Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what powers the Environment Agency holds to require companies to release 15-minute flow data when requested, and under which regulations they have this power.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has the power to require Water Companies to provide detailed flow data under the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016. Regulation 61(1) gives the power to require the information.
Permit conditions state reports in relation to 15-minute flow data are to be provided to the Environment Agency upon request within 28 days, unless otherwise specified in writing by the Environment Agency.
Authorised officers of the Environment Agency are empowered to inspect and retain copies of records that are relevant to any examination or investigation under Section 108 (4) (k) Environment Act 1995 – requirement to produce records.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the results of the Storm Overflow Assessment Framework will be published for storm overflows potentially discharging untreated sewage into English rivers; and on what occasions there have been (1) overflows where untreated sewage can be lawfully discharged other than as a result of exceptional rainfall, and (2) overflows where untreated sewage cannot be lawfully discharged other than as a result of exceptional rainfall.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Outcomes of the Storm Overflow Assessment Framework (SOAF) investigations within calendar year are reported through the annual Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) reporting from Water and Sewerage Companies to the Environment Agency at the end of February the following year. The Environment Agency publishes these EDM reports by end of March each year.
The Environment Agency will publish the 2023 EDM report in March 2024 and this will contain outcomes from SOAF investigations completed by December 2023. The Environment Agency will assess data provided by each water company in order to assess whether they are meeting their legal obligations with regards to the discharge of untreated sewage.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to direct the Environment Agency to revise all permits issued in respect of water company sewage discharges under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, so that those permits fully reflect the combined obligations of the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations 1994 and the judgment in the case of Commission v UK, case C-301/10, of 18 October 2012.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations 1994, storm overflows are investigated using an Environment Agency framework, the Storm Overflow Assessment Framework. This framework is consistent with the Court of Justice of the be put European Union’s (CJEU) judgment in the Commission v UK case. Where upgrades or solutions are identified under this framework, the Environment Agency require that improvements in place as soon as reasonably practicable and are accompanied by necessary permit variations by the Environment Agency to reflect those requirements.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the potential merits of permitting the proactive use of data by local authorities to identify and register all children eligible for free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Maximising the take-up of free school meals is important in ensuring that as many eligible children as possible benefit from a healthy and nutritious meal. The department aims to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility.
To support this, an Eligibility Checking System has been provided to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities.
The department has looked at this issue and considers there to be merit in local authorities exploring initiatives to maximise take up and to better understand the barriers that prevent such take up, whilst ensuring adherence to legal and data protection constraints.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their policy on the proactive use of data by local authorities to identify and register all children eligible for free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Maximising the take-up of free school meals is important in ensuring that as many eligible children as possible benefit from a healthy and nutritious meal. The department aims to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility.
To support this, an Eligibility Checking System has been provided to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities.
The department has looked at this issue and considers there to be merit in local authorities exploring initiatives to maximise take up and to better understand the barriers that prevent such take up, whilst ensuring adherence to legal and data protection constraints.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence base they have used for their claim that the oil and gas industry supports 200,000 jobs, which subsectors are represented by that figure, and how many of those are (1) wholly, and (2) majority, reliant on the oil and gas industry.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The impact assessment for the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill uses figures from Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) 2022 annual workforce insights report to show how many jobs are supported by the Oil and Gas sector in the UK. This report highlights that there were approximately 200,000 jobs supported by the industry in 2021 and the report includes a breakdown of jobs by sector, and whether they are direct, indirect or induced.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the expected grade of the oil reserves in licensed but undeveloped fields in the North Sea basin; and what estimate they have made of the likelihood of the oil from these fields being used domestically in the UK as opposed to being exported.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The grade of oil in most undeveloped discoveries in the UK sector of the North Sea and elsewhere on the UK Continental Shelf would vary from field to field. The decisions around the sale of both crude and finished petroleum products are commercial decisions given the international nature of oil markets.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of oil and gas extracted from UK territorial waters was exported in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) 2022.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Due to the interconnected nature of gas pipeline infrastructure and the consequent mixing of UK continental shelf (UKCS) production and imports it is not possible to determine what proportion of indigenously produced gas is exported.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of oil and gas extracted from UK territorial waters was extracted by companies headquartered in the UK in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) 2022.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not specifically track the headquarters of oil and gas licensees operating on the UK Continental Shelf. However, it is a requirement that all licence holders must be UK registered, either as a company or as a branch of an overseas company.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of existing oil and gas fields within the UK’s territorial waters is owned by companies headquartered in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not specifically track the headquarters of oil and gas licensees operating on the UK Continental Shelf. However, it is a requirement that all licence holders must be UK registered, either as a company or as a branch of an overseas company.