Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of creating national fire safety (a) standards and (b) regulations for battery energy storage sites to help support (i) fire and rescue services and (ii) local authorities to conduct risk assessments.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government agrees with the need to have robust measures in place to manage the risks associated with facilities that use large numbers of lithium-ion batteries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates grid-scale lithium-ion batteries within a robust regulatory framework which requires Battery Energy and Storage Systems (BESS) designers, installers, and operators to take the necessary measures throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation and decommissioning to ensure its health and safety.
Defra is considering further options, including environmental permitting, for managing the environmental and public health risks from fires at BESS sites.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to develop UK-specific regulations for (a) fire suppression systems, (b) ventilation and (c) emergency response procedures for battery energy storage system facilities.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government agrees with the need to have robust measures in place to manage the risks associated with facilities that use large numbers of lithium-ion batteries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates grid-scale lithium-ion batteries within a robust regulatory framework which requires Battery Energy and Storage Systems (BESS) designers, installers, and operators to take the necessary measures throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation and decommissioning to ensure its health and safety.
Defra is considering further options, including environmental permitting, for managing the environmental and public health risks from fires at BESS sites.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to (a) develop and (b) adopt UK-specific fire safety regulations for battery energy storage systems.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government agrees with the need to have robust measures in place to manage the risks associated with facilities that use large numbers of lithium-ion batteries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates grid-scale lithium-ion batteries within a robust regulatory framework which requires Battery Energy and Storage Systems (BESS) designers, installers, and operators to take the necessary measures throughout all stages of the system’s construction, operation and decommissioning to ensure its health and safety.
Defra is considering further options, including environmental permitting, for managing the environmental and public health risks from fires at BESS sites.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he made an assessment of the adequacy of the Rural England Prosperity Fund before reducing the level of funding to be provided through that scheme in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.
The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the government spending review.