Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to subsidise diesel costs for the British fishing fleet.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government recognises concerns about the impact of high fuel costs on the fishing industry, which we are monitoring. Commercial fishing vessels already benefit from fuel duty relief, meaning they effectively pay no duty on red diesel. Any decisions on further financial support must be considered carefully alongside wider government priorities and the position of other sectors facing similar cost pressures
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to reduce noise pollution in towns and cities.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to ensuring that noise is managed effectively to promote good health and minimise disruption to people’s quality of life. Defra manages noise through the Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006.
The Regulations require noise mapping and the adoption of Noise Action Plans based upon this mapping. The Action Plans identify ‘Important Areas’, where the 1% of the population affected by the highest noise levels is located. The latest round of mapping is complete, with Noise Action Plans due to be published later in 2026.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to create strategic food stockpiles.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK does not have national food stockpiles or plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is equipped to deal with any potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.
Defra work closely with the Cabinet Office and other departments ensuring food supply is fully incorporated as part of emergency preparedness, including consideration of dependencies on other sectors. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing preparations, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of shareholder capital in English water companies.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat is the economic regulator for the water industry. It is its responsibility to ensure that water companies are able to secure the financing required to conduct their operations, including through equity capital. Since December 2024 water companies have raised over £2 billion in new equity.
As part of this function, Ofwat publishes an annual Monitoring and Financial Resilience Report. This contains an up-to-date calculation of the Regulated Capital Value (RCV) of all water companies. RCV is a measure of a company’s capital base.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are considering bringing South East Water into public ownership.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
South East Water is one of the worst performers on water supply interruptions, and it’s important that its customers receive the compensation they deserve.
The Drinking Water Inspectorate is investigating the recent supply outages and will take appropriate enforcement action where required. South East Water was already under Ofwat investigation into their supply resilience. On 15 January, Ofwat announced a new investigation into South East Water’s compliance with the licence condition regarding customer service. The customer licence condition gives Ofwat powers to act against a water company which fails to provide appropriate support to its customers. This is the first investigation Ofwat has launched on the customer-focused licence condition.
Unravelling the current ownership model would cost the taxpayer around £100 billion and take years. Instead, we are focusing on tackling the real problems with the water industry with our root and branch reforms that will clean up the nation’s polluted waterways, turn around the sector’s performance and restore trust and accountability.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 3 June (HL7863), what plans they have to introduce legislation to counter environmental noise nuisance and support local enforcement.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Statutory Nuisance Regime under Section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) is designed to provide protection from nuisances including noise, odour, smoke, fumes, artificial light, infestations and accumulations.
Local authorities are responsible for investigating nuisance problems brought to their attention under the EPA. If they agree that a statutory nuisance is happening, has happened or will happen in the future, councils must serve an abatement notice (usually on the person responsible). This could result in an unlimited fine if the recipient does not follow the rules of the abatement notice. It could also result in prosecution and an additional fine if found guilty in a Magistrates Court.
Local Authority Environmental Health Officers are qualified to make decisions on what can be considered a statutory nuisance within the local context and issue an abatement notice immediately. At this present time, there are no plans to change the regime.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of dog attacks (1) in general, and (2) on postal workers in particular.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
We are working in partnership with the police, local authorities and animal welfare organisations to ensure that the full range of existing dog control powers are effectively applied to encourage responsible dog ownership and reduce the risk of dog attacks, including attacks amongst postal workers.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) serious injuries, and (2) deaths, have been caused by dog attacks in England and Wales in the past 12 months.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Defra does not collect this data. Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) published by NHS Digital include numbers of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) for hospital admissions in England that were caused by a dog bite or strike. The Office for National Statistics also collects details and figures on deaths registered in England and Wales, including underlying cause. Deaths registered in England and Wales – 21st century mortality - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether (1) the number of dog attacks in England and Wales has increased month by month over the past 12 months, and (2) the total number is greater than it was for the previous 12 months.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Defra does not collect this data. Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) published by NHS Digital include numbers of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) for hospital admissions in England that were caused by a dog bite or strike.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure there is a sufficient supply of fruit and vegetables in UK supermarkets.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
We remain in close contact with suppliers, who are clear that current issues relating to the availability of certain fruits and vegetables are predominately caused by poor weather in Spain and North Africa where they are produced. These issues have been caused by unseasonal weather hampering production and harvest during December and January.
We are aware some supermarkets are limiting sales of certain fruit and vegetables. While short-term supplies may be tight, overall, the supply chain is robust, and we are keeping the market under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group.
The capability, levers and expertise to respond to disruption lie with industry. The Government's role is to support and enable an industry-led response. UK food security remains resilient, and we continue to expect industry to be able to mitigate supply problems through alternative sourcing options.
We work with industry bodies across the horticulture sectors, including with the Edible Horticulture Roundtable Group, as well as with other key stakeholders, such as the British Growers Association and the National Farmers Union to monitor and assess the current market situation. We also work with colleagues in the Devolved Administrations at the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group.
The Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries, Mark Spencer, held an industry roundtable with supermarkets on 27 February to explore their plans for a return to normal supplies and contingencies for dealing with these supply chain problems.
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response, and is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Defra has a collaborative relationship with industry which allows us to respond effectively to disruption, should it occur.