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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (a) what recent discussions the Government has had with the Environment Agency on tightening standards under the BAT Conclusions for Waste Incineration issued by the European Commission in 2019; (b) how many permits of existing facilities have been revised in particular for Nitrogen Oxide pollution; and (c) and whether all permits for new facilities reflect these updated limit values and require the use of selective catalytic reduction to abate Nitrogen Oxide pollution.

(a) Defra meets regularly with the Environment Agency to discuss the implementation of Best Available Techniques (BAT) at regulated facilities. One such meeting was held in July 2021 when the UK Interpretation guidance for the Waste Incineration BAT Conclusions was agreed, including tightening of relevant emission limits.

(b) The Environment Agency has not yet revised any permits for existing facilities in respect of emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx). All permits will be revised by the legally required implementation date for the BAT Conclusions for existing plants which is 3 December 2023.

(c) All new permits issued by the Environment Agency since 3 December 2019 reflect the updated limit values for NOx for new plants, but not all of them require the use of selective catalytic reduction.