Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made since the year 2000 of the need for new reservoirs in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra published its Plan for Water which set out the importance of ensuring a clean and plentiful water supply in England. The Plan sets out our commitment to a twin track approach to improving water supply resilience, with action to reduce water company leaks alongside investing in new supply infrastructure.
It is a duty on water companies to maintain, improve and extend their water supply networks, to account for future water needs, such as those for domestic and industrial users. Last year, regional water resources groups and water companies, consulted on their draft water resources plans. These statutory plans set out how each company will secure water supplies sustainably for at least the next 25 years. The draft water resources management plans contain proposals for multiple new water resources schemes by 2050, including nine new reservoirs.
Asked by: Lord Patten (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 adequacy of reservoirs in England and Wales in ensuring continuous water supplies to meet (1) domestic, and (2) industrial, demand.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra published its Plan for Water which set out the importance of ensuring a clean and plentiful water supply in England. The Plan sets out our commitment to a twin track approach to improving water supply resilience, with action to reduce water company leaks alongside investing in new supply infrastructure.
It is a duty on water companies to maintain, improve and extend their water supply networks, to account for future water needs, such as those for domestic and industrial users. Last year, regional water resources groups and water companies, consulted on their draft water resources plans. These statutory plans set out how each company will secure water supplies sustainably for at least the next 25 years. The draft water resources management plans contain proposals for multiple new water resources schemes by 2050, including nine new reservoirs.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many households in England are supplied with metered water; and what percentage of all households this represents.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There was a total of 24,009,150 household properties based on data reported by companies in England through their annual review of the Water Resources Management Plan for the year 2022/23.
Of this, the total number of metered household properties was 14,299,320 and a further 374,860 were metered household void properties.
As a result, for 2022/23 59.6% of household properties across English water companies were metered excluding void properties or 61.1% household properties were metered including void properties.
Note - a void household property is a household property that is connected to public water supply but not currently being billed by the water company as they have been classified as empty.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many households in England are supplied with private sources of water; and what percentage of all households this represents.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In England, in 2022, local authorities reported 34,904 private water supplies serving 956,429 people, approximately 1.7% of the population. These figures include commercial premises such as farms, bed and breakfast accommodation, hotels, sporting clubs, manufacturers and other businesses as well as shared supplies which could supply 2 properties or a hamlet. We do not have separate figures for domestic supplies to households and the figures only include private water supplies that local authorities are aware or have been made aware of. There is no requirement for private water supply owners or occupiers to report themselves to their local authority.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the otter population is growing or declining; and what assessment they have made of the current otter population level.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The results from the 2023 national otter surveys are expected to be published mid-2024.The results from the 2010 surveys show a varied picture: in England, the otter population was estimated at 2800 and probably increasing; in Scotland, the population was estimated at 8000 and possibly declining. Survey results from Wales in 2018 showed the population is in decline.
Asked by: Lord Patten (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 progress to prevent attacks on humans by dog breeds such as XL Bully in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is taking urgent action to bring forward a ban on American XL Bully dog types following a concerning rise in attacks and fatalities, which appear to be driven by this type of dog. We intend to have the legislation in place to deliver this by the end of the year.
In the meantime, we have been working hard with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to help prevent attacks by encouraging responsible dog ownership, to ensure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate and to make sure the full force of the law is applied across all breeds of dog.
Asked by: Lord Patten (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 adequacy of ground water levels to meet current needs in England; and whether such water levels have (1) decreased, or (2) increased, since 2000.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Environment Agency monitors groundwater levels across the country at thousands of locations and uses groundwater models designed to manage water resources, balancing the needs of both abstractors and the environment. Groundwater models provide current and future trends of water availability and are used to inform Abstraction Licencing Strategies used for local water resource management.
Over the past 20 years, groundwater levels in some areas have declined and in other areas increased. Over relatively short periods of time groundwater levels can vary significantly in response to environmental factors (particularly rainfall both in terms of overall quantity and timing) and due to changing abstraction pressures. It should be noted that groundwater levels in most locations were relatively high in the 2000s due to a period of high rainfall recharge which caused significant groundwater flooding in some areas and more recently have been relatively low due to prolonged dry weather.
The Environment Agency’s assessment shows that since 2017 the number of groundwater bodies with sustainable abstraction has increased from 72% to 73%.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the otter population in England is increasing or decreasing; and what steps they intend to take (1) to protect otter habitats, and (2) to reduce otter deaths on the road.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The latest National Survey for Otter in England (2009-2010) noted that the otter was increasing in most of England, with the possible exception of the very south-east where no signs were found in Kent and most of Sussex.
Otters are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. They are also listed as a species of principal importance under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Thirty-two sites have been notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for their otter interest. There are five Special Areas of Conservation sites for the species and 10 further Special Areas of Conservation where otters are a qualifying feature but are not the primary reason for designation.
Due to the level of legal protection afforded to the otter, any new road scheme which has the potential to impact on the species must provide mitigation or compensation measures to prevent road mortality. Mitigation measures include the provision of pipes under roads or otter ledges within culverts.
Asked by: Lord Patten (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 resilience of flood protection measures on the Somerset levels during the winter of 2022–23.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Somerset Levels and Moors are designed to flood and the moors store flood water when the rivers flowing through them overtop. The recent heavy rain has caused spillways on the Rivers Tone and Parrett to flow and there is now water stored on the moors. This water can only be pumped back into the rivers when river levels and tides allow. It will therefore never be possible to prevent some properties from flooding occasionally, especially those that are at or below sea level.
Since the flood event in 2013/14, £80 million has been invested in flood risk interventions, which will help the Environment Agency (EA), working with its partners, to reduce flood risk to properties and infrastructure. Interventions include road raising and new control structures to ensure access, dredging of the Rivers Parrett and Tone to ensure maximum conveyance, new flood alleviation schemes, more efficient deployment of temporary pumps at pumping stations, repairs to existing defences, and construction of new schemes. Further details of these interventions can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/somerset-levels-and-moors-reducing-the-risk-of-flooding/somerset-levels-and-moors-reducing-the-risk-of-flooding (copy attached to this answer).
Asset management is also an integral part of the EA’s incident response and recovery function. This includes proactive, preventative maintenance and replacement to ensure that flood risk management assets operate as and when required. During the current flood incident in this area, the EA has used drones to augment its on-the-ground inspections and check that all its assets are fit for purpose.
Asked by: Lord Patten (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 Lord Benyon on 26 September (HL2150), how many local authorities in England provide residual waste collections; and of this number, how many do so on a three weekly collection cycle.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All waste collection authorities in England (307) collect residual waste from households. According to latest WRAP data, there are 10 waste collection authorities in England where the predominant residual waste collection frequency is 3-weekly (meaning at least 50% of households receive this service).