Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the National Action Plan on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides; and whether those proposals will feed into the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The United Kingdom upholds strict food safety, health and environmental standards, and our first priority regarding pesticides is to ensure that they will not harm people or pose unacceptable risks to the environment. HM Government has an excellent record on the environment enshrined in law in our landmark Environment Act. We are working to publish an updated National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides.
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill will enable HM Government, via Parliament, to adopt a home-grown regulatory approach and will make sure that HM Government can amend, repeal or replace retained EU law with domestic legislation which better suits the United Kingdom. Departments, including DEFRA, are already reviewing their Retained EU Law (REUL), and considering whether any changes are required in order to continue delivering their policy objectives. If changes are needed, departments will be able to use legislative powers, including those within the REUL Bill, to do so ahead of the sunset date.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon (HL2226), how much compensation was awarded to victims of water pollution following a successful conviction by the Environment Agency in each of the last five years; and how much of any such compensation was awarded to consumers.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Environment Agency (EA) does not administer compensation schemes to those affected by pollution or to water consumers.
An enforcement undertaking is a voluntary offer by an offender to put right the effects of their offending, its impact on third parties and to make sure it cannot happen again.
From 2017 to 2021 (inclusive), the EA accepted 63 enforcement undertakings from the main water and sewerage companies based in England, averaging a £181,690.21 pay-out for each.
The total value of these enforcement undertakings was approximately £11.5 million.
Where it is not possible to fully restore any environmental damage then the offer needs to include some form of environmental benefit or improvement or compensation for damage to the natural capital, for example, money for a project to improve river quality following a water pollution incident.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to avoid food shortages this winter arising from water shortages and rising energy costs.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The United Kingdom has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the COVID-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes.
The United Kingdom’s consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.
Defra has well established ways of working with the industry and across HM Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total cost to the taxpayer of controlling bovine tuberculosis since 2012; and what analysis they have made of these costs.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra’s net expenditure on bovine tuberculosis (bTB) eradication in England since 2012 is set out in the table below.
For the financial year 2016/17, the lower figure shown is mainly due to a difference in the handling of salvage income rather than any cut in TB control expenditure in real terms.
For the financial years after 2016/17 the figures do not include the substantial, but separately costed, expenditure made by the Animal and Plant Health Agency and its predecessor bodies, which are accounted for separately by the relevant executive Agencies. That includes expenditure on contracted out TB testing as well as the work of the Agency’s various veterinary, scientific, and administrative teams and associated operating and overhead costs. We estimate that the total costs to the taxpayer for bovine TB-related work in England have remained at around £100 million a year for each of the last 10 financial years.
Defra’s bTB eradication strategy is working. A sustained downward trajectory in disease is being seen in areas of England at highest risk of bTB (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain).
Financial year | Amount |
2012/2013 | £96,000,000 |
2013/2014 | £101,781,004 |
2014/2015 | £92,944,731 |
2015/2016 | £90,396,214 |
2016/2017 | £19,324,857 |
2017/2018 | £36,192,349 |
2018/2019 | £37,625,125 |
2019/2020 | £36,939,089 |
2020/2021 | £31,635,562 |
2021/2022 | £34,261,406 |
TOTAL | £577,100,337 |
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to consult (1) farmers, and (2) environmental groups, during the review of Environmental Land Management schemes; and when the review will conclude.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The environmental land management schemes have been designed to be as accessible and attractive to as wide a range of farmers as possible. We continue to work closely with a range of environmental and agricultural stakeholders to collaboratively design our new approaches to ensure they are fit for purpose. There is no scheduled end date to our engagement.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total cost of the badger cull in England in each year since 2012, including (1) costs to government departments, (2) costs to farmers, and (3) policing costs.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Badger cull operation costs incurred by HM Government are published annually on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-government-badger-control-costs.
Badger control costs | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Government costs (excl. police) | £6.3m | £3.1m | £1.8m | £2.4m | £2.6m | £2.1m | £2.2m | £2.2m |
Policing costs | £3.5m | £1.4m | £1.8m | £3m | £4m | £3.2m | £3.66m | £4m |
Total | £9.8m | £4.5m | £3.6m | £5.4m | £6.6m | £5.3m | £5.86m | £6.2m |
Number of areas | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 21 | 32 | 43 | 54 |
Total costs per area | £4.9m | £2.3m | £1.2m | £0.5m | £0.3m | £0.17m | £0.14m | £0.14m |
Badger cull operations did not take place in 2012, therefore no costs were incurred that year.
Badger cull operations are an industry-led initiative, therefore the costs to industry are not published or known by HM Government.
HM Government costs for 2021 will be published in due course.
To put the badger cull operational costs into perspective, below are the annual compensation costs for cattle culled to control spread of bovine TB during the same period.
Cattle compensation costs | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| £31.4m | £30.5m | £29.9m | £27m | £37m | £35.3m | £32.2m | £30.8m |
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government under what conditions badger culls would be extended beyond 2025; and what evidence would be required before a decision on extension is made.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Controlling TB in wildlife reservoirs, specifically badgers, makes up part of the package of measures of Defra's bovine TB eradication strategy, with the aim of achieving Officially TB Free status for England by 2038.
As part of the next phase of the strategy, HM Government will now evolve its approach and gradually move on from intensive badger culling over the next few years. Localised badger culling will remain an option where epidemiological assessment indicates that it is needed. The detailed proposal for epidemiologically led culling is currently under development.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what obligations, if any, water companies have to inform anglers of real time sewerage outflows into the sea which may affect the quality of the catch.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government has increased the number of storm overflows monitored across the network from approximately 5% in 2016, to nearly 90% in 2021. By 2023 we will have 100% coverage.
Under our landmark Environment Act, we have significantly improved transparency around storm sewer overflow discharges by making it a legal requirement for companies to provide discharge data to the Environment Agency and by 2023 water companies must make it available in near real time to the public. Our Environment Act also places new duties on water companies to monitor the water quality impacts up and downstream of all storm overflows and assets. Anglers will be able to use this data to inform their decisions when choosing where to fish.
The use of storm overflows is strictly set out in Environment Agency permits. If storm overflows operate outside of permit conditions, the EA will take the strongest enforcement action possible. Since 2015, the EA has brought 54 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of almost £140 million.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether anglers could be entitled to compensation from water companies as a result of pollution into fishing waters from sewerage outflows.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There is no specific compensation scheme for anglers. Enforcement action by Ofwat can lead to settlements where water companies agree to return money to customers as bill rebates. As a result of Ofwat’s action against Southern Water in 2019 and Thames Water in 2018, the companies are returning £123 million and £120 million respectively to customers over the next five years.
The use of storm overflows is strictly set out in Environment Agency permits who will not hesitate to use all options for robust enforcement action against illegal breaches of these permits. This can include unlimited fines via criminal prosecution by the Environment Agency for the most serious offences. Since 2015, the EA has brought 54 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of almost £140 million.
Victims of environmental offending can apply to the court for compensation as part of proceedings brought by the Environment Agency and this is generally the first matter the court will address upon sentencing. Impacted parties can approach the Environment Agency and ask for their compensation claim to be included in the proceedings. Compensation may then be awarded by the Court on successful conviction.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to ensure the availability of fertiliser and carbon dioxide to the farming and food sectors following the announcement by CF Fertilisers that they are halting production in the UK.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It is disappointing that CF Fertilisers has taken the decision to halt ammonia production at Billingham. However, since last autumn the CO2 market’s resilience has improved, with additional imports, further production from existing sources such as anaerobic digestion and bioethanol and better stockpiles. We expect the supply of ammonia (from imports by CF Fertilisers) and production of nitric acid and fertiliser to be unaffected. While the Government continues to examine options for the market to improve resilience over the longer term, we urge industry to do anything it can to meet demand, which is in the best interest of businesses and the public.
National Fertiliser Supplies
CF Fertilisers produces ammonium nitrate fertiliser and nitric acid in the UK at Billingham. The company expects to fulfil all ammonia and nitric acid contracts and all orders of Ammonium Nitrate contracted for delivery in the coming months. The supply and price of these products is a commercial matter for CF Fertilisers, and we expect supply to continue.
While global fertiliser prices have risen, the supply chain providing imports of fertiliser to the UK has remained dynamic. We are continuing to monitor the security and stability of fertiliser and other supply chains and work closely with colleagues across government and devolved administrations as well as industry figures.
Carbon Dioxide Supplies
Defra is working with sector stakeholders to encourage contingency planning and resilience and understand that various CO2 supply companies in the UK are working on or have secured additional CO2 to mitigate shortages. We are confident CO2 stocks are secure for the coming winter.