Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of Natural England's resources to run the Nature Restoration Fund, as outlined in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working closely with Natural England and the wider Government to ensure appropriate resources are in place to administer the Nature Restoration Fund.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Nature Restoration Fund on the size of populations of (a) great crested newts, (b) bats, (c) dormice and (d) other protected species.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In December, we published a working paper on our proposal to establish a Nature Restoration Fund through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We have listened carefully to feedback from the working paper and engagement with the development industry, nature conservation organisations and other stakeholders in developing this legislation. We continue to engage stakeholders and will work with private providers and land managers, including district licensing scheme providers, to ensure competition and innovation in securing impactful and good value for money interventions.
We are committed to delivering a win-win for nature and the economy. An Environmental Delivery Plan can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures will outweigh the negative effects of development.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Nature Restoration Fund on district licensing schemes.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In December, we published a working paper on our proposal to establish a Nature Restoration Fund through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We have listened carefully to feedback from the working paper and engagement with the development industry, nature conservation organisations and other stakeholders in developing this legislation. We continue to engage stakeholders and will work with private providers and land managers, including district licensing scheme providers, to ensure competition and innovation in securing impactful and good value for money interventions.
We are committed to delivering a win-win for nature and the economy. An Environmental Delivery Plan can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures will outweigh the negative effects of development.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he had with (a) NGOs and (b) district licensing scheme providers other than Natural England on the potential impact of the inclusion of species in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on (i) protected species and (ii) farming revenues.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In December, we published a working paper on our proposal to establish a Nature Restoration Fund through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We have listened carefully to feedback from the working paper and engagement with the development industry, nature conservation organisations and other stakeholders in developing this legislation. We continue to engage stakeholders and will work with private providers and land managers, including district licensing scheme providers, to ensure competition and innovation in securing impactful and good value for money interventions.
We are committed to delivering a win-win for nature and the economy. An Environmental Delivery Plan can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures will outweigh the negative effects of development.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of climate change on water security.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies are required by law to publish a water resources management plan (WRMP) that sets out how they will provide secure public water supplies for a 25-year period (as a minimum). This includes a detailed assessment of the effect of climate change on water supply (and demand). Water companies have just published the latest WRMPs, and this assessment shows that, in England, the quantity of water needed to replace water that will be lost due to the impacts of climate change on water supplies by 2050 is 642 million litres per day. Water companies outline in WRMPs how they plan to manage water supplies to ensure that they are resilient to climate change and other factors such as improving resilience to droughts, population growth, business growth needs and protecting and improving the water environment. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs provides permission to publish the WRMPs, once he is satisfied the plans produced by water companies demonstrate a secure supply of water.
In addition, the Environment Agency’s National Framework for Water Resources published in March 2020, set out the strategic water needs for England up to 2050 and beyond. This included an assessment of the likely effect of climate change on water availability. The Framework sets out how water security will be maintained through actions such as halving leakage, reducing demand and developing new water supply infrastructure. A new framework will be released in late spring/early summer.
The most recent WRMPs (WRMP24) have been assessed by the Environment Agency and a summary published (A summary of England’s revised draft regional and water resources management plans - GOV.UK).
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to monitor and report on water usage by Small Modular Reactors.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Sustainable water usage is a crucial factor in the siting of any industry including small modular reactors, and for enabling a low carbon, secure energy infrastructure. The Environment Agency regulates water abstraction in England. The information provided therefore relates to England only.
Prospective operators of small modular reactors that plan to abstract water from inland or tidal waters are required, like any other operator, to apply to the Environment Agency for an abstraction licence (Apply for a water abstraction or impounding licence - GOV.UK).
The Environment Agency will assess whether the water catchment can support the proposed abstraction at the pre-application stage. If it determines that the catchment can support the abstraction, then it will issue a licence to the prospective operator, which will require monitoring and reporting of abstraction volumes. This data is used by its environmental planning teams in the strategic assessment of water resource availability.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of Small Modular Reactors on water security.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Sustainable water usage is a crucial factor in the siting of any industry including energy generation by small modular reactors. Cooling options for small modular reactors and their abstraction requirements are still under consideration by the industry and regulators including direct wet cooling.
Small modular reactors are one of the key industrial technologies being considered in the Environment Agency’s planning for water resource security. It has recently commissioned work to help improve the collaboration between the water and energy sectors and is advising the National Energy System Operator on environmental and water resource capacity and opportunities, as part of the development of the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of proposed plans to make it easier to build data centres on levels of water usage.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of the Government’s commitment to reduce the use of public water supply by 20% by 2037/38, Defra continues to work with the Department for Science Innovation and Technology, the Department for Business and Trade and the Environment Agency (EA) to determine how water efficiency and demand in data centres can be improved.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps to monitor the water usage of data centres built in AI Growth Zones.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of the Government’s commitment to reduce the use of public water supply by 20% by 2037/38, Defra continues to work with the Department for Science Innovation and Technology, the Department for Business and Trade and the Environment Agency (EA) to determine how water efficiency and demand in data centres can be improved.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2024 to Question 2947 on Water Companies: Accountability, when he expects the consumer water panels to be established.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For too long customers have not been at the heart of the objectives of water companies. This Government believes the interests of customers should be clearly represented and they should play a key role in holding water companies to account on their performance, which is why we have announced powerful new customer panels will be established.
Through the Water (Special Measures) Bill, for the first time in history, customers will get new powers to hold water company executives to account and companies will be required to include customers in decision making. Ofwat will monitor how companies implement this, and customer panels will be vital in delivering accountability and better customer outcomes.
An Ofwat statutory consultation in 2025 will finalise proposals, and further detail on when panels will be established will be set out in due course.