Plastic Pollution
Lord Watts Excerpts(3 days, 20 hours ago)
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Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, I very much welcome the Government’s approach of seeking international agreement. There seems to me no point in us pursuing something on our own and showing leadership if no one is following.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for that comment. If we are genuinely to make real progress in reducing the amount of plastic pollution, including the tiny microplastics that we are finding everywhere, we have to work globally and with countries such as Saudi Arabia that we need to bring on board if we are to make a real difference.
Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023
Lord Watts Excerpts(2 weeks, 3 days ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I am aware of what the noble Lord is talking about regarding deforestation. I have been working with Minister Creagh from the other place on this and we are looking at the best way to take it forward.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister tell us whether the civil servants working on this and other issues have timeframes for these decisions? It seems to me that they should know how long it will take to conduct some sort of investigation and come forward with policies, so that the House will have some idea of when things are going to change.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
The Civil Service animal welfare team in Defra is extremely committed and works incredibly hard. This is a very broad area, with many areas of animal welfare that we are working on at the same time. This is something that we want to deliver on. I know the team is working very hard with both industry and stakeholders to look at the best way to bring legislation forward.
Farmers: Competitiveness
Lord Watts Excerpts(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
We have pledged £5 billion towards farming over the next few years, which will be spent through our environmental land management schemes. We are currently working to reform SFI to allow us to align it with our work on the land use framework and the 25-year farming road map. That is designed to protect the most productive land and boost food security while at the same time delivering for nature. We have published the update of a £30 million boost to HLS that recognises and rewards the vital role played by farmers in restoring habitats. We are also looking at how we can work with the farming sector in order to target those who would most benefit from future payment systems.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, has the Minister noticed that the Opposition seem to be obsessed with millionaire farmers? Is it not about time that they worried more about families in poverty? They call for more resources for farmers, but have they indicated where that resource is going to come from? They used to accuse us of having a money tree, but I think they have found an orchard.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
My noble friend raises some interesting questions. It is clearly important that we target our resources and funding on those who are most in need. That is one of the reasons why the delinked payments are reduced the most for those who have the most and the least for those who need more time to make the changes.
Water Bills
Lord Watts Excerpts(8 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
It is important that every water company does everything it can to support vulnerable customers. Like all businesses, some are better than others. We are working with water companies to try to ensure that they all come up to the same high standards that we expect. We know that some companies have committed to supplement support with contributions from shareholders’ profits between 2025 and 2030. Ideally, it would be good if all companies were prepared to do that.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, given the failure of the regulator to control these water companies, is it not about time that we had a new regulator that would look after the public?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
This takes me right back to the Water (Special Measures) Bill, where this was discussed in some depth. The simple answer to my noble friend is that this is something that the water commission, which is making good progress under Sir Jon Cunliffe, will look at and will be central to the outcome for the future of the water industry, because there is great dissatisfaction with the way in which the water regulator has managed things in the past. Certainly, that is something that will be central to the water commission’s investigations.
Budget: Implications for Farming Communities
Lord Watts Excerpts(10 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
There are two things here. People are looking just at the first £1 million and not at the opportunity for individuals to pass further tax reliefs on, of up to £2 million for one individual and £3 million for a couple. Also, there has been confusion around the data given out by Defra and the Treasury. The Treasury data shows that around 500 estates a year across the UK would be impacted to some extent and about 25% of the total number of estates currently making use of APR. What the Defra data shows is the asset value of farms in England so, by looking at that data, people have assumed that more farms would be impacted. But you cannot draw a straight line between asset value and what it means for inheritance tax, because the number of claims—how many people would be impacted by the change—is affected by many things, such as who owns the business, the nature of the ownership, how many owners there are, how they plan their affairs, and so on; this is where you have some of the confusion.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, can I congratulate the Minister and the Government on ending this unfair treatment of farmers? This is not about farmers; it is about landowners. As we know, millionaire landowners have been buying up land to avoid taxes, and it is about time the Government caught up with them.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
My Lords, I appreciate the concerns that farmers have. I think they should look accurately at the figures. My noble friend makes an important point that some large landowners have been using the APR relief as a tax loophole.
Waste: Incineration
Lord Watts Excerpts(10 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
Unfortunately, I am not nerdy, so I am unable to answer the noble Lord’s question, but I am sure that we can get back to him in writing.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, some people do not like nuclear power and will not support it, and some do not seem to like any sort of generated energy proposals. But, after 13 years of neglect, it is right that the Government take a view that they will look to reduce pollution in the environment but also keep the lights on.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
My noble friend is absolutely right. It is critical that we drive forward our energy policy as a matter of urgency. The last thing we want is not only to have power cuts and insufficient energy but to become too reliant on other countries for our energy all the time. We need to manage our own energy in this country, build the kinds of energy plants we want, work on CCC and nuclear and invest in the future for our long-term energy security.
Water Companies: Licence Conditions
Lord Watts Excerpts(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
I absolutely assure the noble Baroness and the House that that is the case. I was not aware of the issue that she outlined around the outbreak of eczema. I am not sure if that is related to the water, but I can certainly look into that matter for her. The Environment Agency spends a great deal of time on this, and it is one of the issues that we can be really proud of. We get an unbelievably good service provided in terms of clean water that goes into every household across this country for a very modest price.
Lord Watts (Lab)
Why do the Government allow these water companies to retain profits when there is so much need for investment and given their poor performance and the way that they are polluting our rivers and seas?
Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
The noble Lord perhaps needs to refresh his memory on exactly what a private company is and how that works. When you make an investment into a public company, like a water company, you expect to get some return on that investment, and it is only right and proper that everybody does. We are talking about pension funds as well as individuals.
Sewage Pollution: Lakes and Rivers
Lord Watts Excerpts(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
I will certainly commit to taking the noble Baroness’s suggestion back to the department.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, have not the regulator and Ministers allowed the water companies to rip off the general public for the last 13 years? Can the Minister guarantee that no water company will be nationalised, and that they will wait for them to be bankrupt and then take them into public ownership?
Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
My Lords, the Government are committed to a system of independent economic regulation and have no plans to bring the water companies into public ownership. Since privatisation, the private water sector model has unlocked around £215 billion of investment and delivered a wide range of benefits, including a fivefold decrease in supply interruptions to customers and a reduction in leakages by one third.
Fur: Import and Sale
Lord Watts Excerpts(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
The noble Baroness is absolutely right about the numbers there. As I said earlier, I do not have an exact date for that response, but I am pressing for it to come out as soon as possible.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, what are the arguments for not banning fur products coming into the country? It does not seem to me that there is any important reason why we should not ban them. I think the vast majority of the public would support that move. What arguments are the Government putting forward for not banning them?
Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)
I thank the noble Lord for his question. I am not in a position to go into that level of detail right now, so I will write to him.
Disposable and Reusable Nappies
Lord Watts Excerpts(2 years, 2 months ago)
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Lord Benyon (Con)
The noble Lord will not be surprised that I do not know that figure. I know that the impact of carbon on the environment has dropped considerably since the last life cycle assessment in 2008. That is welcome and we want to see more of it, but we also want to make sure that all our policies on plastics are feeding through to this area of waste management, and that we are tackling the issue of where the products come from, which is entirely right.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister say how much we have spent on the wet wipes survey? It seems a complete waste of time. I would like to know how much money his department has spent on this useless exercise.
Lord Benyon (Con)
I cannot tell the noble Lord how much we have spent, but if he is criticising my department for asking the people who use these products, those who manufacture them and those who are seeking to create alternative ones that are more environmentally friendly, I do not accept that. It is important that we engage. I do not think we should consult on everything all the time, and sometimes we are rightly criticised for doing too much consultation, but we want to get this right.