Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Spending Review 2025 (CP1336), what assessment they have made of the impact of reducing the operational budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in real terms on its ability to fund the clean-up of waterways.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Navigation authorities, including the Canal and River Trust and the Environment Agency (EA), are responsible for keeping their waterways clean, clear of obstacles, rubbish, aquatic plant overgrowths, and any other impediments, including responding to pollution incidents, to ensure safety of navigation for users.
EA funding is closely monitored to ensure it can carry out its duties and functions effectively and deliver for the public and the environment. Its total budget for 2025 to 2026 is £2,274 million.
The Canal and River Trust has responsibility for 2,000 miles of canals and rivers in England and Wales. Its purposes are to maintain the waterway network and conserve its heritage and natural environment in perpetuity for public benefit and enjoyment. Its grant from Defra, agreed for the period 2012 to 2027, is approximately £740 million.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - 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 effect of the driest spring in 132 years on water levels, and of the impact that low water levels are likely to have on the economy and on communities.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To manage the drought, the EA and water companies have activated their drought plans. These plans outline actions that are needed to reduce the impact of the drought on the economy and communities. Current actions by the EA include enhanced monitoring, acting to save fish where rivers are at risk of drying up, responding to environmental incidents, and coordinating actions through the National Drought Group. Water companies are following statutory plans, and the Government and the EA are regulating water companies to ensure they follow their plans.
Droughts pose a risk to communities and the economy by impacting public water supply, agriculture, fisheries, energy, transport, tourism and navigation. The EA recently published the National Framework for Water Resources, which identifies the ambitious actions needed to meet these significant national water resources challenges out to 2055.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the vape ban in Australia when considering the single-use disposal vape ban in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 1 June 2025 the sale and supply of disposable vapes across the UK was banned. Officials considered other international bans, such as the one in Australia, as part of the work to develop this policy, but did not formally assess them.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what contribution, if any, the vaping industry makes to the cost of the appropriate disposal of vapes.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment regulations make producers responsible for electrical products (including vapes) they place on the market when they become waste. This week, following a consultation under the previous Government, we laid an amending SI to create a new category of electrical equipment for vapes (previously included in category 7: Toys, and Leisure), to ensure vape producers pay their fair market share towards separate collection, treatment, and recycling costs of their products.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - 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 the environment of the disposal of vapes.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Single-use vapes are a blight on our environment with an estimated 5 million incorrectly disposed of each week. This is why on 1 June 2025 we banned the sale and supply of these products. We have published our impact assessment which considers the environmental, economic and other impacts of this policy and will continue to monitor the impact of the ban.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many company directors and senior executives in the water industry have been charged with criminal offences in relation to pollution in rivers and waterways in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.
The Environment Agency (EA) generally commences criminal proceedings by way of summons. As of the date of this correspondence, no summons have been granted in respect of company directors and senior executives in the water industry over the past three years.
The EA is currently carrying out their largest ever criminal investigation into potential widespread non-compliance by water companies at over 2,000 sewage treatment works.
To drive this forward, the EA has hired 380 additional regulatory staff to carry out inspections and other enforcement activity. The most serious offences trigger a criminal investigation that could see water company fines and criminal prosecution for water bosses.
Earlier this year Ofwat proposed fines of £168 million against the first three investigated companies. These fines are alongside proposed enforcement orders, which require each company to rectify issues to bring them into compliance. OfWat’s investigations into eight further water companies continue.
In addition, the Water (Special Measures) Act has introduced a duty for water companies to publish data related to discharges from all emergency overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning. This will enable the public and regulators to see where, and how often, overflows are discharging and hold water companies to account.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that senior managers in the water industry are not awarded inappropriate bonuses.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. Water bosses taking bonuses when their companies criminally pollute our waterways is unacceptable.
As part of our Plan for Change, we’ve delivered on our promise to put water companies under special measures through our landmark Water (Special Measures) Act.
As part of the Act, Ofwat has new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if performance standards are not met. This means executives will no longer be able to take home eye-watering bonuses where companies fail to meet standards on environmental performance, financial resilience, customer outcomes or criminal liability.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - 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 impact of climate change on the availability of British agricultural produce for UK and overseas markets.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We celebrate the amazing job food businesses do in feeding the nation. The UK Food Security Report is a triannual statistical report required under the Agriculture Act 2020. The most recent report, published December 2024, assessed that the UK produces 62% of all the food we need and 75% of the food we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year.
Food production faces pressing risks from climate change and nature loss, as assessed in the Government’s Third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3). Strengthening food security by supporting our farmers and food producers is a top priority for this Government. Defra is taking action to reduce climate change impacts, for example through the third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3), which includes a range of measures for the agri-food system.
The government works with the Met Office Hadley Centre’s Food Farming and Natural Environment (FFNE) service on food supply resilience research in relation to climate change and adaptation measures.
The Government’s Land Use Consultation asked about the support that land managers, including farmers, would need to plan for climate change. Responses to this consultation will inform the Land Use Framework that will be published later this year.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 12 May (HL7055), which sites are being considered for the potential ten new reservoirs; and on what timescale they intend that the new reservoirs should become operational.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The following new reservoir sites (with a capacity above 10 million litres per day) have been identified in water company’s latest statutory water resources management plans, with their capacity and expected completion date provided in the table below.
Reservoirs | Water company | Daily supply (Ml/d) | Start year |
Broad Oak | South East Water | 12.6 | 2033 |
Cheddar 2 | South West Water | 13 | 2035 |
Fens | Anglian Water, Cambridge Water | 87 | 2036 |
Mendips Quarry | South West Water | 46 | 2042 |
River Adur offline reservoir | Southern Water | 19.5 | 2045 |
South East Strategic Resource Option | Thames Water, Affinity Water, Southern Water | 293 | 2039 |
South Lincs | Anglian Water | 166.5 | 2040 |
North Suffolk | Essex and Suffolk Water | 19.9 | 2040 |
West Midlands | Severn Trent Water | 32.5 | 2040 |
In addition to the nine sites above, work is already underway on Portsmouth Water’s Havant Thicket reservoir, as set out in the company’s WRMP19. This will supply an expected 21 Ml/d, with a latest forecast completion date of 2031-32.
The one reservoir enlargement is set out below.
Reservoir enlargement | Water company | Daily supply (Ml/d) | Start year |
Tittesworth | Severn Trent Water | 14 | 2049 |
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to protect peatlands.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of England’s peatlands and committed in our manifesto to expanding nature-rich habitats including bogs. We have ambitions to restore hundreds of thousands of hectares of peatland across the country.
Defra is currently seeking views on proposed changes to The Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021, which would provide protection to a broader area of upland peat. A public consultation was launched on 31 March and will close on 25 May, the results of which will be used to inform future policy in this area.
We are also looking at next steps regarding measures to ban horticultural peat and will continue to work alongside the horticultural sector to accelerate progress on the peat free transition.