Terry Jermy

We are taking steps in the Data (Use and Access Bill) to require the ICO to have regard to the fact that children merit specific protection because they may be less aware of the risks in relation to the processing of their personal data. The ICO will need to take account of the new duty when carrying out its regulatory functions – for example, when providing guidance for organisations and enforcing the legislation.

We have also placed a similar duty on Information Society Service providers likely to be accessed by children. These providers will now have clear legal duties to consider how best to protect and support children when designing their data processing activities. Providers will be assisted to comply with the new duty by the ICO’s Age Appropriate Design Code, which provides practical guidance for relevant providers on complying with their obligations under the data protection legislation in relation to children who are likely to access those services.

The Government published its consultation on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on 17 December 2024. This closed on 25 February 2025.

The Government’s priority now is to review all responses to the consultation, to help inform its approach to copyright and AI. The Government will continue to engage extensively as it considers next steps, and its proposals will be set out in due course.

Copying protected material in the UK will infringe copyright unless it is licensed, or an exception to copyright applies.

The Government recently consulted on several topics relating to the interaction between copyright and artificial intelligence (AI), including seeking views on a range of approaches to clarify copyright law for both the creative industries and AI innovators.

This consultation closed on 25^th February.

The Government’s priority now is to review all responses to the consultation, to help inform its next steps. The Government will continue to engage extensively on this issue and its proposals will be set out in due course.

According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, over 96% of premises in the South West Norfolk constituency can access superfast broadband speeds (>=30 Mbps) and over 59% have access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection (>1000 Mbps).

To improve this coverage further, CityFibre is delivering a Project Gigabit contract in Norfolk, targeted at bringing fast, reliable broadband to premises in hard-to-reach areas that are unlikely to be otherwise reached by suppliers’ commercial rollout. Approximately 5,000 premises in South West Norfolk are currently included within this contract.

The Government wants all areas of the UK, including East Anglia and South West Norfolk, to benefit from reliable and good quality mobile coverage.

Through the Shared Rural Network, 4G geographic coverage from at least one mobile operator has now reached over 95% of the UK landmass.

Our ambition is for all populated areas, including communities in rural areas, to have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030. We are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition. This includes working with Ofcom to ensure that their coverage reporting is more accurate.

The Government wants all areas of the UK, including East Anglia and South West Norfolk, to benefit from reliable and good quality mobile coverage.

Through the Shared Rural Network, 4G geographic coverage from at least one mobile operator has now reached over 95% of the UK landmass.

Our ambition is for all populated areas, including communities in rural areas, to have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030. We are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition. This includes working with Ofcom to ensure that their coverage reporting is more accurate.

The Government has already prohibited three key PFAS through our domestic legislation on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), which implements the UN Stockholm Convention on POPs.

Defra, Scottish and Welsh Ministers agreed that understanding the risks posed by PFAS was a top priority for the UK REACH Agency (HSE) under the first UK REACH Work Programme, 2021-22. Defra asked the EA and HSE to examine the risks posed by PFAS and develop a 'Regulatory Management Options Analysis' (RMOA), to assess uses, exposure routes, and risk management actions specific to Great Britain in an evidence-based and proportionate way.

This RMOA was published in April 2023 and recommended work under UK REACH to reduce PFAS emissions by developing UK REACH restrictions. Following this, we have started work on a UK REACH dossier investigating whether to restrict the use of PFAS in firefighting foams, and we are exploring further measures relating to PFAS. The UK REACH restriction dossier on PFAS in fire-fighting foams is due to be published for consultation soon. As part of this, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as the Agency for UK REACH conducted a detailed analysis of PFAS alternatives.

The Government is committed to the protection and restoration of our cherished chalk streams. Recent investment has enabled a comprehensive assessment of chalk streams in Norfolk and additional monitoring. Of the 11 chalk waterbodies in Norfolk, the majority are classified as having moderate ecological status. These classifications are based on a range of pressures, including water quality, hydrological regime, and geomorphological condition. Comprehensive classification data can be accessed via the Catchment Data Explorer: Anglian River Basin District | Catchment Data Explorer

Following this assessment, the Environment Agency (EA) has developed operational plans for Norfolk’s chalk streams, outlining the current condition of the rivers, identifying key pressures, and setting catchment-scale priorities in line with local and national environmental strategies.

The EA is using its regulatory powers and the Asset Management Planning process to deliver a range of measures to ensure water companies reduce water abstraction pressures and improve water treatment on the Rivers Heacham, Ingol, Gaywood and Nar. The EA is also using partnership funding to work with farmers and catchment partners to reduce diffuse pollution risks and deliver habitat improvement projects at both a site and landscape scale. Through the Flood and Coastal Risk Management and Water Environment Improvement Fund we are investing in projects to restore Norfolk’s priority chalk habitats.

The Government recently closed its consultation on land use in England. The responses to this consultation will inform the development of the Land Use Framework, scheduled to be published later this year.

The consultation process included engagement events such as regional workshops and ministerial roundtables where stakeholders, including farmers and landowners, were invited to give their views on land use.

We intend to continue to engage on land use up to, and beyond, the Framework’s publication.

Defra will be working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding. This future SFI offer will build on what has made SFI effective so far. Further details about the reformed SFI offer will be announced following the spending review in summer 2025.

Following the publication of a Regulatory Management Options Analysis (RMOA) on PFAS in April 2023, my department asked the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate whether to restrict PFAS in firefighting foams under the UK REACH (Restriction, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals) regime. HSE’s restriction dossier is due to be published for consultation in Spring 2025. Alongside this, my department is also considering further measures on PFAS.

This includes working across government to help us assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources and potential risks to inform policy and regulatory approaches.

The Government recently completed a rapid review of the Environment Improvement Plan (EIP) 2023 and will introduce a revised EIP in 2025. The revised EIP will include the Governments approach to managing chemicals, including the risks posed by PFAS.

The Government is taking steps to assess and reduce levels of PFAS occurring in the environment.

Wastewater treatment practices have changed in recent years and new risks may be emerging from the spread of treated sewage sludge to agricultural land. To mitigate these risks, the Government has been working with water companies on the Chemical Investigations Programme¹ to improve the evidence base on the presence of certain chemicals, including some PFAS, that are not captured and eliminated by the current sewage treatment process.

The Chemical Investigations Programme phase 4 will include an investigation on the impact of spreading sludge to soil, surface and groundwater. The results of this investigation will help to inform future policy.

The Government has also been working with the Environment Agency to assess the regulatory framework for spreading sludge. We recognise that effective and proportionate regulations are an essential tool to improve the water environment

The Environmental Permitting Regulations limit PFAS being discharged to the water environment. Controlling PFAS at source is our preferred measure to reduce the chemicals ever entering the water system, rather than end-of-pipe solutions.

Firefighting foams have been identified as a major source of PFAS to the environment. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are due to publish their dossier investigating whether to restrict the use, manufacture and sale of PFAS in firefighting foams soon, for a 6-month consultation. This dossier has included extensive analysis of risks and hazards of PFAS that are relevant to other uses and sets a firm foundation for further investigation of PFAS risks in Great Britain.

The Government has also completed a rapid review of the Environment Improvement Plan (EIP) 2023 and will introduce a revised EIP in 2025. The revised EIP will include the Governments approach to managing chemicals, including the risks posed by PFAS.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has now published a final Opinion on their restriction proposal for lead in ammunition, informed by information from public consultations, as well as independent scientific advice. Now Defra has received HSE’s final Opinion on their proposed restriction, we are assessing their proposals, and a decision will follow. This decision will be taken with consent from the Devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales.

Agriculture and rural land management is one of the greatest pressures on the water environment, impacting 45% of water bodies in England.

We recognise intensive farming is not without risk. Intensive pig and poultry farms above specified size thresholds must hold an Environmental Permit requiring operators to adopt best available techniques to reduce pollution. Regulations, including the Farming Rules for Water, set the standards farmers must meet in order prevent and mitigate pollution risks. The EA works with farmers through advice-led enforcement to improve compliance. They have conducted over 4,800 inspections in the last fiscal year (2023/24) and over 2,300 in the first half of the current fiscal year (2024/25). These inspections are targeted to areas of the greatest risk, including the catchments of protected sites.

The Government recognised AI as an opportunity of a generation in its response to the AI Opportunities Action Plan. The application of AI in agriculture will help to inform farmers’ decision making, automate operations and reduce costs for a more productive, profitable and resilient farming sector. Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme will support this through the development of agri-tech innovation, including AI, machine learning and data management applications.

In Spring 2021, Defra asked the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA) to prepare a UK REACH restriction dossier for lead ammunition, including lead shot, in all habitats. The HSE and the EA have considered the evidence of risk posed by lead in ammunition on human health and the environment, as well as the socioeconomic impact that would result from introducing further restrictions on lead in ammunition. They also considered the effectiveness, practicality, monitorability and enforceability of the potential restriction.

The HSE has now formed a final Opinion on their restriction proposal for lead in ammunition, informed by information from public consultations, as well as independent scientific advice. Now Defra has received HSE’s final Opinion on the proposed restriction, we are assessing the proposals, and a decision will follow. This decision will be taken with consent from the Devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales.

A summary of the number of animals slaughtered for food consumption and number of animals tested for lead can be found in the table on the following page.

For information, the majority of these data are available through the Defra Food and Farming statistics and the VMD also publishes the results of annual residues monitoring on an annual basis on GOV.UK.

Lead is naturally present in the environment, making it impossible to eliminate completely from food. Maximum levels are set to be as low as reasonably achievable, and enforcement action can be taken if food safety concerns arise whether or not maximum levels are specified.

Risk-based checks on lead in food by food businesses and local authorities ensure food safety. Lead is also included under the Veterinary Medicines Directorate surveillance plan. The Animal and Plant Health Agency investigates farms where animals may have been exposed to lead, providing advice to farmers as well as a reminder of their responsibilities to protect the food chain and comply with maximum levels.

Lead pipes have not been permitted since 1970, but they may be present in older properties.

To reduce the risk of lead leaching into water, this Government expects water companies to treat the water. Any failure of the lead standard is investigated thoroughly.

In Defra’s Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat, we supported action by the water industry to trial approaches to reduce exposure to lead which have been agreed in water companies’ business plans for 2025-2030. Two Green Recovery projects, approved by Ofwat, are also trialling replacement of customer supply pipes made of lead.

To ensure compliance with environmental regulations, permitted farms in East Anglia have routine inspections as an essential part of Environment Agency (EA) regulation. Within East Anglia there is a target of completing more than 80% of one hundred intensive farm site visits for the performance year 2024-2025. This target is on track to be met. Inspections incorporate permitting aspects linked to business plans as well as environmental legislation, such as Farming Rules for Water and Nitrate Vulnerable Zones.

Farms with a high standard of compliance and within the Pig and Assurance Scheme are inspected once every three years by the EA and annually in the other two years by certified bodies. Farms not in the assurance scheme are inspected by the Environment Agency a minimum of once in every three years, depending on risk. Inspections are recorded on the National Compliance Assessment Database. Any permit condition breaches are given a Compliance Classification Scheme (CCS) score. CCS scores affect subsistence charges for farms that are not in the Pig and Poultry Assurance Scheme.

This Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that we can realise the full potential of rural communities. To achieve this, we are ensuring that the needs of people and businesses in rural areas are at the heart of our policymaking.

We recognise that there are significant challenges facing rural communities, and that the Government must play its part in overcoming them. We know that prosperous, thriving rural communities require improvements in rural transport and digital infrastructure, the availability of affordable housing and energy, and access to essential services such as healthcare and education.

That is why this Government is committed to rural proofing, ensuring that rural areas are not overlooked, that all intended outcomes of the missions are deliverable in rural areas, and all policy decision-making takes account of the issues facing rural communities. Defra leads on rural proofing, but individual departments are responsible for ensuring that their policy decision-making is rural proofed.

Defra does not currently plan to issue new guidance on lead paint.

Lead pipes have not been permitted since 1970, but they may be present in older properties.

To reduce the risk of lead leaching into water, water companies treat the water with orthophosphate which reduces the problem significantly. Any failure of the lead standard of 10 micrograms per litre is investigated thoroughly by water companies with resamples being taken. Failures of the standard are generally caused by internal lead pipework and fittings which are the responsibility of the owner.

In Defra’s Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat, we supported action by the water industry to trial approaches to reduce exposure to lead which have been agreed in water companies’ business plans for 2025-2030. Two Green Recovery projects, approved by Ofwat, are also trialling replacement of customer supply pipes made of lead.

On public drinking water – the Drinking Water Inspectorate are the body who provide the independent assurance that public drinking water supplies are safe.

Drinking water for the human consumer remains safe as it is tested and appropriately treated before distribution to the tap, so the human health risk from drinking water remains very low.

Lead pipes have not been permitted since 1970, but they may be present in older properties.

To reduce the risk of lead leaching into water, water companies treat the water with orthophosphate which reduces the problem significantly. Any failure of the lead standard of 10 micrograms per litre is investigated thoroughly by water companies with resamples being taken. Failures of the standard are generally caused by internal lead pipework and fittings which are the responsibility of the owner.

In Defra’s Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat, we supported action by the water industry to trial approaches to reduce exposure to lead which have been agreed in water companies’ business plans for 2025-2030. Two Green Recovery projects, approved by Ofwat, are also trialling replacement of customer supply pipes made of lead.

On public drinking water – the Drinking Water Inspectorate are the body who provide the independent assurance that public drinking water supplies are safe.

Drinking water for the human consumer remains safe as it is tested and appropriately treated before distribution to the tap, so the human health risk from drinking water remains very low.

Defra monitors concentrations of ten heavy metals, including lead, in naturally-growing mosses as part of the European Moss Survey, which takes place every five years. The moss data provide a cost-effective measure of pollution deposition from the atmosphere which complements conventional precipitation analysis.

The latest report for the 2020-2022 survey is publicly available here. It shows that lead deposition has declined since 1990.

The UK Heavy Metals Network forms the basis of the UK’s compliance monitoring for the Air Quality Standards Regulations (2010), which covers lead, arsenic, cadmium, nickel and mercury. Lead in the PM₁₀ fraction of air (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm or less) is measured at 26 sites. The UK has been compliant with applicable limit values in legislation for ambient lead in air for over 20 years.

Further details are publicly available here: Air Pollution in the UK report – Defra, UK.

Treated sewage sludge (commonly called biosolids) can be beneficially spread to agricultural land under the Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations (SUiAR).

Details are publicly available here.

In England the Environment Agency is responsible for enforcing the SUiAR, which are supported by a sewage sludge in agriculture code of practice.

Details are publicly available here.

The SUiAR provides controls that protect the environment and human health when these organic materials are spread to agricultural land. Provided the use of sewage sludge is carried out in accordance with the relevant regulatory controls and good practice guidance is followed, the recycling of sewage sludge to land is an allowable activity.

The SUiAR require that sludge shall be used in such a way that the quality of the soil and of the surface and ground water is not impaired. A person using sludge has to ensure they can meet this requirement of the SUiAR. The requirement is applicable to all relevant contaminants which could, when sludge is used, cause the quality of the soil and of surface and ground water to be impaired. Lead is a contaminant that can be present in sludge and which is specifically listed in both the SUiAR and its supporting sewage sludge in agriculture code of practice.

Emissions of lead from industrial installations in England are subject to stringent emission limits and monitoring requirements under The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

Defra monitors concentrations of ten heavy metals, including lead, in naturally-growing mosses as part of the European Moss Survey, which takes place every five years. The moss data provide a cost-effective measure of pollution deposition from the atmosphere which complements conventional precipitation analysis.

The latest report for the 2020-2022 survey is publicly available here. It shows that lead deposition has declined since 1990.

The UK Heavy Metals Network forms the basis of the UK’s compliance monitoring for the Air Quality Standards Regulations (2010), which covers lead, arsenic, cadmium, nickel and mercury. Lead in the PM₁₀ fraction of air (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm or less) is measured at 26 sites. The UK has been compliant with applicable limit values in legislation for ambient lead in air for over 20 years.

Further details are publicly available here: Air Pollution in the UK report – Defra, UK.

Treated sewage sludge (commonly called biosolids) can be beneficially spread to agricultural land under the Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations (SUiAR).

Details are publicly available here.

In England the Environment Agency is responsible for enforcing the SUiAR, which are supported by a sewage sludge in agriculture code of practice.

Details are publicly available here.

The SUiAR provides controls that protect the environment and human health when these organic materials are spread to agricultural land. Provided the use of sewage sludge is carried out in accordance with the relevant regulatory controls and good practice guidance is followed, the recycling of sewage sludge to land is an allowable activity.

The SUiAR require that sludge shall be used in such a way that the quality of the soil and of the surface and ground water is not impaired. A person using sludge has to ensure they can meet this requirement of the SUiAR. The requirement is applicable to all relevant contaminants which could, when sludge is used, cause the quality of the soil and of surface and ground water to be impaired. Lead is a contaminant that can be present in sludge and which is specifically listed in both the SUiAR and its supporting sewage sludge in agriculture code of practice.

Emissions of lead from industrial installations in England are subject to stringent emission limits and monitoring requirements under The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

The Environment Agency identifies and prioritises sources of metal pollution, including waterways contaminated by lead, and conducts regular and routine water quality inspections, in line with their regulatory duties. The results are published on the Environment Agency’s public water quality archive website.

The Government has set a long-term statutory target under the Environment Act to reduce by half the 1,500km of English rivers polluted by target metals (including lead) from abandoned metal mines by 31 December 2038. To achieve this target, the Government is building mine water treatment schemes and diffuse interventions under the Water & Abandoned Metal Mines Programme - a partnership between Defra, the Environment Agency and the Mining Remediation Authority - to prevent metals from abandoned metal mines, including lead, from polluting rivers.