Air Quality (Legislative Functions) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Baroness Hayman of Ullock Excerpts

Wednesday 19th May 2021 Grand Committee

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

My Lords, as we have heard, this SI makes amendments to retained direct EU legislation relating to air quality under Section 8 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This is to ensure that it continues to operate effectively, as the Minister outlined. It is important to note that the corrections that are being made through restatement are necessary to clarify the retained direct EU law covered by the SI. The instrument is designed to ensure that the legislation operates properly.

As the Minister outlined in his helpful introduction, this SI will allow UK authorities to operate specific legislative functions in the UK to ensure that the regime of the retained direct EU law continues to function smoothly without the need for further primary legislation every time a change is required. The SI is specific and focused and, as the Minister said, does not make changes to substantive policy content. It is a technical set of regulations. If we look at the proposed amendment, however, it states that the “appropriate authority” could make regulations governing the release and transfer of emissions from diffuse point sources; but the purpose of the provision remains the same, which is to allow for the collection and provision of missing data.

As my noble friend Lord Whitty asked, which bodies in practice will be the appropriate authorities? It is not clear from this SI, and it is critical that we understand where responsibilities lie in the issue of air pollution, both in England and, as my noble friend mentioned, in the devolved Administrations, where that is appropriate. The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, also asked for more information in this area, including on the important question of what happens when there is a breach and who is responsible.

Having said all that, however, this SI is a classic case of Her Majesty’s Government having to correct a previous error. Paragraph 2.4 of the Explanatory Memorandum states that the amendments contained in the previous instrument

“did not operate as intended.”

We support these corrections, of course, by way of restatement, but we would like to draw attention yet again to the fact that this is not the first time that Defra has identified and then had to correct issues in the body of retained EU law. I know that many would say that teething problems are inevitable. But does the Minister agree that when errors happen over and over again and have to be corrected, no matter how minor they are, it undermines confidence in the integrity of the statute book?

As we have already noted, this SI is specific and focused. However, as others have noted, air pollution remains a major public health challenge. The Opposition will be looking very closely at this important issue during the passage of the Environment Bill, because we are concerned, as my noble friend Lord Whitty said, about the responsibilities of the appropriate authorities and the resources that will be supplied to them in order for them to carry out their jobs effectively and efficiently. We also have concerns on the issue of pesticides, which was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Randall of Uxbridge. The noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, raised the issue of transport emissions—again, critical for us to tackle if we are to resolve the issue of severe air pollution.

The Environment Bill will give us an opportunity to properly address and tackle the shocking levels of air pollution in parts of our country that lead to so much ill health, particularly among our young and vulnerable people—and sadly, on some occasions, to early death. I finish by welcoming the regulations and saying that I look forward to working constructively with the Minister and other noble Lords.