King’s Speech

Baroness Hayman of Ullock Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Baroness Hayman of Ullock) (Lab)]

My Lords, what a great pleasure it is to conclude today’s debate. I thank His Majesty for his gracious Speech and all noble Lords for their participation and insightful questions. It is also good to see the noble Lord, Lord Roborough, and the noble Baroness, Lady Swinburne, in their places. I also thank many noble Lords for their warm welcomes to me and my noble friend Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to this debate.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, for his fantastic maiden speech. He did himself proud and we look forward to his many further contributions in this House.

We have discussed themes around energy, the environment and housing—matters which are critical to people’s everyday experiences, their homes and the immediate and real world around them, wherever they may live. This Government recognise the opportunity we have to shape the policy landscape in these areas to bring about tangible change to improve outcomes and, ultimately, the quality of people’s lives. We have covered some specific challenges during this debate, but I am also pleased that there has been much support for and interest in our proposed legislation.

I cannot respond to every noble Lord who has spoken, but I will do my best to cover what I can in the time available and will of course write to noble Lords if I am unable to answer their questions today. I shall first speak to the debate on energy. The Government will work with the private sector to double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind by 2030. We will invest in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and marine energy to ensure we have the long-term energy storage that our country needs.

Our Great British Energy Bill will establish a new, publicly owned energy company and play a key role in our plan to boost energy security, create new jobs and decarbonise the power sector. It will accelerate the deployment of renewables, reducing the UK’s exposure to volatile global fossil fuel prices, and drive forward our ambition to make Britain a clean energy superpower. There have been a number of questions on this. My noble friend Lady Liddell of Coatdyke spoke about the opportunities that Great British Energy can bring and about CCS—I will very much welcome being pestered by her in the future.

The noble Lord, Lord Roborough, the noble Baroness, Lady Swinburne, and others asked for further information about Great British Energy. The cost to the taxpayer of its set-up and investments will be carefully managed and monitored through Parliament, and investments will be subject to safeguards and risk assessments, similar to established public finance institutions. Specific arrangements will be announced in due course. There will also be incentives for energy investment without penalising the consumer, and renewables will continue to be supported through the contracts for difference scheme.

I assure the noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, that the energy independence Bill has not been shelved. Legislation relating to our energy independence will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.

The noble Lord, Lord Lilley, asked about subsidies. In contrast to government subsidies, Great British Energy will make revenue-generating investments, which as well as helping to drive our clean power mission will deliver a financial return to UK taxpayers.

The second of the Government’s five missions is to become a clean energy superpower, so it is important that we invest in renewables. We believe that clean power by 2030 is achievable and should be prioritised. Every fraction of a degree by which we can limit global warming will reduce the severity of climate impacts.

I assure the noble Baroness, Lady Bloomfield, that this Government fully support the nuclear industry, and assure the noble Lord, Lord Ravensdale, that I understand his concerns around infrastructure development, as for many years I worked on the connections into Hinkley Point C.

The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, asked about energy from waste. We are going to create a road map to a circular economy, supporting sustainable economic growth by driving up resource efficiency and reducing our emissions and waste. As part of that, we will consider the role of waste incineration and the threat and opportunity it poses for circularity, economic growth and net zero.

Before I turn to the environment, I reiterate the Government’s commitment to animal welfare, which a number of noble Lords asked about. I am sure noble Lords know that animal welfare is a cause very close to my heart, and the Government are going to deliver the most ambitious programme of animal welfare for a generation. I look forward to delivering on the animal welfare commitments in our manifesto, as part of a wider programme of improvements in this area. We are developing plans to enable us to tackle the horrendous crimes of puppy smuggling and puppy farming, to close loopholes on trail hunting and to ban snares and the import of hunting trophies. Not all our ambitions in this area require legislation; we can drive forward significant improvements in animal welfare and species conservation by other means. The noble Lord, Lord Colgrain, specifically mentioned livestock worrying, and we completely recognise the distress of this. I would be happy to discuss that with him further.

On the subject of the environment, we are committed to the 13 legally binding environmental targets set out under the Environment Act 2021, covering air quality, water, biodiversity, resource efficiency and waste reduction, tree and woodland cover and marine protected areas. We will work to make the environmental improvement plan fit for purpose, ensuring that there is a clear delivery path to make progress in these critical areas so that we can start to see results.

We have heard loud and clear that change is needed on water. We have heard how water companies have pumped record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas, failing both customers and the environment. We are also aware of the outrage at the amount of money paid out in bonuses to sewage company executives. Water company bosses should not be rewarded for constantly polluting our waterways, and we will not tolerate poor performance. Our water special measures Bill will turn around the performance of water companies and ensure that they and their executives are held firmly to account when their activities harm the environment and are not in line with customer interests. The Bill will strengthen regulation to ensure that water bosses face personal criminal liability for law-breaking and will introduce new powers to bring automatic and severe fines. The Bill will also give the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met.

There is a lack of public trust in the water industry. We need to strengthen public protection by enabling Ofwat to set a code of conduct for water companies to boost accountability for water executives, so that customers can also summon board members and hold executives to account. We have also already published a Written Statement on water, if noble Lords would like to look that up.

Noble Lords have mentioned that the Bill that we are going to introduce only scratches the surface and that there are many other fundamental issues with the water industry that need addressing. I just want to assure noble Lords that, following the initial Bill, the Government will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform our water industry to restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health. I look forward to working with noble Lords as we develop this further legislation.

On the point from the noble Duke, the Duke of Wellington, about monitoring, we will require water companies to install real-time monitors at every sewage outlet, with data independently scrutinised by the water regulators.

The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, asked about customer bills. There is no intention for customers to pay for the poor performance of water companies. The money for vital infrastructure investment will be ring-fenced and spent only on upgrades that benefit customers and the environment. Ofwat will ensure that where money for investment is not spent, companies will refund customers.

On farming, a number of people asked about agriculture and the fact that it was not mentioned in the King’s Speech. I was very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, for explaining his meeting with my honourable friend Daniel Zeichner MP. We are committed to supporting farmers and to the environmental land management scheme. We will confirm plans for the rollout and our wider approach as soon as possible.

My noble friend Lady Ritchie asked a number of questions around working with the Northern Ireland Government and organisations, and I am happy to discuss this with her further.

On bovine TB, our objective is to achieve bovine TB-free status in England. There is no simple way to do this; there is no simple tool to eradicate the disease in isolation. We will be setting out more detail in due course.

On land use, I confirm that we will introduce a land use framework. It will consider food security and how we can expand nature-rich habitats such as wetlands, peat bogs and forests.

The noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, asked about sustainable food production. We do not believe that the transition to more climate-friendly practices should come at the expense of food production. I am very happy to continue our previous discussions on this matter.

I turn to housing. The Government promised to put planning reform at the centre of our mission for government and to act decisively and quickly to support our commitment to 1.5 million homes over the new Parliament, to unlock clean energy and to further our wider growth mission. To noble Lords who have said that this is complicated and there are many departments involved in this, I would say that this is why we have a mission approach—in order to bring departments together to deliver for the country.

This Government were elected with a mandate to get Britain building again. We were also elected on a platform of doing so while protecting the environment. We are committed to delivering for nature and we will take urgent action to meet our Environment Act targets. We will accelerate housebuilding and infrastructure delivery using development to fund nature recovery. Our vision is for a better planning system, one that will unlock the housing and infrastructure that this country so urgently needs while improving outcomes for nature. We will work with nature conservation organisations and the development sector to make this vision a reality.

As noble Lords have heard from my noble friend, we have ended the 14-year ban on onshore wind in England. Now development applications for onshore wind will be treated in the same way as any other proposal for renewable energy. We have made it clear that we will consult on bringing large-scale projects into the nationally significant infrastructure project regime. Our planning and infrastructure Bill is to play a key role in unlocking a new scale of delivery for housing and infrastructure across the country. It will speed up the planning process for housing and streamline the delivery of major infrastructure projects. We will act in legislation only when we can confirm to Parliament that the steps that we are taking will deliver positive environmental outcomes. At a local level, this Bill will modernise planning committees and increase local planning authorities’ capacity to deliver an improved service.

Through our renters’ rights Bill we will deliver our manifesto commitment to transform the experience of private renting, levelling the playing field between landlords and tenants by providing renters with greater security, rights and protections. We will replace Section 21 no-fault evictions with a modern tenancy system and crack down on the minority of unscrupulous landlords who exploit, mistreat or discriminate against tenants. We will also act quickly to implement the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, providing home owners with greater rights, powers and protections over their homes. We will further reform the lease- hold system, enacting remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to leaseholder enfranchisement and the right to manage, tackling unregulated and unaffordable ground rents and removing the disproportionate and draconian threat of forfeiture as a means of ensuring compliance with a lease agreement. The Government will take steps to bring the feudal leasehold system to an end, reinvigorating commonhold through a comprehensive new legal framework and banning the sale of new lease- hold flats so that commonhold becomes the default tenure.

Through our English devolution Bill, we will recognise the vital role that local leaders play in our national mission to drive economic growth. We will also deliver the Government’s manifesto commitment to transfer power out of Westminster into our local communities and give them more control.

During the debate there have been a number of questions, mainly around housing. For example, my noble friend Lady Warwick and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford asked specifically about social housing. The Government have pledged to deliver 1.5 million homes in this Parliament. This new development will also allow us to deliver thousands of affordable homes, including more for social rent. We will support councils and housing associations to build their capacity to deliver homes and make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply.

A number of noble Lords referred to the renters’ rights Bill, and private renting was an issue of particular concern to many. The Government are determined to address the insecurity and injustice that far too many renters experience by fundamentally reforming the private rented sector and improving the quality of housing in it. The noble Lord, Lord Crisp, stressed the importance of quality and standards and their relation to health, which we take very seriously. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Etherton, asked about a level playing field between tenant and landlord. We want to deliver this decisively. We know that it is important to crack down on unscrupulous landlords, as I mentioned, and we are serious about doing this. We also want to end bad practices such as unfair rent increases and pitting renters against each other in bidding wars. In addition, there will be a new landlord ombudsman service with strong powers, and a private rented sector database will enhance transparency between landlords and tenants, help drive compliance and support amicable redress, reducing the need to go to court. My noble friends Lady Warwick and Lady Kennedy both have huge expertise in this area. They asked a number of very important questions, and I look forward to working with them as we move forward in this area of legislation.

Finally, my noble friend asked about the Vagrancy Act. We will deal with this as quickly as possible. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans asked about rural housing and support for rural communities, as did the noble Lord, Lord Harlech, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell. I assure noble Lords that, as someone who lives in a very rural part of Cumbria, I completely understand their concerns. We have rural communities at the heart of everything we do, as we do urban: this is designed for all communities to thrive, but I will of course be talking about rural matters right across other departments as part of my brief.

The planning experience, expertise and knowledge of the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, is invaluable. I certainly look forward to discussing this with him further, although I am not sure that I would want to be Planning Minister with him on my back all the time.

The noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market, asked about reforms to planning committees and local councils. We want to ensure that planning committees are fit for purpose—that is really important—that their local democratic oversight is focused on development which matters to local communities, and that local councillors and planning authorities are better equipped to do their job properly. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Mawson, for bringing his practical experience forward, which is, of course, of interest.

The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, asked about SUDS and the noble Baroness, Lady Hodgson of Abinger, asked about greywater. The Government fully support the use of blue-green infrastructure such as sustainable drainage systems and greywater recycling to manage surface water across existing and new communities.

The noble Baroness, Lady Miller, and the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, asked about the balance between development and the environment, and how you release land for development while protecting nature. Defra and the new Minister of Housing, Communities and Local Government will work closely together to ensure that new developments are resilient to climate change. The noble Lord asked about the draft leasehold and commonhold reform Bill and implementing the reforms; a number of provisions come into force on 24 July, two months after Royal Assent, and the implementation of the remainder of the reforms will require a programme of secondary legislation, so we will look at the timings on that.

I was asked about local councils and funding. We will complete a new burdens assessment to ensure that there is appropriate funding, but that will take a bit of time. I listened very carefully to the concerns of the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, around tax and local authorities. He really knows what he is talking about, so it is important for any Minister to listen carefully to what he says on this. We are committed to the new burdens assessment. I am sure that he will read it with interest, but perhaps my noble friends in the Ministry of Housing should pick those issues up with him in more detail.

A number of noble Lords mentioned nutrient neutrality. We intend to implement solutions to unlock the building of much-needed homes affected by nutrient neutrality without weakening environmental protections. We are working on that and will announce how we intend to deliver it in due course. We take it very seriously.

The noble Lord, Lord Lansley, asked about infra- structure levies. We are not looking to implement an infrastructure levy; instead, we intend to focus on reforming the existing system of developer contributions, aiming to ensure that development can continue to come forward while maximising the amount of affordable housing and infrastructure that can be provided. We will also publish the updated growth-focused National Planning Policy Framework by the end of July. The work that the noble Lord and his colleagues have done in Cambridge is very interesting, and I commend them for it.

This gracious Speech was important. We have set out our priorities for legislation that will reform and strengthen critical sectors, such as the water and rental industries, making them more accountable and sustainable in the future. I sincerely thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this constructive and insightful debate. Their perceptive contributions and dedication are important, as we move forward, to ensure that we have the best legislation that we can have. This Government are committed to uniting the country in our shared mission of national renewal. That will not happen overnight—we have debated some of those challenges today—but we are determined and serious about unlocking growth and delivering security, prosperity and justice for everyone in this country. We very much look forward to working with all noble Lords constructively and collaboratively to achieve these aims.

Debate adjourned until tomorrow.