UK Water Companies: Chinese Financial Influence
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(2Â weeks, 3Â days ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
My noble friend makes an important point. We have to ensure that not just water companies but any industry that is critical to our national infrastructure and our national security is fully accountable. We absolutely must look at that.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, the question of ownership is not the only security question that we should consider. There are reports that Iranians carried out a cyber attack on dozens of water plants in the United States at the same time as they attacked an electricity generator in this country. I refer to my interest as chair of the National Preparedness Commission. What assurance does my noble friend the Minister have that the security of the physical arrangements is sufficient to deal with those sorts of cyber attacks? Incidentally, the Chinese are also very capable of such attacks; it is not just the Iranians.
Forest-Risk Commodities
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(7Â months ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I am sure the noble Baroness is aware that the Government are working alongside farmers and environmental organisations on our farming road map, “Farming 2050, Growing England’s Future”, in order to set the course of farming over 25 years. We need a long-term vision for farming and food security, and this road map will be designed to get there, because ultimately, we need to deliver our food security alongside our environmental objectives.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, this is surely part of a much wider problem concerning the line of sight that businesses in this country have over their supply chains and supply lines. That applies to forests and to modern slavery, but it also applies generally in all sorts of ways—I declare my interest as chair of the National Preparedness Commission—to the sources and sustainability of the products on which we rely. This is not just about food security; it is also about ensuring that businesses know what their supply lines are and where they are from. What are we doing as a nation to make it easier for businesses to understand their supply chains?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
My noble friend asks a really important question. We announced a review of the UK’s approach to responsible business conduct as part of the UK trade strategy, and that is exploring the UK’s effectiveness in preventing human rights harms, labour rights harms and environmental harms in supply chains. That is how we are looking to support businesses and give them access to the kind of information my noble friend talks about.
Reservoirs: Protection from Contamination
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(1Â year, 3Â months ago)
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Lord Harris of Haringey
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the protections in place to prevent reservoirs being contaminated by malicious state actors or others with hostile intent.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
I refer to my interest in the register as chair of the National Preparedness Commission and beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Baroness Hayman of Ullock) (Lab)
My Lords, the Government’s first duty is to protect our national security and keep our country safe. Defra recognises that the drinking water supply is a potential target for hostile actors. It works with water companies and partners across government to understand and monitor threats to water supply and to consider responses as appropriate to protect the security of our water system.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for that reply. As she knows, yesterday’s strategic defence review talked a lot about hostile actors sabotaging critical infrastructure. I wonder whether my noble friend’s department is being a tad complacent in talking simply about monitoring the threat rather than looking at what practical arrangements can be made. For example, how do we deal with a drone which is flown over a reservoir and deposits something in there? The panic effects of that being known to have happened and not necessarily knowing what the substance is would be enormous. Is my noble friend able to tell us what further steps are going to be taken to address this, perhaps with a little more urgency given yesterday’s defence review?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I refer my noble friend to a lot of the cross-government work that is taking place regarding security and state threats. Tackling the diverse range of state threats—not just drones but many other threats—requires a cross-government and cross-society response. We need to draw on the skills, the resources and the remits of different departments and operational partners. In Defra, we work closely to look at the threats and the appropriate levels of response, specifically drawing on expert advice from the National Protective Security Authority, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Home Office, as well as carrying out threat assessment with policing partners.
Food Security
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(1Â year, 10Â months ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
My Lords, clearly it is important that we have good nutrition for our children, which is why we have worked with schools around breakfast clubs, for example, because it is very important that children receive nutrition, especially at a young age. This is something we are working with the Department of Health and Social Care on. One of the important things this Government are doing is working much more across departmental policy areas in order to ensure that we get the kinds of results that support the policy areas the noble Baroness referred to.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, the Minister has talked about food security and we have heard a number of issues raised about different challenges to it—there are in fact a huge number. My noble friend Lord Browne talked about the weaponisation of food supplies. We know about disruptions to transport and about climate interruptions. Is not strange, therefore, that the national risk register put forward by the previous Government barely mentions food security, except in the context of contamination. Can my noble friend the Minister tell us whether this will be looked at, so the potential threats to food security in this country are looked at in the round, to coin a phrase?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
Absolutely; my noble friend makes an important point. We look at overall household food security. In the financial year ending 2022, some 7% of households in the UK were considered to be food insecure. The Family Resources Survey 2022-23 found that the proportion of food-secure households decreased from 92% in 2019-20 to 90% in 2022-23. So this is something we do look at in the round.
Storm Bert: National Preparedness
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(1Â year, 10Â months ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
The answer is twofold. First, what do we need to do to reduce the likelihood of surface flooding? A lot of the nature-based solutions that we have been bringing in and discussing in the water Bill will help towards that. Climate change is having a serious impact, so we need to review the effectiveness of how we are working and have a long-term model. We have set up the new flood resilience forum, which will look across the board to consider floods that have taken place and how we can react better in future.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, I refer to my interest as chair of the National Preparedness Commission. Given the need to mitigate surface water problems in all sorts of areas, what consideration is being given to tightening up the planning guidelines, which at the moment make it very easy for people to pave over what would otherwise be grassed areas or areas where there could be natural drainage?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
This is a really important question. We have a planning Bill coming up, during the passage of which, as I understand it, we can look at this issue. As a Government, we have committed to ensuring that when we build, we build more high-quality, better-designed, sustainable homes, because we need to ensure that our built areas increase climate resilience and promote nature recovery. We have the National Planning Policy Framework, which has been consulted on, and that will inform better planning and sustainable growth for our built environment.
Peatlands
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(2Â years, 7Â months ago)
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Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
The noble Lord is absolutely right on his statistics and the danger that conifers pose to peat. I do not have the details available here now, but I commit to write to him on that subject.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, the Minister said that one of mitigations is that the fire service would be on standby. I have always thought that the nature of the fire service is that it is always on standby. What assessment have the Government done in the light of my noble friend’s Question to ensure that the fire service resources are going to be adequate, given the increasing likelihood of wildfires of various sorts, the El Niño effect and, of course, climate change?
Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
I thank the noble Lord for his interesting question. The Government have taken a number of initiatives in preventing wildfire, and that is the start point from which we work. We are in communication with the fire service on a permanent basis relating to this. Obviously, when the risk is elevated, we are in constant communication with it to make sure that it is available for that activity.
Brexit: Food Imports
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(7Â years, 7Â months ago)
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Lord Gardiner of Kimble
My Lords, obviously, we need to be ready in this case for transit goods— which I take it is the subject of the Question—and the 6,000 additional checks. Imports will have to be pre-notified. Work is well advanced with importers and agents. It is clear that those items that would not be inspected within the EU must be inspected and checked at UK points of entry. That is precisely what we have been working on and the Border Delivery Group has insisted on it.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, I understand that Ministers have taken a decision to instruct those operating at the border to prioritise flow and throughput over all other considerations for all goods. What assessment has been made of the risk posed by that to public safety and what assessment have the Government made of the consequences of that decision and those recommendations for those operating at the border?
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
My Lords, I do not identify with that. Biosecurity and human health are paramount. That is why the Food Standards Agency was very clear about there being no need on day one for additional controls for goods coming in the EU —precisely because the same EU standards are required and will continue. The point of the additional checks that will be undertaken is to ensure that our food is safe. As I said, the port health authorities have said that they have adequate facilities to enable that to happen.
Animal Products: Labelling and Packaging
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(8Â years, 4Â months ago)
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Lord Gardiner of Kimble
My Lords, as I said, we understand the concern of consumers. That is why, as part of a general labelling review, we will consider the opportunities in this regard.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, I declare my interests in the register on this matter. In his Answer to the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, the Minister talked about the role of trading standards. The noble Baroness, Lady Browning, raised the issue of animal feed, which is also largely monitored by trading standards. Can he tell us by what proportion the budgets of trading standards departments have been cut in the past seven years—spoiler alert, it is more than 50%—and can he further tell us how many statutory requirements trading standards are now expected to enforce with that much reduced workforce?
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
My Lords, as the noble Lord rather anticipated, I understand the figures he raises but I do not have the precise figures in front of me. Trading standards departments are undertaking a very effective job, and I could give him examples of a number of recent prosecutions where they have ensured that their job is done extremely effectively. That is to enforce product safety and prevent fraud such as mislabelling of food, and they are doing an effective job.
Brexit: Environmental Enforcement Agency
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(8Â years, 8Â months ago)
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Lord Gardiner of Kimble
My Lords, it was in the Conservative manifesto that we wish to have CCTV in all slaughterhouses for all parts of their operations involving live animals. We will bring forward proposals for that because it is an important part of enhancing animal welfare. It will also assure consumers that animals are being treated in a humane manner at the point of dispatch. I look forward to introducing those legislative proposals.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister tell the House to whom this new agency will be accountable? Will it be accountable to government Ministers, whom it might criticise, or will it be accountable to Parliament?
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
My Lords, the whole basis of having a consultation is not to prejudge anything. I assure your Lordships that this is serious work on a serious subject in which, yes, government and public bodies need to be held to account. There could be a range of ways in which that can be secured. A number of your Lordships have mentioned fines, but it could be through the provision of advice or annual reports to Parliament. I do not want to rule anything in or out because we are having a genuine consultation.
Inshore Fisheries
Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts(9Â years, 2Â months ago)
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