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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will review the implementation of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to assess its effectiveness at tackling pollution from contaminated land.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the Environmental Protection Act 1990 continues to be a robust and effective legislative framework for managing and mitigating pollution from contaminated land. The department is always assessing the effectiveness of legislation to ensure it is fit for purpose.

Defra has recently commissioned the Environment Agency to produce a new State of Contaminated Land Report, which involves surveying Local Authorities progress on delivering their statutory responsibilities under Part2A of the Act, including the effectiveness of existing regulations and their remediation efforts.