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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to integrate citizen science with statutory monitoring within Regional Systems Planners to more effectively monitor the water environment.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In the recent Water White Paper, the Government committed to strengthening regional water planning to enable a more holistic, coordinated approach to water environment and supply planning. A fundamental part of this is supporting catchment partnerships across England, which are civil society-led and bring together cross-sectoral stakeholders to address water system issues at a local level. The value of citizen science as a key tool for catchment partnerships is widely recognised, and as such the Environment Agency has published the first ever Citizen Science Technical Advisory Framework to support and guide stakeholders when utilising citizen science. This ensures consistency and quality across the board and helps to identify where citizen science information can be used to inform the design of statutory monitoring programmes.

The Catchment Data Explorer brings together the evidence used in River Basin Management Plans, showing the status of our waters, the objectives we are working towards, and the reasons some places are not yet meeting them. Some of that evidence is already informed by citizen science, which add valuable local insight that helps build a fuller picture of what’s happening in our catchments. We are working closely with a wide range of partners to improve how we share data with each other, including to support catchment and regional planning reforms. As these collaborations grow, it will become easier to bring citizen generated evidence into our core decision making, helping us plan and manage the water environment in a more joined up and informed way.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether citizen science will be embedded in the (a) Water Reform Bill and (b) Transition Plan.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In the recent Water White Paper, the Government committed to strengthening regional water planning to enable a more holistic, coordinated approach to water environment and supply planning. A fundamental part of this is supporting catchment partnerships across England, which are civil society-led and bring together cross-sectoral stakeholders to address water system issues at a local level. The value of citizen science as a key tool for catchment partnerships is widely recognised, and as such the Environment Agency has published the first ever Citizen Science Technical Advisory Framework to support and guide stakeholders when utilising citizen science. This ensures consistency and quality across the board and helps to identify where citizen science information can be used to inform the design of statutory monitoring programmes.

The Catchment Data Explorer brings together the evidence used in River Basin Management Plans, showing the status of our waters, the objectives we are working towards, and the reasons some places are not yet meeting them. Some of that evidence is already informed by citizen science, which add valuable local insight that helps build a fuller picture of what’s happening in our catchments. We are working closely with a wide range of partners to improve how we share data with each other, including to support catchment and regional planning reforms. As these collaborations grow, it will become easier to bring citizen generated evidence into our core decision making, helping us plan and manage the water environment in a more joined up and informed way.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the National Catchment Data Platform will include citizen science data.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In the recent Water White Paper, the Government committed to strengthening regional water planning to enable a more holistic, coordinated approach to water environment and supply planning. A fundamental part of this is supporting catchment partnerships across England, which are civil society-led and bring together cross-sectoral stakeholders to address water system issues at a local level. The value of citizen science as a key tool for catchment partnerships is widely recognised, and as such the Environment Agency has published the first ever Citizen Science Technical Advisory Framework to support and guide stakeholders when utilising citizen science. This ensures consistency and quality across the board and helps to identify where citizen science information can be used to inform the design of statutory monitoring programmes.

The Catchment Data Explorer brings together the evidence used in River Basin Management Plans, showing the status of our waters, the objectives we are working towards, and the reasons some places are not yet meeting them. Some of that evidence is already informed by citizen science, which add valuable local insight that helps build a fuller picture of what’s happening in our catchments. We are working closely with a wide range of partners to improve how we share data with each other, including to support catchment and regional planning reforms. As these collaborations grow, it will become easier to bring citizen generated evidence into our core decision making, helping us plan and manage the water environment in a more joined up and informed way.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department will examine whether the options chosen for the restoration and renewal programme have been developed in accordance with HM Treasury’s Green Book guidance.

Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Parliament is responsible for the Restoration and Renewal programme.