Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to reduce the amount of per- and polyflouroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Drinking Water Inspectorate’s (DWI) current guideline limit on individual types of PFAS of 100 nanograms per litre for treated drinking water was set in 2021 based on an assessment of existing scientific knowledge. These limits were agreed with the UK Health Security Agency to be robust levels with an appropriate margin to ensure our drinking water is not a danger to human health. Work now continues across Government to assess levels of PFAS to safeguard current high drinking water quality and ensure our regulations remain fit for purpose.
More widely, as we look to improve and maintain our water quality standards, this Government has been clear that vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment. When money for investment is not spent, companies must refund customers, with money never allowed to be diverted for bonuses, dividends or salary increases.
The Water (Special Measures) Bill will also deliver on the Government’s manifesto commitment to put water companies under special measures to clean up our water. Through the Bill, we will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the latest estimate is of the Cash Equivalent Transfer Value of the Civil Service pension of his Department’s Second Permanent Secretary and Defra group Chief Operating Officer in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The position of Second Permanent Secretary and Chief Operating Officer was appointed to in July 2023 by his party. The pension cash equivalent transfer values for this position will be published in the 2023/2024 Defra Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many badgers have been killed under the current cull regime in Devon.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The numbers of badgers removed during culling operations are published annually on GOV.UK. The number of badgers removed cannot be broken down by county as licensed cull areas often overlap multiple counties. However, for licences granted which are predominantly in Devon, approximately 41,000 badgers have been removed since 2013 under these licences.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to continue their partnership with the British Standards Institute on creating high-integrity natural capital and carbon offsetting standards.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Subject to the outcome of the Spending Review, Defra intends to continue to partner with the British Standards Institution on the Nature Investment Standards Programme.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
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 make an assessment of the potential impact of the Teddington Direct River Abstraction project on water quality in its vicinity; and if he will take steps to ensure the adequacy of water quality for swimming in that area.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Teddington Direct River Abstraction (DRA) is a water recycling scheme considered in Thames Water’s draft Water Resources Management Plan 2024 (dWRMP24) and Water Resources South East’s (WRSE) Regional Plan as a supply option for 2030/31.
The Environment Agency has scrutinised WRSE’s plan and has responded to Thames Water’s DWRMP24. Any scheme developed will have to meet environmental requirements. The scheme will need environmental permits that the Environment Agency regulate, and planning consents where the Environment Agency is a statutory consultee.
For Teddington DRA proposal to be taken forward Thames Water will be required to obtain an abstraction license and permit to discharge from the Environment Agency. These set out the conditions under which abstraction is authorised to take place and the standards to which the discharged effluent must be treated, ensuring it is treated to a high standard to meet environmental quality standards and ensure water quality in the Thames does not deteriorate. Thames Water will need to ensure any tertiary water treatment for Teddington DRA meets those regulatory requirements and the Environment Agency will regularly inspect Thames Water to ensure that permit standards are met.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the wine industry with the added cost of packaging required as part of the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme; and how much they expect the scheme to add to a 750ml wine bottle in addition to (1) the additional duty in 2023, and (2) further duties resulting from the new wine duty regime to be introduced in 2025.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to supporting the wine industry and ensuring the UK has a thriving and diverse economy to drive growth.
The Government published illustrative base fees in August 2024 to support industry with their readiness in advance of the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) scheme being implemented from next year.
Producers can use these illustrative base fees to begin understanding their estimated pEPR costs. These are not the final fees; they are our initial estimate, based on the best evidence available. Government intends to publish refined figures for the illustrative base fees by the end of September 2024.
Final fee rates for the first year of EPR for packaging (2025/26) will be released in summer 2025, following the 1 April 2025 deadline to submit packaging totals supplied by registered producers for the preceding calendar year.
The pEPR will contribute to Government’s mission to transition Britain to a circular economy and will work alongside the wine industry to meet this aim.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
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 likelihood of future water supply shortages in West Sussex.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies have a statutory duty to provide a supply of wholesome water under the Water Industry Act 1991 and associated water quality regulations. Companies must ensure continuation of their water distribution functions during an emergency and are required to plan to provide alternative supplies in the event of a loss of normal supply. As set out in Security and Emergency Measures Direction (SEMD) 2022, in the event of an unavoidable failure of piped supply, water companies must ensure that a minimum supply is provided by alternative means. The Drinking Water Inspectorate lead on assurance and enforcement of SEMD.
Water companies have statutory requirements to consult, publish and maintain Water Resources Management Plans, which set out how they will provide secure water supplies for at least twenty-five years into the future. We expect Southern Water to consult on a revised draft plan later this month. The draft plan will be assessed by water regulators, including the Environment Agency and Ofwat to ensure Southern Water make appropriate improvements.
Subject to an eight-week consultation on changes to the Guaranteed Standards Scheme, Government proposals will increase – and in most cases double – reimbursement which water company customers are entitled to when key standards are not met by water companies, including in incidents of supply interruption.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) clean up water ways in a timely manner and (b) encourage companies to invest in waterways to improve infrastructure in the water industry.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat on 11th July proposed allowing a spending package of £88bn by water companies. This investment will deliver upgrades of 1500 wastewater treatment works, improvement of thousands of storm overflows and investment in improving bathing waters.
The Secretary of State and I also secured agreement that funding for vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment. Ofwat will also ensure that when money for investment is not spent, companies refund customers, with money never allowed to be diverted for bonuses, dividends or salary increases.
The Water (Special Measures) Bill will strengthen regulation, giving the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met and increase accountability for water executives.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to implement the policies set out in Annex A of the Government response to the consultation on Consistency in household and business recycling in England, updated on 21 November 2023.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
By default, the primary legislation requires that the recyclable waste streams are collected in separate containers, unless this is technically or economically impracticable, or provides no significant environmental benefit. Regarding exemptions that were announced in the Simpler Recycling Government response in October 2023 and May 2024: further regulations would be required to implement these exemptions. Ministers are reviewing these policies; we hope to provide further certainty and clarity to stakeholders as soon as possible.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
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 make an estimate of the expected reservoir levels for each Lower Thames reservoir for drought events (a) 1:100 years, (b) 1:200 years and (c) 1:500 years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Public water supply reservoirs are the responsibility of the water companies. The Government has not made such estimates; however we are committed to improving water resilience and we are closely monitoring the delivery of their water resources management plans. Their plans set out how they will continue to provide secure water supplies in the long term.