Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 20 February (HL4788), whether they will publish the referenced independent studies exploring the sustainability of biomass electricity generation.

Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The referenced independent studies refer to work exploring the sustainability of biomass, including electricity generation. Several reports commissioned on behalf of the public sector are already in the public domain, including:

• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) (2017) Use of high carbon North American woody biomass in UK electricity generation,
• BEIS (2021) Sustainability criteria and the effect of wood pellet demand on forest carbon stock: literature review and feasibility study,
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (2023) The ability of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) to generate negative emissions.

Publicly funded research will continue to be published in line with the Research Concordat.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether any enforcement action has been commenced by (1) DEFRA, (2) the Environment Agency, or (3) other authorities responsible for waste shipping in the UK, in relation to the export of 'end of life' tyres to India to ensure that the waste is treated in an environmentally sound manner.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

(1) The four UK regulators, the Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales, The Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency enforce legislation on shipments of waste.

(2) The Environment Agency is currently undertaking an internal review into its regulation of waste tyres and their export, particularly to India. This review will be finalised by the end of June and the outcomes made publicly available. The Environment Agency is not able to provide details of ongoing enforcement investigations.

(3) The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has stopped the export of eight containers of waste tyres since January 2024. Six of these were destined for India.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of 'end of life' tyres exported to India in the past 12 months have been exported with a T8 waste exemption.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This information is not available as T8 exemption holders are not currently obligated to provide this information under the conditions of the exemption.

Exporters of waste tyres to India are also not currently required to provide information of their exports routinely.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what checks are carried out by DEFRA or the Environment Agency in relation to 'end of life' tyres exported to India to ascertain whether operators involved in the shipment of tyres have taken all necessary steps to ensure waste is managed in an environmentally sound manner.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

To assess if ‘end of life tyres’ will be managed in an environmentally sound manner, the Environment Agency operates on a risk-based basis to carry out checks on destination sites, to ensure that they operate to broadly equivalent UK standards.

Checks may include internet based open-source data, requesting the GPS co-ordinates of the site location, verification from the overseas competent authority responsible for issuing the environmental permit, the contractual details of the shipment and a copy of the permit from the exporter.

Found: After Clause 29 BARONESS PARMINTER BARONESS BOYCOTT BARONESS BENNETT OF MANOR CASTLE This amendment

Found: BARONESS BENNETT OF MANOR CASTLE BARONESS BOYCOTT 175_ After Clause 26, insert the following new Clause

Found: BARONESS BENNETT OF MANOR CASTLE BARONESS BOYCOTT 175_ After Clause 26, insert the following new Clause

Found: BARONESS BENNETT OF MANOR CASTLE BARONESS BOYCOTT 175_ After Clause 26, insert the following new Clause