INSPIRE (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2020 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park]

That the Grand Committee do consider the INSPIRE (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

[The Minister of State, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park) (Con) [V]]

My Lords, noble Lords will be aware that the INSPIRE Regulations 2009 established a UK spatial data infrastructure by requiring common standards for spatial data held by public bodies as part of their public task and for the spatial data services used to make that data available for use and reuse. The origin of the UK INSPIRE regulations is an EU framework directive. The regulations have been in effect in the UK since 2009. The INSPIRE regulations established a UK spatial data using common standards for spatial data and spatial data services.

Spatial data, also and often referred to as geospatial data, is data that identifies the geographic location of features, boundaries and events. Spatial data means data about natural features such as rivers, elevation and marine, and constructed features such as roads, buildings and wind turbines, and events such as noise levels, air quality and industrial emissions. The use of common standards means that spatial data is interoperable and can be easily found and used and combined with other data. The rationale for the INSPIRE regulations is to improve environmental policy-making at all levels of government. The amendments to the INSPIRE regulations before your Lordships today are introduced purely to update two pieces of earlier EU exit regulations relating to the operation of INSPIRE. The update is to ensure that the UK spatial data infrastructure continues to be effective and operable after leaving the EU.

The first legislative update is to the INSPIRE (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 which were laid in this House on 12 December 2018. These brought the majority of the INSPIRE directive and its directly applicable implementing rules into legislation covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own INSPIRE regulations and made its own amending legislation in 2018. The second legislative update is to the Environment (Legislative Functions from Directives) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. Those brought the remainder of the INSPIRE directive into UK legislation. They were debated in this House on 17 July 2019 and made on 15 October 2019. The regulations concerning legislative functions transferred to the appropriate authority the functions of the European Commission in the EU INSPIRE directive and other directives. The functions transferred by those regulations in respect of INSPIRE are for the appropriate authority to make new sets of implementing rules and to revoke implementing rules that are no longer needed.

The SI debated today makes an amendment to the Environment (Legislative Functions from Directives) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. This amendment means that the SI must be debated under the affirmative procedure. The amendment made to the Environment (Legislative Functions from Directives) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 is to correct a reference to an EU implementing rule which was directly applicable and is no longer needed. The reference is replaced with a reference to a new implementing rule, Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1372, which was made in August 2019.

At the request of the Scottish Government, similar amendments are made to the INSPIRE (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2019. The amendments in the SI debated today are to incorporate into UK law new arrangements for monitoring and reporting on the use and implementation of the spatial data infrastructure established by the INSPIRE Regulations. There are no policy changes in these new arrangements, which are made to simplify monitoring and reporting of the use and implementation of the spatial data infrastructure and bring the UK legislation in line with that in the EU.

It was officials from my department who persuaded the Commission to introduce these new, simpler arrangements. During our membership, the UK was considered the leading member state on INSPIRE. The previous arrangements for reporting on implementation and use of the INSPIRE spatial data infrastructure had many faults. The report format was long and required an unnecessary level of detail which cost time and resources. Completed, the reports did not allow easy comparisons between member states’ efforts on INSPIRE, to ensure a level playing field.

The new system for reporting requires the Commission to compile and publish a “country fiche” assessment on how INSPIRE is being implemented and used in each member state. The “country fiche” highlights the progress on the various areas of INSPIRE implementation and presents an outlook of planned actions for INSPIRE implementation. It is a short, high-level assessment. Member states are then required to check their report at least once a year and update it where necessary.

Using the same system as our European neighbours to report on INSPIRE implementation after the UK has left the EU will mean that the UK can consider our efforts on our national spatial data infrastructure against those of our European neighbours. Environmental matters do not respect borders. By continuing to use the common standards of the INSPIRE spatial data infrastructure it will be easy for the UK to track and compare data from our neighbouring countries on, for example, marine matters and air quality.

This instrument makes a number of adjustments. Regulation 1 is the commencement and citation. Regulation 2 amends the new Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1372 on monitoring and reporting to incorporate it into UK law. Regulation 3 amends the INSPIRE (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 to update the reference to the new commission implementing decision. Regulation 4 amends the INSPIRE (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2019. Regulation 5 amends the Environment (Legislative Functions from Directives) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to update the reference to the new commission implementing decision. That legislation was debated in this House on 17 July and made on 15 October. The amendment made in Regulation 5 is to legislation that provides a function to legislate and means that the SI must be debated under the made-affirmative procedure. It has followed that process from the outset.

The SI was sent to the JCSI for pre-scrutiny and returned without comment. This SI does not change policy, so there was no statutory duty to consult on it. Defra officials have worked closely with colleagues in the devolved Administrations and have received their consent. In line with published guidance, there is no need to conduct an impact assessment for this instrument. This is also because there is no policy change. The territorial application of the SI is the UK, apart from Regulation 3, which applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Regulation 4, which applies to Scotland. There is only a positive impact on resources. Officials in Defra, the lead department for INSPIRE, are responsible for reporting on the use and implementation of the SDI, which is simplified. This instrument is purely to ensure that the UK INSPIRE regulations provide an operable legal framework going forward. There are no policy changes.

I beg to move.

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[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

I thank noble Lords who have contributed to this debate. Having left the EU, it is essential that we have operable legislation in place to allow UK spatial data infrastructure established by the INSPIRE directive to continue.

My noble friend Lord Naseby asked what difference there was between our approach and that in Scotland. Scotland’s legislation mirrors that for E, W and NI, so there is no other difference. As I mentioned, there are regular meetings between Defra and all stakeholders in the devolved Administrations. He also asked about costs. There is no cost to being in INSPIRE, although Defra has spent £3.5 million on new burdens. He asked whether we have contacted all normal stakeholders. Absolutely—Defra has been engaging widely with all appropriate and obvious stakeholders.

I am afraid I did not catch the question from the noble Lord, Lord Bhatia. My noble friend Lady McIntosh asked about the Environment Agency. The Environment Agency makes all flooding data available for free. She asked about the purpose of this change. The use case for INSPIRE is principally about environmental reporting. Beyond that, we are aware of some local authorities, particularly Manchester, using INSPIRE data for planning. The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, asked a similar question, so I refer her to that answer.

The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, also asked whether the data would be easy to access. All data has metadata on a catalogue published on data.gov.uk. That will include a link to the data, so it should be very easy to access. She asked about the impact on small business. There should be no impact at all on small business. We know that some small and medium-sized businesses provide some INSPIRE services. To respond to one of her additional questions, charities are not required to collect data. It is important to make the point that INSPIRE provides a framework; it does not require the collection of new data. All data comes from public authorities and relates to public tasks.

The noble Baroness, Lady Jones, asked why a previous iteration of the SI had been withdrawn in June 2020 and re-laid on 15 June, shortly after. The SI laid in early June 2020 contained two references to 31 March 2020 in new Article 9, inserted by Regulation 2. Having this date in the SI breached the prohibition on retrospectivity, as contained in Section 8 of the EU withdrawal Act. We could not require publication of the report before the commencement date of the regulations. To answer her question, this was a drafting error on our part, which the statutory instrument registrar confirmed we could not correct by way of a correction slip. He advised withdrawing the SI and laying an amended version with the new date of 31 March 2021 instead, which we did. The amended SI was re-laid on 15 June 2020 and it is the one we are debating. There were no policy reasons why the statutory instrument was withdrawn and re-laid. It was purely as a result of that drafting error.

I hope that I have covered most if not all of the questions raised. If there are any that I have left off, I will gladly write to noble Lords with answers. I hope that noble Lords fully understand and accept the need for these regulations. As I outlined, the SI updates earlier amendments made to UK INSPIRE legislation to reflect new arrangements for monitoring and reporting on use and implementation. It does not make any policy changes. The SI ensures that the UK has an operable legal framework for INSPIRE.

Motion agreed.