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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making provision of data on water use rates a requirement for agricultural water licences.

The Environment Agency regulates water abstraction in England. The information provided therefore relates to England only.

The Environment Agency assesses water use for agriculture as part of the abstraction licence application process both when it first grants an abstraction licence and at renewal. The Environment Agency uses the following guidance to assess water need and use rates: Optimum use of water for industry and agricultural dependent on direct abstraction - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Environment Agency already receives information about how much water is used under abstraction licences in England. All ‘full’ abstraction licences must include requirements to measure or assess the amount of water abstracted. Licence holders must keep a record of how much water they abstract available for inspection. Licences that authorise the abstraction of 100 cubic metres per day or more must also send a return to the Environment Agency of how much water they have abstracted. The Environment Agency uses this information to assess compliance with licences and the environmental effects of abstraction. It also uses information about past usage to determine whether a time limited abstraction licence should be renewed on the same terms or for example have its quantities reduced.

The Environment Agency collates information about abstraction from all sectors and makes it available to Defra in a report called ‘ABSTAT’. The Environment Agency is currently producing an update to the ABSTAT report and will provide it to Defra in due course.

Defra and the Environment Agency are working to move the water resources licensing regime into the Environmental Permitting Regime (EPR). Under EPR, abstraction data will become public register information.