Environmental Policies: Timeliness and Effectiveness

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Lord Benyon

Monday 22nd January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I think we can. We have put more resources into our agencies, particularly Natural England. We have a sense of complete determination to hit this, which comes from Ministers and goes down to the Natural England or Environment Agency individual who is dealing with a particular group of farmers. But for all the resources that we could put into government, we would fail if we doubled them. What is important is that we weaponise land managers and people who really know about this on the ground. That is why clusters of farmers working together—for example, in environmental farming groups—are the way forward to deliver an increase in abundance of species and protection of nature, which is not just an environmental or societal matter. It is an economic one as well, as the Dasgupta report proved.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

How is the programme going to provide shore power in our ports and harbours so that visiting ships do not have to run their diesel generators?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

That is a very good question from the noble Lord. I should always come armed with a list of marine shipping questions. I have not, but I will make sure that he gets an answer to that in due course.

Orphan Sites: Hazardous Waste

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Lord Benyon

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

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Lord Benyon

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.

Lindisfarne Highly Protected Marine Conservation Area

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Lord Benyon

Tuesday 28th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

When Michael Gove was the Secretary of State, he asked me to chair a panel of scientists and others to look at whether we should have highly protected marine areas as part of our suite of marine protections. The conclusion of the embarrassingly named Benyon review was that we should, and that it was vital to do this—but we had to do it in the right way. We recommended that five pilot sites be created, and that we should consult and learn from the lessons of not only this but the implementation of the Marine and Coastal Access Act about a decade ago, when we came across the same problem with what were then called reference areas. We will now take forward at least two further sites as part of the pilot project, so the noble Baroness will be reassured that we will have at least five pilot sites, and then we will continue to grow this. I could extol the virtues of highly protected marine areas exhaustively, but I cannot in the time allowed to me in this Question.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, are the Government concerned about the very large supertrawlers —foreign owned, very often—that are now starting to fish particularly off the west coast of the United Kingdom?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

Trawler activity on our seabeds is often incompatible with marine conservation. We want to make sure that while we are helping our fishing industry prosper in the new world in which we live, we are also mindful that what legitimate British fishing interests on these islands want is a rising biomass. That requires us to have marine conservation running alongside productive fisheries. The actions of some international vessels coming into our waters is of course of concern when they are breaking the rules, and we have available very strict enforcement policies.

Scotland: Bottle Deposit Return Scheme

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Lord Benyon

Monday 27th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I think all of us will feel great sympathy for the noble Baroness in trying to defend what her party is doing as part of a coalition of abject failure. She talks about business; I can only quote what business says:

“Tens of thousands of businesses who produce, can, bottle, distribute, or sell alcoholic or soft drinks in Scotland now have less than a year to successfully adapt their operations, without the necessary knowledge or levers in place.”


It is not the principle of a deposit return scheme—I suspect some of us are old enough to remember the thruppenny bit—but how it is implemented. That, I am afraid to say, is right at the heart of the problem at Holyrood.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

Can the Minister tell us what will happen on His Majesty’s warships in relation to beverages? Not that we have many warships, so it is not too big a problem—but will it apply or not?

Food Security: Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Lord Benyon

Tuesday 17th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

My noble friend raises an important issue that I will look into and contact him about. While this country imports a very small amount of grain from Ukraine and Russia, we have more in terms of oils. That is one of the reasons we are working with the World Bank: to make sure that countries that depend on imports from Ukraine are supported. I will certainly get back to him on the other point.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, the insurance of shipping often depends on its protection. Does the Minister believe that the fact that we currently have 12 frigates and will soon have only nine does anything to help protect the global shipping that is so important for our country and many nations?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I am always amazed by and respectful of the noble Lord’s ability to get naval matters into almost any Question. He is right that this is a matter of global security and not just about what Britain does. It is about what we do with our allies to support the free movement of goods around the world. There has been huge investment in the Royal Navy, which I am sure he is really pleased about, but we want to see that continue.

Fishing: France

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Lord Benyon

Monday 1st November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

The Government have sought to support the fishing industry through the difficult period of transition and are currently pushing roughly £100 million out of the door to support it, including, where possible, by moving it to sustainable systems of fishing. What we have here is a triangular issue between the UK, the Commission and the Channel Islands. It is a complex situation. We are sticking to the rules and we are absolutely clear about what we want to achieve to support our fishermen, and to deal with a problem that the EU has to reflect on as well.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, for some 450 years the Royal Navy Fishery Protection Squadron looked after our fishermen in UK waters and on the high seas, and generally did so keeping well below the political radar, without great spats between nations. The squadron is now down to three or four ships. Does the Minister believe that is sufficient to do the job asked of it? I do not and if he agrees, what does he think should be done about that?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I am lucky to have been out with the Fishery Protection Squadron when I was at Defra. It is the oldest squadron in the Royal Navy, and I have huge admiration for the job that the Royal Navy has done. However, it is only part of our measures to protect our fisheries, which include using aerial assets and satellite information. If the noble Lord were to go to the ops room of the Marine Management Organisation in Newcastle, he would see a real-time policing operation using state-of-the-art data collection, which is also very important to resolving this issue.