Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 14 June (HL16066), whether they have any plans to construct a national water grid.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Water transfers can play a strong role in securing resilience, alongside other new infrastructure and reducing demand and leakage as part of the ‘twin track approach’.
There is already a large amount of water transferred across the country, giving water companies greater flexibility to meet demand. Water companies are finalising revisions to their statutory water resource management plans. These plans set out how they will meet demand for water over at least the next 25 years and many include further transfer schemes.
Ofwat, working with the Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectorate, recently established the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development which will make sure regulation enables strategic schemes to improve resilience of water supplies. Such schemes might include water transfers.
We are developing a National Policy Statement for water resources infrastructure which will streamline the planning process for nationally significant water resource infrastructure including large water transfers. We plan to lay the final version of this document in Parliament in the autumn.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to whether there will continue to be sufficient supplies of water for all purposes, including domestic purposes, if climate change continues as expected.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government is working closely with other water regulators and the water industry to improve the resilience of water supplies. The Government recognises continued action is required and it is committed to a ‘twin track approach’ of reducing demand for water and increasing supply in parallel.
Water companies have a statutory duty to provide clean and reliable water to customers under the Water Industry Act 1991. To fulfil this duty, there is a statutory requirement to maintain water resources management plans, which balance water supply and demand at least twenty-five years into the future.
The Government, Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat issued guidance to water companies in 2016 on how they should be planning to be resilient to foreseeable risks, including taking appropriate action to respond to climate projections. Water companies are currently revising their plans.
The Government is taking steps to improve water resources planning to ensure that there is better collaboration between water companies and other water using sectors on their water supply resilience. This includes the EA developing a National Framework for water resources, which will identify high priority water users who are unable to meet their demand or are likely to need to expand and set expectations on collaboration at a regional scale. The Government has also consulted on legislative improvements to ensure that water companies’ plans are informed by effective collaboration.
The EA is also implementing the abstraction plan published in 2017. This includes work to bring together the EA, abstractors and catchment groups to develop local solutions to existing pressures and to prepare for the future.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proposals they have for the disposal of agricultural plastic waste, following restrictions on the import of plastic waste put in place by China.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government published an ambitious new Resources and Waste strategy in December last year, which sets out our plans to reduce plastic pollution and our commitment to eliminate avoidable plastic waste. This includes avoidable plastic waste from agriculture. While this material is recyclable, it can often be contaminated, making the recycling process uneconomic. Our proposals in the strategy will incentivise the production and use of plastic packaging which is readily recyclable, and we are providing funding for innovation in plastic waste treatment. We are also exploring how Government policy can further address this issue in partnership with the Waste and Resources Action Programme.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to construct a national water grid.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government recognises the need to increase the long term security of water supplies. Water transfers can play a strong role in securing resilience, alongside other new infrastructure and the reduction of demand and leakage. The Government made this clear in its strategic policy statement to Ofwat and in the 25 Year Environment Plan.
There is already a large quantity of water transferred across the country, giving water companies greater flexibility to meet demand. Water companies have recently consulted on their draft water resource management plans in which further regional transfer schemes are being considered.
Interim Parliamentary Under Secretary of State David Rutley made clear the importance of joined up working between regulators and industry to achieve the best solutions for future resilience in his recent letter to the chief executive of Ofwat, the economic regulator. The letter provided the Government’s initial view on the National Infrastructure Commission’s report on water and has been published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements, if any, they propose to put in place to enable the free movement of racehorses following Brexit.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government is negotiating our exit from the European Union. Defra is working with the Department for Exiting the European Union to look at future arrangements including for the health conditions that will be applicable to movements of animals between the UK and the European Union.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to secure adequate supplies of anti-TB vaccine for use on badgers, in view of the present shortage.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The ongoing shortage of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, and the need to prioritise available stocks for humans, is impacting on supply for badger vaccination projects. Following advice from Public Health England (PHE) in December 2015, Defra took the decision to suspend attempts to source BCG vaccine for the Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme and other private badger vaccination deployment projects in England until this situation is resolved.
We are seeking regular updates from PHE about the vaccine shortage so that once the situation is resolved we can be in a position to re-start ordering of vaccine at the earliest opportunity.