Asked by
of Ullock
To ask His Majesty’s Government when they expect to lay their
final environmental principles policy statement before
Parliament; and why this process has been subject to delay.
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs () (Con)
My Lords, we hope to agree the final policy statement across
government in the coming weeks and publish it early this year.
This has taken longer than initially expected but it is important
to get it right. Once the final policy statement is published,
there will be an implementation period before the duty comes into
force. We remain committed to embedding environmental
considerations into cross-government policy-making.
of Ullock (Lab)
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his response, but the
fact remains that Defra keeps missing important deadlines.
Long-term targets under the Environment Act came well after the
statutory deadline and were pretty underwhelming. The deposit
return scheme for plastics was supposed to be operational next
year, but Defra has not even responded to the March 2021
consultation. We still lack crucial detail on new agricultural
and biodiversity schemes. In wishing the Minister a very happy
new year, can I ask that he make a new year’s resolution to
deliver on these supposed priorities?
(Con)
I wish the noble Baroness a very happy new year and a continued
position on the Benches opposite in future. We recognise the
urgency of the challenges that we face, from the threats posed by
climate change to the pressures on nature both at home and
abroad. Defra is working at pace to deliver on this across a wide
range of areas where we are trying to implement the most
progressive environmental policy that this country has ever seen.
Progress is being made in the area of this policy statement. We
have now started the final stage of consultation with colleagues
across government to ensure that all departments play their part
in these policies, which will be presented to Parliament in the
next few weeks.
(Con)
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on the draft
environmental principles statement on the website. Can he assure
us that this will extend to the commitment in the 2019 manifesto
on which the Conservatives were elected that UK food will be
produced to the highest environmental and animal welfare
standards and that domestic food imports will also have to meet
those high standards?
(Con)
I can absolutely give that assurance; it is at the heart of the
policies that we are implementing. The policy statement covers
the five key principles which underpin our approach to nature,
natural environment, habitat, climate change and how we feed our
country sustainably.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister said that one of the things that the
principles are meant to do is to ensure that across government
environmental standards are maintained in other policies. When
thinking of dredging for freeports, for example, can the
Government consider the devastation caused in the North Sea from
the dredging of the River Tees and make sure that a principle is
that we do not commit to that sort of activity, which ends up in
such dreadful environmental devastation?
(Con)
I am very aware, as all noble Lords are, of the large numbers of
shellfish in particular that have resulted. It is not entirely
certain, but the noble Baroness makes a clear indication as to
why this has happened. The precautionary principle should govern
areas of licensing, both terrestrially and in the marine
environment. We should learn from all incidents that cause
problems to make sure that those factors are considered in future
policy-making.
(LD)
My Lords, in relation to that question, has the Minister read the
article in today’s Times about this event and the inadequacy of
the inquiry carried out by Defra? What is his view on that?
Regarding the Question, when will the environmental principles be
incorporated into the Cabinet Office’s Guide to Making
Legislation?
(Con)
I have not read the article that the noble Baroness refers to,
but I will, and I will discuss it with ministerial colleagues. We
will incorporate the principles into the guidance that the
Cabinet Office gives on legislation once we have published them,
which will be in the next few weeks. We will incorporate them
into the Treasury’s Green Book at the same time.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister has acknowledged that there has been a
considerable delay in publishing the final version of the
environmental principles. He talked about an implementation
period. Given the delay that has already taken place, can he
assure us that it will be a short implementation period and that
within three months there will be a statutory obligation on all
Ministers across all departments to abide by the environmental
principles that we still await?
(Con)
I think the noble Baroness is referring to a recommendation by
the Environmental Audit Committee. I understand the urgency, but
three months is too short. I do not think that much longer than
that is necessary. We have considerable experience in putting in
other duties across government and trying to assist departments
in the creation of policies that take into account the five
principles. It is really important that we get that right. I do
not expect it to take much longer than three months. It will
certainly be up and running across government towards the end of
this year.
(LD)
Further to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady
McIntosh, the Government have negotiated a trade agreement with
Australia, where the previous Secretary of State warned the House
of Commons on 14 November that products that the UK had banned
for pesticides or hormone-produced animals would be able to be
imported into the UK. Why has the Minister’s answer to the noble
Baroness, Lady McIntosh, today been so roundly contradicted by
his former Secretary of State?
(Con)
It is the firm policy of this Government that trade deals should
not conflict with our standards on environmental protection and
animal welfare.
(Lab Co-op)
My Lords, can I respectfully disagree with the Minister in his
hope that my noble friend Lady Hayman of Ullock stays in her
place? The sooner she is in his place, the better it will be for
the environment.
(Con)
The noble Lord made the point I was trying to make, in a converse
way, rather better than I did. I hope that we will continue to
work together on these policies.
(Con)
My Lords, my noble friend the Minister and many other noble Lords
referred to the precautionary principle. Sadly lacking is the
idea of innovation. Could we not look more at that, particularly
when it comes to the prevention principle?
(Con)
My noble friend makes a very good point. We are concerned here
with transposing the five key principles that underpinned all
environmental law when we were in the European Union to the basis
that was set out in the Environment Act. He is entirely right
that hard-wired in government policy-making we need a belief that
we are supporting innovation in all its forms. That strays into
environmental policy-making as well.
(LD)
My Lords, given that Defra has an issue about being on time with
legislative requirements, what chance is there, if any, that it
will be able to replace all the European legislation that is
supposed to be repealed by the end of this year under the Bill
repealing EU legislation? I suggest there is no chance whatever
of replacing those 2,000 or 4,000 pieces of legislation.
(Con)
It is considerably fewer than that. I am hot from a meeting where
we were just discussing this, and we think there is a lot we can
do. Some of them are complete no-brainers, such as trying to
decide on policy for the export of olives or lemons, or on how
Danish fishermen fish in Norwegian waters. Those sorts of things
can be set aside. We want to retain and, if possible, improve
those that underpin our environmental policies so that, if
anything, they give better protections. I have great confidence
that we can achieve that.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Government’s claim that their environmental
policies are leading the world is waffle. Can the Minister give
us two examples of where this Government are leading the
world?
(Con)
I certainly can. I have just come back from Montreal where the
British team, of four Ministers and 35 civil servants, were
successful in leading on measures and getting 192 countries to
agree with the positions that we started. We are greener than
many of the NGOs in what we have done. Domestically, we have put
30% of our land and seas in protection. We have a range of
policies, and I refer noble Lords to the Environment Act, which I
do not think can be topped by any other developed economy in the
world in what it does to protect our environment now and in the
future.
