Bycatch Risk Prioritisation Framework

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Tuesday 21st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a very important point. We have to work with the industry if we are going to resolve this, because we need a balance between sustainable fishing and supporting the industry, while ensuring that we do not have bycatch that causes huge problems to some of our most threatened marine species. He makes a good point regarding nets. I know there has been work done on what nets are made of, what they look like, the size of the holes and all sorts of things like that. That work is ongoing and I am happy to keep him up to date with it.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that we need more patrolling and monitoring of our inshore waters and exclusive economic zone, and that perhaps it would be a good idea to actually have some more ships and a slightly larger Navy?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I would never want to disagree with my noble friend about the requirement for more ships.

Global Biodiversity Loss and National Security

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 23rd February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

First, I congratulate the noble Baroness on a significant birthday this weekend. Secondly, as she knows, I am a great supporter of horticulture; I have recently been speaking to the Farming Minister about it and will continue to do so.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, 40% of our food comes from abroad. Should there be a World War III, the Royal Navy would be responsible, as in the past, for ensuring that that flow of food continued. Does my noble friend the Minister agree that we really need to get some haste in building the new frigates and getting a rolling programme going to ensure that we have security of our food supply?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I am starting to get a bit alarmed about the number of questions referring to World War III, but the noble Lord is right: food security is of critical importance. I am sure that right across every department we will do everything we can to ensure that, should World War III come anytime soon, we will have good food security in our country.

Musical Instrument Certificates

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 20th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I am sure that if, the noble Baroness would like that to be part of the consultation, it could be taken into account. However, others may well have mentioned it already.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

Does my noble friend the Minister agree that hedgehogs, rather like frigates, are an endangered species, and that there is a need to look at some positive action by the Government to help protect our hedgehogs in this country?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I am always impressed by the way in which my noble friend manages to get some sort of shipping into every question, no matter what the topic. Hedgehogs are endangered—we know that there is a problem there—but whether they are related to musical instruments is another question.

Reservoirs: Protection from Contamination

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I asked about that earlier today, because it is important that we understand it. My understanding is that there has not been such an incident, but that does not mean that we should be complacent. We know that our water and energy infrastructure are both potentially vulnerable to hostile attacks.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, if I could correct my noble friend, because she is probably not aware of it, in 2008 there was an attempt by eight al-Qaeda operatives to poison north London water supplies. I am pleased to say that our agencies worked brilliantly to stop it happening. As a result, in the Home Office we put in hand a whole series of work on police response times, indicators of where the outflows from reservoirs went and new barriers. Where has all that work gone? These things somehow seem to disappear. There should be some reports, and hopefully someone did something about it.

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

That is extremely interesting and very helpful of my noble friend. I will certainly look into it, because it is an important point. Clearly, the department did such an excellent job when there was a potential attack that it has never been picked up. However, if he would ever like to take over the Defra brief, I would be very happy to swap with him.

Farming: 25-year Road Map

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

As I said, food production, diversification and improvements in the environment are the three central pillars of the road map that we are developing—we are extremely keen to ensure that diversification is part of it. One problem that many farmers have faced in the past is not being able to get through the planning applications that are so critical to diversification. Again, that is something that we are looking at as part of our reform of the planning system.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend the Minister will be aware that over 60% of the food we have here comes over the water to this country. Bearing in mind that we are about to have a national security strategy and a strategic defence review, can she confirm that Defra has been very involved with putting into this review the fact that we are an island nation and so need to ensure that we have security of the water over which all of this food passes?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

Food security is not just about what we grow in this country; it is also about what we import. We can never grow everything that we need, so having security of the waters is critical. I am certain that the noble Lord would support any work that Defra is doing to ensure that we have that security. Border Force does a lot of work as well, which is critical.

UK Fishers: EU Agreement

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 31st March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The difficulty with negotiating for fisheries in the UK is that it is such a diverse industry. For example, fishers in Scotland will have very different needs from fishers in Cornwall—from those who may be catching crabs and lobsters to those who are after cod and pollock. It is a very complex area. The outcomes report on sustainability of fishing stocks, for example, is an extremely complex read—if anybody fancies it, I can provide them with a copy. But I completely take the noble Lord’s point, which is why we are very keen to work with industry to properly understand what it would like to see in the future.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

Does my noble friend the Minister believe that we have sufficient ships looking after our territorial seas and our exclusive economic zone—fishery and the things on the seabed—or does she believe, looking at the SDR, that we should get an increase?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I am not certain that we would ever have enough ships for my noble friend to be satisfied.

Storm Bert

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Tuesday 26th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

That is an interesting question. All I can say, for my part and that of people I know locally, is that in the last 20 to 25 years, since the flood warning system was set up and made available to communities, we have taken the warnings extremely seriously. It is important that we have these systems set up in order that they can help people in advance. If that did not happen this time, that is something we need to look at.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, are the emergency services getting involved at all with voluntary organisations such as the Maritime Volunteer Service, which has a mass of inflatables, boats, people trained to work on water and bases all over the country, and could assist in these sorts of times after the event has happened?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

That has happened in the past, in my experience. When we had the floods in Cumbria, the maritime organisations certainly came together to provide support. For example, the RNLI and Maryport Rescue came in and played an incredibly important role with inflatable boats. They went into cities such as Carlisle, rescuing and supporting people. In Cumbria, mountain rescue is entirely voluntary based. However, we need to be careful not to start totally relying on volunteers. Our emergency services play a very important role, as do the voluntary groups, but we must not take them for granted. It is important that the work they do is recognised and properly supported.

Met Office: 2023 Temperatures

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Tuesday 6th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

My noble friend will be aware that the Government have committed north of £5 billion for flooding and coastal erosion. We are now half way through that programme. I will write to my noble friend specifically about the Norfolk coast.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, does that Minister agree that, with the need to cut emissions and the growth in the amount of power that our nation requires, there is a real need to speed up the provision of nuclear power to ensure that we have green energy?

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

I entirely agree with the noble Lord.

Orphan Sites: Hazardous Waste

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 4th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

Contaminated land is a very broad term. It relates to land that poses no risk to the environment or to public health right through to really toxic, unpleasant substances such as parts of fridges which, if burned, can release cyanide. It is rightly the job of the local authority, working with the Environment Agency, to make sure that, where there is a problem, it is cleared up. We have had a system in place since 2018 seeking to do that and, in certain circumstances, the Environment Agency can go in and do the work itself. It is important that we work with the best possible science and evidence, and that we take action where we need to do so.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister tell us about another type of waste—radioactive waste—and how the geological disposal facility is moving ahead? Is it moving ahead as we hoped it would? What sort of timescales does it have?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

The noble Lord is asking about an issue that is not in my knowledge. I will therefore write to him on the matter.

Climate Change

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

No, I am terribly sorry, but I am afraid that I cannot.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, the rise in sea level means that there will be more sea. Does not the Minister agree that this is yet another reason why the Royal Navy might need more ships to patrol it?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

That is a spectacular intervention on this subject. Interestingly, at the height of the Trump presidency, the Pentagon put out a piece of work where it referred to climate change as the “threat multiplier”. The nexus between the security implications of climate change and the environmental ones is absolutely fundamental to what we are trying to achieve. We are going to see a much more dangerous world, unless we can tackle these precise issues.