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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on making the environmental principle of avoiding trans-boundary environmental damage applicable in both England and Northern Ireland.

Transboundary environmental damage is covered by the environmental principle of prevention, which requires action to be taken to avert environmental damage rather than to simply tolerate or rectify it after it occurs.

Environmental policy is a devolved matter, subject to a small number of areas that are reserved. We have been working with officials in Northern Ireland to ensure that environmental protection and governance in Northern Ireland can be safeguarded after our departure from the EU.