Lord Grantchester Portrait

Lord Grantchester

Labour - Excepted Hereditary

Became Member: 31st October 2003


1 APPG membership (as of 8 Apr 2024)
Science and Technology in Agriculture
3 Former APPG memberships
Dairy, Dark Skies, Hydrogen
Land Use in England Committee
19th Jan 2022 - 28th Nov 2022
Shadow Spokesperson (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
14th Jul 2016 - 19th Jan 2022
Shadow Spokesperson (Energy and Climate Change)
18th Sep 2015 - 19th Jan 2022
Opposition Whip (Lords)
8th Oct 2010 - 17th May 2021
Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
1st Jul 2014 - 17th May 2021


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Lord Grantchester has voted in 332 divisions, and 2 times against the majority of their Party.

8 Dec 2021 - Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Grantchester voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 10 Labour No votes vs 38 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 125 Noes - 162
16 Mar 2022 - Health and Care Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Grantchester voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 24 Labour No votes vs 51 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 145 Noes - 179
View All Lord Grantchester Division Votes

Debates during the 2019 Parliament

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Lord Callanan (Conservative)
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
(83 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Legislation Debates
Agriculture Act 2020
(17,201 words contributed)
Fisheries Act 2020
(12,047 words contributed)
Trade Bill 2019-21
(10,179 words contributed)
View All Legislation Debates
View all Lord Grantchester's debates

Lords initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Lord Grantchester, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.


Lord Grantchester has not introduced any legislation before Parliament

Lord Grantchester has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 21 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
21st Jun 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Aquind Interconnector proposal will be considered by the national security regime which was established by the National Security and Investment Act 2021, including by (1) the Investment Security Unit, and (2) the Secretary of State, on national security grounds.

The Government has a range of legislative and regulatory powers to protect infrastructure and critical services, including the National Security and Investment Act 2021. The Government is aware of the Aquind Interconnector proposal. The Government does not comment on individual transactions and any risk to national security.

8th Jun 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date they expect the Planning Inspectorate’s report into the AQUIND Interconnector to be completed and sent to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The Planning Inspectorate’s Report on the proposed AQUIND Interconnector has been completed and was received by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 8 June 2021. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State now has until 8 September 2021 to take his decision on whether or not to grant development consent for the proposal.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
19th May 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further the answer by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist on 18 May (HL Deb, cols 434–5), whether the Planning Inspectorate’s report on the AQUIND interconnector will be published before the Secretary of State makes his decision.

The Planning Inspectorate’s report and my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s decision to grant or refuse development consent for the proposed Aquind Interconnector will be published at the same time on the Planning Inspectorate’s National Infrastructure Planning website.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
3rd Feb 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications for the Green Homes Grant scheme have been turned down by International Climate Finance because they were unable to verify the identity of the applicant.

Verifying the identity of applicants is part of ensuring applications contain sufficient evidence for approval and that government funding is spent appropriately. Under the Green Homes Grant, additional information may be sought from customers when processing applications in order to progress them. More vouchers are being issued every day.

Official scheme statistics will be published in due course.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
3rd Feb 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many builders have been (1) accredited for, and (2) turned down for accreditation by, the Green Homes Grant Scheme.

The Green Homes Grant scheme opened for installer applications on 30 September. As of 04 February, the total number of installers registered with the scheme was 911.

Official scheme statistics will be published in due course.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
2nd Feb 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total value of contracts awarded to ICF to run the Green Homes Grant scheme.

In line with Public Contracts Regulations (2015) and Policy Procurement Note 07/16, BEIS will be publishing a redacted contract and the legally required information on GOV.UK in due course.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
2nd Feb 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many meetings Ministers had with ICF before the Green Homes Grant scheme contract was awarded.

The Department contracted ICF to administer the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme, following a competition, using the Crown Commercial Grants and Programme Services framework.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
2nd Feb 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications for the Green Homes Grant scheme have been declined.

Official scheme statistics will be published in due course. BEIS will continue to monitor application data as the scheme progresses.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
2nd Feb 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who have received a voucher from the Green Homes Grant scheme are (1) recipients of benefits, (2) not recipients of benefits, and (3) landlords whose applications will benefit their tenants.

As of 8th February 21,947 vouchers have been issued. Further scheme statistics will be published in due course.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
2nd Feb 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average number of days people wait to receive a voucher from the Green Homes Grant scheme after the application has been approved.

Official scheme statistics will be published in due course.

We have designed the voucher process to automate checks where possible and minimise the time taken for voucher approval. However, applications must be thoroughly checked for compliance with the scheme rules to help ensure value for money, consumer protection, and detect malpractice. We will continue to work to reduce the time between application and issuance, where possible.

BEIS will continue to monitor application data as the scheme progresses.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
25th Jun 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many plastic recycling facilities there were in England in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, (5) 2020, and (6) 2021.

The UK Government has made no assessment of carbon emissions produced by the export of UK waste. The UK monitors and reports emissions from the shipping industry through the National Emissions Inventory but this information is not disaggregated to the level of individual cargo movements.

Between 2017 and 2020 the Environment Agency inspected and prevented the departure of the following containers. The Environment Agency also issued the following stop notices in respect to suspected illegal waste shipments over the same period.

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

Containers inspected

1,012

926

1,889

Containers prevented from leaving

404

300

463

Stop notices issued

106

238

444


The reasons for preventing the departure of these containers included:

  • The proposed recovery site did not exist or was not permitted to accept waste,
  • The proposed shipment was not in compliance with the correct procedure,
  • Issues with waste quality, for example, the level of contamination,
  • The required paperwork was not present, was incomplete or completed incorrectly,
  • The waste was not permitted for export to a non-OECD country

All waste exports need to be made in accordance with the relevant legislation and the UK regulators have a system of inspections in place to verify compliance. The UK regulators take a pro-active, intelligence led approach to checking compliance with the legislation on waste shipments, targeting exports which pose a high risk and intervening to stop illegal exports taking place.

In addition, the regulators undertake rigorous checks to ensure businesses accredited as exporters of packaging waste under the Packaging Waste Regulations comply with their conditions of accreditation, this includes verifying evidence that exported waste is recycled. The conditions of accreditation have been tightened to require an exporter to provide the Environment Agency with full details of the final overseas reprocessing sites receiving packaging waste it exports and to provide access to export documentation to prove that the material reached or was accepted by these overseas reprocessing sites.

Stop notices are issued prior to the export of waste when the Environment Agency suspect a shipment to be illegal (this could be for single containers, or multiple containers). The notice is served on those in control of the waste at the time. There are usually multiple parties involved in the waste shipment process including load sites, brokers, freight forwarders, hauliers, shipping lines etc. Liability for the illegal export of waste is potentially held throughout the waste export chain and therefore only through conducting investigations are the Environment Agency able to determine a definitive number of parties involved.

Plastic recycling is carried out at many waste management sites across England and numerous sites will accept incidental amounts of plastic waste, as such it is not possible to give exact figures for the number of plastic reprocessing facilities in England.

It is possible however, to give the following figures for treatment sites that accepted over 1,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year up to the year 2019. This information has been extracted from data held by the Environment Agency, using European Waste Catalogue codes denoting plastic waste.

Year

No of sites

2016

68

2017

71

2018

68

2019

68

25th Jun 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many operators were found by the Environment Agency to be illegally exporting waste in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, and (3) 2020.

The UK Government has made no assessment of carbon emissions produced by the export of UK waste. The UK monitors and reports emissions from the shipping industry through the National Emissions Inventory but this information is not disaggregated to the level of individual cargo movements.

Between 2017 and 2020 the Environment Agency inspected and prevented the departure of the following containers. The Environment Agency also issued the following stop notices in respect to suspected illegal waste shipments over the same period.

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

Containers inspected

1,012

926

1,889

Containers prevented from leaving

404

300

463

Stop notices issued

106

238

444


The reasons for preventing the departure of these containers included:

  • The proposed recovery site did not exist or was not permitted to accept waste,
  • The proposed shipment was not in compliance with the correct procedure,
  • Issues with waste quality, for example, the level of contamination,
  • The required paperwork was not present, was incomplete or completed incorrectly,
  • The waste was not permitted for export to a non-OECD country

All waste exports need to be made in accordance with the relevant legislation and the UK regulators have a system of inspections in place to verify compliance. The UK regulators take a pro-active, intelligence led approach to checking compliance with the legislation on waste shipments, targeting exports which pose a high risk and intervening to stop illegal exports taking place.

In addition, the regulators undertake rigorous checks to ensure businesses accredited as exporters of packaging waste under the Packaging Waste Regulations comply with their conditions of accreditation, this includes verifying evidence that exported waste is recycled. The conditions of accreditation have been tightened to require an exporter to provide the Environment Agency with full details of the final overseas reprocessing sites receiving packaging waste it exports and to provide access to export documentation to prove that the material reached or was accepted by these overseas reprocessing sites.

Stop notices are issued prior to the export of waste when the Environment Agency suspect a shipment to be illegal (this could be for single containers, or multiple containers). The notice is served on those in control of the waste at the time. There are usually multiple parties involved in the waste shipment process including load sites, brokers, freight forwarders, hauliers, shipping lines etc. Liability for the illegal export of waste is potentially held throughout the waste export chain and therefore only through conducting investigations are the Environment Agency able to determine a definitive number of parties involved.

Plastic recycling is carried out at many waste management sites across England and numerous sites will accept incidental amounts of plastic waste, as such it is not possible to give exact figures for the number of plastic reprocessing facilities in England.

It is possible however, to give the following figures for treatment sites that accepted over 1,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year up to the year 2019. This information has been extracted from data held by the Environment Agency, using European Waste Catalogue codes denoting plastic waste.

Year

No of sites

2016

68

2017

71

2018

68

2019

68

25th Jun 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how the Environment Agency ensures that waste is legally disposed of once it reaches another country.

The UK Government has made no assessment of carbon emissions produced by the export of UK waste. The UK monitors and reports emissions from the shipping industry through the National Emissions Inventory but this information is not disaggregated to the level of individual cargo movements.

Between 2017 and 2020 the Environment Agency inspected and prevented the departure of the following containers. The Environment Agency also issued the following stop notices in respect to suspected illegal waste shipments over the same period.

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

Containers inspected

1,012

926

1,889

Containers prevented from leaving

404

300

463

Stop notices issued

106

238

444


The reasons for preventing the departure of these containers included:

  • The proposed recovery site did not exist or was not permitted to accept waste,
  • The proposed shipment was not in compliance with the correct procedure,
  • Issues with waste quality, for example, the level of contamination,
  • The required paperwork was not present, was incomplete or completed incorrectly,
  • The waste was not permitted for export to a non-OECD country

All waste exports need to be made in accordance with the relevant legislation and the UK regulators have a system of inspections in place to verify compliance. The UK regulators take a pro-active, intelligence led approach to checking compliance with the legislation on waste shipments, targeting exports which pose a high risk and intervening to stop illegal exports taking place.

In addition, the regulators undertake rigorous checks to ensure businesses accredited as exporters of packaging waste under the Packaging Waste Regulations comply with their conditions of accreditation, this includes verifying evidence that exported waste is recycled. The conditions of accreditation have been tightened to require an exporter to provide the Environment Agency with full details of the final overseas reprocessing sites receiving packaging waste it exports and to provide access to export documentation to prove that the material reached or was accepted by these overseas reprocessing sites.

Stop notices are issued prior to the export of waste when the Environment Agency suspect a shipment to be illegal (this could be for single containers, or multiple containers). The notice is served on those in control of the waste at the time. There are usually multiple parties involved in the waste shipment process including load sites, brokers, freight forwarders, hauliers, shipping lines etc. Liability for the illegal export of waste is potentially held throughout the waste export chain and therefore only through conducting investigations are the Environment Agency able to determine a definitive number of parties involved.

Plastic recycling is carried out at many waste management sites across England and numerous sites will accept incidental amounts of plastic waste, as such it is not possible to give exact figures for the number of plastic reprocessing facilities in England.

It is possible however, to give the following figures for treatment sites that accepted over 1,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year up to the year 2019. This information has been extracted from data held by the Environment Agency, using European Waste Catalogue codes denoting plastic waste.

Year

No of sites

2016

68

2017

71

2018

68

2019

68

25th Jun 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many shipping containers were prevented from leaving the UK by the Environment Agency in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, and (3) 2020; and what was the reason given for preventing them leaving.

The UK Government has made no assessment of carbon emissions produced by the export of UK waste. The UK monitors and reports emissions from the shipping industry through the National Emissions Inventory but this information is not disaggregated to the level of individual cargo movements.

Between 2017 and 2020 the Environment Agency inspected and prevented the departure of the following containers. The Environment Agency also issued the following stop notices in respect to suspected illegal waste shipments over the same period.

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

Containers inspected

1,012

926

1,889

Containers prevented from leaving

404

300

463

Stop notices issued

106

238

444


The reasons for preventing the departure of these containers included:

  • The proposed recovery site did not exist or was not permitted to accept waste,
  • The proposed shipment was not in compliance with the correct procedure,
  • Issues with waste quality, for example, the level of contamination,
  • The required paperwork was not present, was incomplete or completed incorrectly,
  • The waste was not permitted for export to a non-OECD country

All waste exports need to be made in accordance with the relevant legislation and the UK regulators have a system of inspections in place to verify compliance. The UK regulators take a pro-active, intelligence led approach to checking compliance with the legislation on waste shipments, targeting exports which pose a high risk and intervening to stop illegal exports taking place.

In addition, the regulators undertake rigorous checks to ensure businesses accredited as exporters of packaging waste under the Packaging Waste Regulations comply with their conditions of accreditation, this includes verifying evidence that exported waste is recycled. The conditions of accreditation have been tightened to require an exporter to provide the Environment Agency with full details of the final overseas reprocessing sites receiving packaging waste it exports and to provide access to export documentation to prove that the material reached or was accepted by these overseas reprocessing sites.

Stop notices are issued prior to the export of waste when the Environment Agency suspect a shipment to be illegal (this could be for single containers, or multiple containers). The notice is served on those in control of the waste at the time. There are usually multiple parties involved in the waste shipment process including load sites, brokers, freight forwarders, hauliers, shipping lines etc. Liability for the illegal export of waste is potentially held throughout the waste export chain and therefore only through conducting investigations are the Environment Agency able to determine a definitive number of parties involved.

Plastic recycling is carried out at many waste management sites across England and numerous sites will accept incidental amounts of plastic waste, as such it is not possible to give exact figures for the number of plastic reprocessing facilities in England.

It is possible however, to give the following figures for treatment sites that accepted over 1,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year up to the year 2019. This information has been extracted from data held by the Environment Agency, using European Waste Catalogue codes denoting plastic waste.

Year

No of sites

2016

68

2017

71

2018

68

2019

68

25th Jun 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many shipping containers the Environment Agency inspected in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, and (3) 2020.

The UK Government has made no assessment of carbon emissions produced by the export of UK waste. The UK monitors and reports emissions from the shipping industry through the National Emissions Inventory but this information is not disaggregated to the level of individual cargo movements.

Between 2017 and 2020 the Environment Agency inspected and prevented the departure of the following containers. The Environment Agency also issued the following stop notices in respect to suspected illegal waste shipments over the same period.

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

Containers inspected

1,012

926

1,889

Containers prevented from leaving

404

300

463

Stop notices issued

106

238

444


The reasons for preventing the departure of these containers included:

  • The proposed recovery site did not exist or was not permitted to accept waste,
  • The proposed shipment was not in compliance with the correct procedure,
  • Issues with waste quality, for example, the level of contamination,
  • The required paperwork was not present, was incomplete or completed incorrectly,
  • The waste was not permitted for export to a non-OECD country

All waste exports need to be made in accordance with the relevant legislation and the UK regulators have a system of inspections in place to verify compliance. The UK regulators take a pro-active, intelligence led approach to checking compliance with the legislation on waste shipments, targeting exports which pose a high risk and intervening to stop illegal exports taking place.

In addition, the regulators undertake rigorous checks to ensure businesses accredited as exporters of packaging waste under the Packaging Waste Regulations comply with their conditions of accreditation, this includes verifying evidence that exported waste is recycled. The conditions of accreditation have been tightened to require an exporter to provide the Environment Agency with full details of the final overseas reprocessing sites receiving packaging waste it exports and to provide access to export documentation to prove that the material reached or was accepted by these overseas reprocessing sites.

Stop notices are issued prior to the export of waste when the Environment Agency suspect a shipment to be illegal (this could be for single containers, or multiple containers). The notice is served on those in control of the waste at the time. There are usually multiple parties involved in the waste shipment process including load sites, brokers, freight forwarders, hauliers, shipping lines etc. Liability for the illegal export of waste is potentially held throughout the waste export chain and therefore only through conducting investigations are the Environment Agency able to determine a definitive number of parties involved.

Plastic recycling is carried out at many waste management sites across England and numerous sites will accept incidental amounts of plastic waste, as such it is not possible to give exact figures for the number of plastic reprocessing facilities in England.

It is possible however, to give the following figures for treatment sites that accepted over 1,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year up to the year 2019. This information has been extracted from data held by the Environment Agency, using European Waste Catalogue codes denoting plastic waste.

Year

No of sites

2016

68

2017

71

2018

68

2019

68

18th Oct 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what countries the UK has launched new trade negotiations with after (1) problems, and (2) drafting errors, have been found in continuity trade agreements.

HM Government has secured trade deals with 69 non-EU countries, many of which sought to replicate the effect of EU trade agreements. This meant that, when rolling over these agreements, the majority of EU texts remained unchanged and some language was retained with the understanding that it may require modifications once we had taken back control of our trade policy.

When implementing agreements, it is standard practice to amend, correct or update them over time depending upon the circumstances, and this can be achieved without launching new trade negotiations. This principle applies to the agreement with Ukraine and to other trade deals.

18th Oct 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what drafting errors have been found in the continuity trade agreement with Ukraine; and what are the implications of those errors.

HM Government has secured trade deals with 69 non-EU countries, many of which sought to replicate the effect of EU trade agreements. This meant that, when rolling over these agreements, the majority of EU texts remained unchanged and some language was retained with the understanding that it may require modifications once we had taken back control of our trade policy.

When implementing agreements, it is standard practice to amend, correct or update them over time depending upon the circumstances, and this can be achieved without launching new trade negotiations. This principle applies to the agreement with Ukraine and to other trade deals.

18th Oct 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many continuity trade agreements have been found to contain drafting errors after ratification; (2) which of those errors involve provisions that are no longer applicable to the UK now it has left the EU; and (3) what are the titles of the agreements affected by drafting errors.

HM Government has secured trade deals with 69 non-EU countries, many of which sought to replicate the effect of EU trade agreements. This meant that, when rolling over these agreements, the majority of EU texts remained unchanged and some language was retained with the understanding that it may require modifications once we had taken back control of our trade policy.

When implementing agreements, it is standard practice to amend, correct or update them over time depending upon the circumstances, and this can be achieved without launching new trade negotiations. This principle applies to the agreement with Ukraine and to other trade deals.

17th Jun 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government ho many non-disclosure agreements and personal confidentiality agreements have the Department for International Trade signed with stakeholders in relation to negotiations and the final text of the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement.

502 stakeholders have signed confidentiality agreements with the Department for International Trade to facilitate detailed discussions about trade negotiations. As yet, there is no final UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement text to share with stakeholders.