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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 20 February (HL5471), how the remaining 20 per cent proposed charge for permit variation that does not relate to staff or IT costs is made up.

The remaining costs are made up of a wide variety of expenditure which includes property costs, finance, HR, shared services (transactional processing), procurement, administration, insurance, transport and plant, utilities, and travel. The Environment Agency’s consultation response document will provide more information on the make-up of charges. This is due to be published in March.