sustainable Water Management Solutions
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts(9 months ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
My noble friend is absolutely right to raise this, and that is why we are prioritising a further water White Paper to sort these issues out.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)
My Lords, the conditions described in the Oral Question are a result of climate change. The fact is that climate change is going to hit infrastructure—roads, railways and homes —in Yorkshire, and everywhere else globally, very hard. Is Defra explaining to the Treasury exactly how disastrous it would be to delay spending on climate change adaptation measures?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I assure the noble Baroness that we talk regularly about the importance of this not just to the Treasury but to other departments.