Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the Environment Agency to carry out an assessment of the potential impact on food production whenever there are changes to abstraction licences in the (a) agriculture and (b) horticulture sector.

The Environment Agency already has a duty to consider the costs and benefits of its actions. The Environment Agency applies this duty in abstraction licence and regulatory decisions. There is recognition of the impact a change in abstraction licence conditions can have on the agriculture and horticulture sectors. Where restrictions and licence changes are absolutely necessary the Environment Agency looks to work directly with licence holders to implement changes on a voluntary basis first. When managing droughts, the Environment Agency also looks to introduce partial restrictions (e.g. abstraction every other day, or night time only) and then total bans on water abstraction as a last resort. During the drought of 2022, the Environment Agency avoided the need for total irrigation bans by using this approach. However, the cost-benefit duty does not override the need for the Environment Agency to undertake its wider duties and functions to meet statutory environmental objectives.