South West Water: Brixham Contamination

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Wednesday 22nd May 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Douglas-Miller) (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. We have debated a number of times the issue of special measures, and I think I have been clear in the House every time I have stood at the Dispatch Box that the Government will use special measures when the criteria for them are met. I accept that that is quite a high bar, but there are a number of other options for all those water companies that they should fully explore before the Government will consider putting them into special measures.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, the first television news on the Brixham infection indicated that contamination was contained to those already infected. The next day’s bulletin retracted that statement, telling viewers that the area of contamination had widened. Bottled water was available to some, but not all, living in that area. As the source was known to be a reservoir contaminated by animal faeces, why was action not taken sooner to alert people to the dangers of drinking their tap water and to provide everyone with bottled water?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I am always nervous of taking as fact what I read in the papers or listen to on the news. I have spent the morning speaking to the chief inspector of the Drinking Water Inspectorate and he is not able to tell me what the noble Baroness has told me. I am just guessing that he might have slightly better access to that information. It is dangerous to say with that level of assertion that that is what has happened, because it is not what I am hearing. It is a live investigation and I cannot go into the details of what I have been told. I can say that South West Water has been handing out bottled water and in many cases over the last week it has been prioritising priority service customers and vulnerable sites. It has opened three bottled water stations, at Broadsands car park, Freshwater Quarry car park and Churston car boot field. It is supporting both vulnerable areas and local residents with bottled water.

Water Companies: Failure

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Tuesday 21st May 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her very comprehensive plan and look forward to talking to her in detail. In the meantime, I assure her that the Government and Ofwat, the financial regulator of the water sector, carefully monitor the situation. Ofwat continues to engage with Thames Water to support it in improving its resilience within the context of its licence and broader statutory obligations. Fundamentally, it is the companies’ responsibility to continue to raise capital, and they should continue to explore this while fulfilling their statutory obligations of providing water and wastewater services to their customers.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, the noble Lord referred to the statutory instrument that sets out the action to be taken when water companies are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, which was debated on 19 February and subsequently passed in the Chamber. The mechanisms are there, so why are the Government havering over implementation and allowing inadequate management of this vital asset to degenerate on a daily basis?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

My Lords, there is a high bar for the imposition of a special administration regime. A variety of options remain available to Thames Water in securing additional finance and it is vital that all of them are fully explored. The Government are prepared for a range of scenarios across our regulated sectors. If it becomes clear that any company will become insolvent or can no longer fulfil its statutory duties, we will not hesitate to use our powers to request the court to place it into special administration.

Fly-tipping

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

The noble Baroness raises the issue that the previous noble Lord also raised. It is extremely difficult, by the very nature of the activity, to police it 100%. In his Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, the Prime Minister made it clear that councils should take a tougher approach to enforcement and make greater use of the fixed penalties available to them. We have also taken steps to encourage councils to issue more of these penalties by increasing transparency on their use, through the publication of annual enforcement league tables. Councils must also now invest the income from this in enforcement activity and clean-up.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, there has been discussion around the introduction of digital waste tracking by April 2025. This would make a huge difference to the amount of waste produced and dumped, and help to keep the countryside clear of waste pollutants. When is the SI covering digital waste tracking likely to be brought forward?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right about digital waste tracking, because it will reduce the ability of waste criminals to hide evidence of the mishandling of waste and will make it easier for authorities to identify waste dropping out of the system, which might indicate illegal activity, such as fly-tipping. Digital waste tracking records will be required when private waste management companies collect household waste. This should enable householders to check whether their waste has been disposed of properly. We are working towards the digital waste tracking service becoming mandatory from April 2025. Prior to the service being mandatory, there will be a period of public use when the service will be available for all to use on a voluntary basis.

Sewage Pollution: Lakes and Rivers

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Tuesday 30th April 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

The noble Duke has a profound knowledge of this issue, so I will bow to that on this occasion. I commit to speaking to the Environment Agency on this issue and will take that point forward.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, there should be a general principle of transparency and openness where water companies are concerned. A tribunal recently overturned the ICO’s decision to support a water company’s attempt to withhold sewage flow data. It is unlikely that water companies will publish information unless forced to do so. Will the Minister change Ofwat’s strategic statement to make it clear that transparency—the routine publication of sewage data—is a condition of licensing?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I will certainly commit to taking the noble Baroness’s suggestion back to the department.

Fur: Import and Sale

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Monday 22nd April 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

My Lords, there is a good news story on this, because the volume of fur that is imported and exported has fallen by 50% in the past five years. In the action plan for animal welfare, Defra committed to explore potential action in relation to the import of fur from abroad. The call for evidence that Defra published in 2021 was a key step in delivering that commitment. A summary of the replies received should be published in due course; in the meantime, we are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade. We have also commissioned a report from our expert Animal Welfare Committee, which I mentioned earlier, on what constitutes responsible sourcing in the fur industry. This report will support our understanding of the fur industry and help to inform our next steps.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, the import of fur is unnecessary. The killing of Canadian bears for their pelts is still used to make bearskin headgear for the Grenadier Guards at Buckingham Palace. These come at a minimum cost of £650 each. The MoD orders between 50 and 100 bearskins each year. In 2020, the MoD stated that the quality of alternative material did not match natural fur. Surely, the Minister would agree that it is time for this unnecessary practice to be discontinued without delay.

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

My Lords, the wearing of bearskins by the Guards division is a matter for the Ministry of Defence. We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform the future of the fur trade, and we will continue to share this evidence with other government departments, including the Ministry of Defence.

Food Security

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Tuesday 26th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I thank my noble friend and entirely agree with her on the issue of supporting our farmers and congratulating them on the work they do. I quite accept the premise that a significant change is going on in the agricultural sector. It was clearly signalled when we transitioned away from the common agricultural policy and focused farming on delivering both food production and environmental goals through ELMS. It is entirely understandable that farmers have concerns about this transition, as it requires them to reappraise how they use the entirety of their land. We are guiding and supporting farmers with new technology, new science and improved productivity to not only produce and maintain high quality food but to enrich our soil, reduce pollution and help reverse biodiversity loss.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My noble Lords, the food security report identifies climate change and biodiversity loss as the greatest threat to UK food security. Therefore, will the Government’s upcoming Farm to Fork summit include representatives from environmental organisations working on climate change and biodiversity?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. As she will know, the upcoming Farm to Fork summit is the second one we have held, and the National Farmers’ Union requested that we implement this as an annual event. I forget the exact statistics but at the last one, over 70 representatives from the wider industry, across the entire supply chain, were in attendance, along with food producers from across the whole UK. The intention is to grow that at our next summit, which is in the spring.

Land Use Framework

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Tuesday 12th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, how are the Government approaching the design of financial and policy levers to encourage decision-makers at all spatial scales to reach decisions which are broadly in line with delivering national targets and policies?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

Sorry, I did not actually hear the question.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

How are the Government approaching the design of financial and policy levers to encourage decision-makers at all spatial scales to reach decisions which are broadly in line with delivering national targets and policies?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. I caught most of it, but perhaps I might write to her in due course with the answer once I have caught the whole thing.

Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2023

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Tuesday 27th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his introduction and the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, for her very thorough introduction to this regret amendment. I am grateful to her for the chance to debate the issue in more detail. I refer to my interests as set out in the register.

The Government carried out consultations in 2020, when there were 4,516 responses, with 98% of respondents expressing support. Further consultations were carried out from 20 June to 18 July 2023, when there were 643 responses, mainly from those involved in looking after primates, animal welfare charities, individuals who were known to already keep primates as pets and members of the public. On this occasion, 97% of respondents were in favour. The regulations will come into force on 6 April 2026. Given the high level of support from the consultations for these measures, why are the Government not implementing them sooner than April 2026? Is this due to the guidance not being published until the spring of 2024, to which local authorities, as the EM says,

“will be required to have due regard”?

I would like some clarification from the Minister, please. The noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, has referred to the lack of guidance.

The regulations are due to be administered by local authorities, which will inspect and grant licences, either by a veterinarian or by another suitably qualified and competent person. Nearly all Members have referred to this. Given that the Government do not really know just how many primates are being kept by private keepers, I am slightly alarmed at the impact on local authorities.

Paragraph 12.1 of the EM says that there will be

“no … impact on business, charities or voluntary bodies”.

However, it also says:

“There are between 1000 and 5000 primates being held as pets … and the majority of these are held by private keepers”.


For the benefit of the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, that information is in the Explanatory Memorandum. There is a world of difference between 1,000 and 5,000. This is a huge number of very sensitive animals potentially being held in inappropriate circumstances, with the Government not having even an approximation of how many there are, let alone a precise number. Does the Minister believe that there are sufficient veterinary and other professionals capable of dealing with the numbers and complexities of the licensing regimes being proposed? The noble Lord, Lord Trees, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, have referred to this.

Primates currently comprise 502 extant species, which are grouped into 81 genera. These range from gorillas, orang-utangs, chimpanzees and baboons down to aye-ayes, loris and lemurs. Each is very different, requiring different treatment, diets and housing. The actual instrument gives extremely detailed restrictions and conditions on how primates are to be kept. This makes it obvious that the keeping of a primate by a private individual is difficult, if not impossible—quite rightly so.

Most primates are very social animals and need the company of others of their species. If not allowed to roam free in the countries of their origin, they should be kept in licensed zoos, whether private or open to the public. Only in these circumstances can we be sure that the stringent provisions of this SI will be enacted and that primates will be able to enjoy a life as close as possible to that which they would have enjoyed in the wild. The noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, has made reference to this.

The RSPCA is concerned that insufficient thought is being given to what will happen to the animals belonging to those primate keepers who do not receive a licence to continue to keep their pet. As has already been said, there are not innumerable spaces in animal welfare organisations or primate sanctuaries to manage the resulting flow of primates following the implementation of the SI. How are the Government going to ensure the welfare of these primates, which they have indicated should be kept in zoo-level standards?

I turn now to the issue of fees. Regulation 13 states that a local authority may

“(a) charge a fee in respect of any application relating to a primate licence under this Part; (b) charge a fee in respect of any inspection which it must or may arrange under this Part”.

This gives the impression that local authorities are free to set their own fees. That is good, but we could end up with dozens of different sets of fees up and down the country. There is also likely to be a different set of fees depending on the size and number of primates involved. While I welcome that local government itself will determine what the fee will be to cover its costs, some sort of yardstick would be useful. It is unlikely that local authorities will have veterinarians on their payroll, so they will have to buy in the services of the relevant qualified person both to inspect to grant the licence in the first place and to carry out routine inspections in the future to ensure that the terms of the licence are being adhered to. The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, referred to this. No one in this Chamber is under any illusion about the state of local government finance. With populations increasing and social care under pressure, to be asking local authorities to take on yet more duties without providing the finance to cover them is unacceptable.

The instrument also has a section on rectification notices, and allows two years for steps to be taken to comply with licence conditions. This is far too long for a primate to be kept in conditions that do not comply with the licence granted. The noble Lord, Lord de Clifford, has referred to this. This might relate to poor diet or lack of space or stimulation, or it might relate to public safety. Does the Minister agree that the time for compliance for the rectification notice should be much shorter than two years?

I fear that I do not agree with others about a grandfather clause and allowing animals to stay with their keepers until the end of their life. This is a long time to be living in great misery.

Finally—others have referred to this point—paragraph 39 of Schedule 1, dealing with restraint, states:

“No primate may be handled or restrained except … insofar as … it is necessary for the purposes of an exhibition activity.”


Paragraph 42 says:

“No primate may be transported unless … it is necessary for the purposes of an exhibition activity”.


This gives the impression that a primate may be transported for the purposes of performing in front of others, and the public. Can the Minister say what is meant by

“for the purposes of an exhibition”

because, as written, it is extremely worrying? The noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, raised this, as did the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes.

I remain concerned that, unless these measures are implemented quickly, some primates will live in unsuitable conditions, without the company of their fellows, and be miserable as a result. Although it is not perfect, I support the general thrust of this SI.

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I thank all noble Lords for their valuable contributions to the debate. I have listened carefully to the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, in support of her amendment, and to other contributions in today’s debate, and I have been struck by our shared commitment to act to improve the welfare of privately kept primates. It is important that we do act.

We introduced this SI in response to a call for evidence and consultation exercises that confirmed the extensive mistreatment of privately kept primates. Some of this evidence was, frankly, horrible and highlighted primates being kept in poor conditions, in small enclosures or birdcages, and suffering from fractures or misshapen bones. It is absolutely right that the Government take action to address primate welfare in non-zoo settings.

It has been encouraging to note that the strong response to the consultation exercises has been to welcome the Government’s decision to put a licensing scheme in place for the keeping of primates to address their specialised needs. It has also been encouraging today to note support from across the House for our objective of improving primate welfare. I am grateful to the noble Baroness for giving me the opportunity to state clearly the Government’s view. I recognise her and other noble Lords’ concerns and will seek to address them now.

The amendment suggests that the SI does not ban the keeping of primates as pets. I have explained in my opening remarks that that is essentially incorrect. The vast majority of animals kept as pets in this country do not need to comply with the kinds of licensing conditions contained in this SI. This is not semantics. Primates have particular welfare needs that cannot be met by keeping them as household pets, and this SI seeks to end that practice. Those currently keeping primates in birdcages and in other wholly inappropriate conditions will no longer be able to do so. Only those people keeping or wishing to keep primates who can demonstrate compliance with the licensing conditions and welfare standards to the satisfaction of enforcement authorities will be able to keep primates privately. These conditions are stringent and are the kinds of measures that would not apply to household pets.

The noble Baroness’s amendment also regrets the absence of a grandfather clause, as was raised by a number of other noble Lords, and advocates government policies to support rehoming. Given the evidence that we have about mistreatment of primates, the Government do not believe that continuing to allow private primate keepers to retain primates in poor conditions is the best thing for these animals. Future rehoming and surrender arrangements are very important concerns, of course, but the Government do not believe that the answer is to allow suffering animals to be kept as they are. Instead, this SI provides a two-year period before the requirements come into force to provide keepers time to comply with the requirements. Until we license, we will not know the scale of primate keeping, but I can assure the House that we will continue to work closely with rescue and rehoming charities to monitor the impact of the SI on rehoming activity, and to respond accordingly to evidence.

The noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, asked whether we might consider keeping a register of primate specialists. I shall certainly take that suggestion back to the department. I can confirm that this legislation applies only to England. If you have a criminal conviction for animal welfare issues, you will not be eligible for a primate licence.

The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, and others asked about the licensing conditions that must be met. The primate licence will be issued only to those who can meet the welfare standards set out in the regulation. Those standards are akin to the standards that licensed zoos must meet and include requirements such as microchipping, local authority inspections and record-keeping. They also include minimum welfare requirements, such as emergency arrangements and requirements regarding care and maintenance, nutrition and feeding, physical health, environment, behaviour, handling and restraint, transport, and breeding.

Peatlands

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Thursday 22nd February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

My Lords, we need to give the horticultural industry some time to adapt. I assure the noble Baroness that the Government are committed to banning peat in horticulture. The reason we have not got there yet is primarily down to parliamentary time. I hope that we will be able to address that issue very shortly.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, 95% of respondents to the Government’s 2022 consultation supported a legal ban on retail sales. Retailers, including B&Q, Tesco, the Co-op, the Royal Horticultural Society and Dobbies, have ended the sale of peat in bags of growing media. The horticultural industry requires clarity. When will it get it?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

As I said in answer to the previous question, the Government are committed to this ban, and it will be in place by 2030.

Environment Agency: Flood Defence Expenditure

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Tuesday 20th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

The Government continue to invest in flood and coastal defence maintenance, with an extra £22 million per year for the current spending review period. Furthermore, £25 million from the capital programme has been reallocated to maintenance this year. In 2022-23, the Environment Agency spent more than £200 million maintaining flood risk assets across the country. Across the country we have about 90,000 flood risk assets which are checked annually by the Environment Agency.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, internal drainage boards provide essential services to areas that are habitually flooded. Currently, they are funded through district council tax. This is already stretching budgets, as IDB levies were increased by 18% last year. The Government have provided £3 million on a short-term basis. A more secure long-term solution is needed. Can the Minister say when this will be forthcoming?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

Just today at the NFU conference, the Prime Minister announced new funding packages available to drainage boards across the country.

Food Import Requirements

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Wednesday 14th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for his question. The Government take the issue of food security extremely seriously, and we are absolutely committed to producing high-quality British food for British consumers. Getting the balance right between what we produce through our SFI programme—or our ELMS programme, I should probably say—is a fine judgment between getting the environmental and biodiversity improvements we all want to see, and producing food for the country.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, with beef and pork exports to the EU down by more than 20%, and the import of apples down 16.8% and oranges down 18.2%, what steps are the Minister and his Defra colleagues taking to ensure that, first, British farmers are not going out of business, and, secondly, supplies of essential foods are protected for the British consumer?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. As I say, the Government are completely committed to domestic food production. I do not see that the introduction of the BTOM system has any bearing on what we import or export into or out of the UK.

Sea Fisheries (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) (Amendment) Regulations 2024

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Tuesday 13th February 2024 Grand Committee

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Douglas-Miller) (Con)]

My Lords, these regulations were laid in draft before this House on 12 December 2023.

The purpose of this instrument is to make provision to ensure that the United Kingdom, as a member of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, henceforth referred to as ICCAT, can continue to meet the full range of its international obligations in relation to the convention which governs ICCAT. The UK has an obligation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to co-operate on the management of shared fish stocks, including through appropriate regional or sub-regional organisations. ICCAT is one such example. It is responsible for ensuring that fisheries for tunas and tuna-like species, such as swordfish, in the Atlantic Ocean are managed sustainably. The UK became an independent contracting party to the convention—in other words, a member of ICCAT—on 1 January 2021, after depositing an instrument of accession following EU exit.

As a member of ICCAT, the UK must ensure that we are able to implement and enforce binding measures, known as recommendations, which are agreed by contracting parties under the convention. The UK must ensure that our domestic laws fulfil these international obligations. This instrument updates and amends various regulations of retained EU law to implement recommendations adopted by the commission immediately prior to and since the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. Where appropriate, this instrument also makes amendments to reflect the UK’s status as an independent coastal state.

I will now go through each element of the regulation in turn to briefly explain the amendments being made to retained EU law. Regulation 2 of the instrument removes provisions from Council Regulation 1936/2001, which laid down control measures applicable to fishing for certain stocks of highly migratory fish. It also included provisions that regulated the farming of bluefin tuna. The UK, however, does not farm bluefin tuna. These provisions have therefore been removed as they are not relevant to the UK.

Regulation 3 amends Council Regulation 1984/2003. It now correctly reflects the convention’s requirement for a statistical document to accompany imports of swordfish and bigeye tuna into the UK. Other amendments are made for clarity and to ensure that the amended provisions are enforceable. For example, amendments to the description of fish captured no longer reference the 1984 version of the EU’s combined nomenclature. They are instead replaced with references to the UK commodity codes used in the UK’s customs tariff.

Regulation 4 of this instrument updates Regulation EU 640/2010 to mandate the use of an electronic catch documentation system for bluefin tuna, replacing the use of clerical documents. Further amendments are made to ensure that the new requirements are clear and enforceable, as well as outlining the limited circumstances in which a paper catch document may be used instead of the electronic system.

Regulation 4 also amends the descriptions of fish captured within Regulation EU 640/2010. These descriptions have been updated with references to the commodity codes found in the UK’s customs tariff. This amendment makes the description of fish clear and ensures that the regulation is enforceable.

Regulation 5 removes provisions in Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2015/98, which established derogations from landing obligations in order to fulfil ICCAT requirements. Instead, these provisions are covered in Regulation EU 2016/162. Removing these provisions from Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2015/98 avoids duplication and provides clarity.

Regulation 6 of this instrument amends Regulation EU 2016/1627, which implemented ICCAT’s multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Since the recovery plan was introduced, I am pleased to say that stocks of bluefin tuna have improved significantly. The recovery plan has now been replaced with a multiannual management plan. Regulation 6 therefore comprehensively amends Regulation EU 2016/1627 to ensure that it correctly reflects the UK’s obligations under ICCAT in relation to the management plan and the UK’s catch quota.

A multiannual recovery plan was also developed for the management of swordfish in the Mediterranean. The EU gave effect to the recovery plan under Regulation EU 2019/1154, which was retained in our domestic legislation at the point of EU exit. However, as these provisions relate to swordfish in the Mediterranean, Regulation 7 of this instrument revokes the substantive provisions of Regulation EU 2019/1154 as they are not relevant to the UK.

Regulation EU 2019/1241 sets technical measures for the conservation of fisheries resources and the protection of marine ecosystems. Regulation 8 of this instrument amends Regulation EU 2019/1241 to insert minimum conservation reference sizes for bluefin tuna specified under the convention. By making this amendment, all minimum conservation reference sizes will be specified within one regulation rather than contained in different pieces of retained EU law, ensuring clarity within our domestic legislation.

In addition to amending retained EU law, Regulation 9 of this instrument amends the Common Fisheries Policy and Aquaculture Regulations 2019 to remove references to obsolete legislation. Specifically, amendments have been made to remove provisions relating to retained EU law; they have been removed and replaced with Regulation EU 2017/2107, which lays down management conservation and control measures within the conservation area of ICCAT.

The devolved Administrations are supportive of the amendments made in this instrument, ensuring that the UK can continue to meet in full its obligations as an independent contracting party to the ICCAT convention. If this instrument is not passed, the UK will not only fail to meet its international obligations under the convention; by not implementing enforceable management and traceability systems, we risk undermining efforts made over the past 17 years to ensure the sustainable management of Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks.

I hope that I have reassured all noble Lords on the purposes and aims of this statutory instrument, ensuring the continued sustainable management of this important fishery. For the reasons I have set out, I commend the regulations to the Committee. I thank noble Lords for their attention and remain at their disposal for any questions or discussion on this matter.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his introduction to this statutory instrument, which covers the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, known as the convention.

While a member of the EU, the UK had no quota for tuna and tuna-like species. However, following Brexit, we are entitled to a quota as tuna stocks have apparently improved. The SI makes changes to retained EU law in eight previous sets of regulations, including the Common Fisheries Policy and Aquaculture (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. That is quite a lot of change and I am grateful to the Minister for going through each of the eight sets of regulations.

Paragraph 7.2 of this instrument’s Explanatory Memorandum explains how the UK has acquired a quota for bluefin tuna

“as an independent contracting party … in line with the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement”.

From hereon in I shall refer to “BFT” because, as noble Lords can hear, I am getting tongue-tied in saying “bluefin tuna”. Despite not stating what the quota is, the EM indicates how the requirements will apply to UK fishing vessels catching BFT in the convention area; this includes the

“offence, penalty, and enforcement provisions”,

which

“have been added directly to relevant retained EU law to avoid … ambiguity as to whether existing enforcement provisions would apply to the newly amended provisions”.

A read through the government website’s guidance gives information about the size and length of the vessels, as well as the bait, to be used for catching BFT. It also gives detailed information about how such catch can and cannot be landed, including returning undersized live tuna to the sea, recording all catch and keeping on board dead catch for which there is no authorisation for landing.

However, it is not exactly crystal-clear. According to the government website, but not the EM, the BFT quota allocated in 2023 was 65 tonnes—an increase on the quotas for 2021 and 2022. The UK is to use 39 tonnes of that quota to trial a new, small-scale commercial fishery to see whether it will benefit UK fishers. Assuming that the 2024 quota remains the same as the 2023 one—65 tonnes—this leaves 26 tonnes of BFT to be distributed between a possible 10 available licensed authorisations. I am neither a commercial fisher nor a recreational one, but it seems to me that potentially receiving only just over 2 tonnes of the BFT quota will not be sufficient for many, especially in the commercial sector. I note that the regulations prohibit farming and the use of traps in UK waters or by UK vessels in the convention area for BFT. This is a good thing if enforced.

Water Pollution

Debate between Lord Douglas-Miller and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Tuesday 16th January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for her kind words, which are greatly appreciated. We will be implementing Schedule 3 to the water management Act, as previously announced. I hope that that addresses my noble friend’s question.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome the Minister to his first outing at the Dispatch Box. It is clear from whistleblower evidence in the recent BBC “Panorama” investigation into water pollution that water companies can and do cheat the operator self-monitoring test by manipulating flows at failing sewage works. This ensures that there is no flow to sample when the official tester arrives. Will the Government concede that trusting companies that are financially motivated to cover up failing works to avoid penalties from Ofwat to carry out their own testing is not an effective regulatory system? Will they commit to putting robust independent regulation in place to ensure sewage works’ compliance?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

Water companies, including United Utilities, have always been required to report pollution incidents and breaches of their permits to the Environment Agency. The agency also monitors and inspects water company sites independently. It has significantly driven up monitoring and transparency from water companies in recent years. Any reports of misreporting are a concern and, if there is evidence, the Environment Agency will always take action, including pursuing and prosecuting companies that are deliberately obstructive.