Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to ensure enforcement action against waste companies is more robust.
Answered by Mary Creagh
The Government’s Waste Crime Action Plan sets out a strengthened enforcement response, including an additional £45 million for the Environment Agency (EA) over the next three years to expand on-the-ground enforcement activity. It also establishes a new Operational Waste Intelligence and Analysis Unit which will integrate satellite, drone, financial and criminal data to identify risks earlier and accelerate action. Further actions include introducing police‑style powers for EA officers, expanding the use of restriction notices to halt harmful activity quickly, and strengthening the use of permit suspensions and revocations where serious risks or breaches are identified.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many environmental permit breaches were recorded by the Environment Agency in each year between 2019 and 2025; how many were classified as category 1, 2 and 3; and what proportion resulted in formal enforcement action.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) make decisions on how it responds to all environmental permit breaches using its Enforcement and Sanctions Policy. Permit breaches can be handled through a regulatory response or through formal enforcement action.
Please note, enforcement action will appear to be decreasing disproportionately but this reflects ongoing investigations which have not yet concluded the process for consideration of enforcement sanctions (i.e. governance process).
Question | How many environmental permit breaches were recorded by the EA in each year between 2019 and 2025? | How many were classified as category 1, 2 and 3? | What proportion resulted in formal enforcement action? Please Note: On average 90% of the figures for Cat 1-3 breaches below are Category 3. In line with the EA enforcement and sanctions policy these cases will receive an ongoing regulatory response from its officers and the remaining breaches may require formal enforcement action . The percentage of formal enforcement action is based only on the number of breaches which it considered may require a formal enforcement response. | ||
Year (Calendar) | Total Number Breaches | Breaches classified as Cat 1-3 | Total Number of Cat 1-3 permit breaches considered for Formal Enforcement Action. | Number of Cat 1-3 permit breaches considered and resulted in Formal Enforcement Action | % Of Cat 1-3 permit Breaches considered and resulted in Formal Enforcement Action |
2019 | 19068 | 15094 | 1004 | 662 | 66% |
2020 | 12556 | 10441 | 748 | 443 | 59% |
2021 | 12793 | 11795 | 775 | 382 | 49% |
2022 | 14873 | 11884 | 882 | 266 | 30% |
2023 | 19491 | 13885 | 1261 | 192 | 15% |
2024 | 19771 | 15239 | 1281 | 131 | 10% |
2025 | 19524 | 14545 | 1477 | 67 | 5% |
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2025 to Question 38543 on Water Companies: Infrastructure, whether he has made an estimate of how much DPC schemes costs will increase household water bills.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bill impacts will be considered as part of Ofwat’s DPC approval process. In providing its consent to a water company to enter into a DPC contract, Ofwat will take into consideration the impact on customer interests, including the impact on bills. For example, through its pathfinder DPC project for United Utilities' Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Project, Ofwat included the estimated bill impact during the AMP8 period in United Utilities published Price Review 2024 Final Determination.
Ofwat will share future estimated bill impacts when projects have progressed, and the estimations have been made. Ofwat's initial indication based on pathfinder is that there could be savings for customers of between 6% and 40% through delivering a scheme as a DPC.
The full programme of all major projects is listed in PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery, but bill impacts will not be known until companies have finished the procurement process and final bids are received and approved.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2025, to Question 38543 on Water Companies: Infrastructure, if he will publish his calculations on the savings by delivering the scheme through DPC.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bill impacts will be considered as part of Ofwat’s DPC approval process. In providing its consent to a water company to enter into a DPC contract, Ofwat will take into consideration the impact on customer interests, including the impact on bills. For example, through its pathfinder DPC project for United Utilities' Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Project, Ofwat included the estimated bill impact during the AMP8 period in United Utilities published Price Review 2024 Final Determination.
Ofwat will share future estimated bill impacts when projects have progressed, and the estimations have been made. Ofwat's initial indication based on pathfinder is that there could be savings for customers of between 6% and 40% through delivering a scheme as a DPC.
The full programme of all major projects is listed in PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery, but bill impacts will not be known until companies have finished the procurement process and final bids are received and approved.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many of his Department's officials have been seconded from (a) the Institute for Economic Affairs, (b) the Policy Exchange, (c) the Adam Smith Institute and (d) Labour Together since July 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Since July 2024 no staff have been seconded into Defra from the Institute for Economic Affairs, the Policy Exchange, the Adam Smith Institute or Labour Together. The response to the request is Nil staff.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff their Department has seconded from Hakluyt since July 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Since July 2024 we have had no staff seconded into Defra from Hakluyt.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2025 to Question 36586 on Water Companies: Infrastructure, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of each Direct Procurement for Customers scheme on the annual cost of water bills for households in Yorkshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Prior to entering into a DPC arrangement, Ofwat considers the value for money of delivering the project as a DPC and also the impact on customer bills. The impacts on customer bills are unlikely to be known until a procurement for a scheme has been run, when the capital and operational costs of the project will be better understood. Currently the estimates provided through the price review are not mature estimates and are likely to change as the projects develop.
Our initial indication based on pathfinder projects is that there could be savings for customers of between 6% and 40% by delivering a scheme through DPC.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the annual additional cost to households will be of each of Yorkshire Water’s four Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) schemes; and what the additional cost will be per household for each (a) DPC and (b) Specified Infrastructure Project (SIPR) scheme broken down by water company region.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Yorkshire Water has four direct procurement schemes as listed in the table below with the estimated whole life totex (total expenditure) for each scheme as detailed in Ofwat's PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery.
These schemes will be mainly delivered in conjunction with other water companies or organisations as shown in the table below.
Ofwat’s final determinations provide Yorkshire Water with a major project development allowance of £97.16 million to fund pre-construction development, commercial and procurement strategies, land acquisition and enabling works. The allowances will be reflected in the wholesale revenue limits set for the 2025- 30 period. Delivery of projects through DPC or SIPR competitive models means that for each project, the level of bill impact cannot be confirmed until final bids are received and evaluated, and Ofwat have approved that it is in customers' best interests to proceed with the project.
Company(s) | Project Name | Project Type | Delivery Model | Whole life totex (£m) | Construction start date |
Yorkshire Water / Northumbrian Water/UU | Kielder Transfer SRO | Transfer | In-House /DPC[1] | 1,146 | 2032 |
Severn Trent, Yorkshire Water and the Coal Authority | Nottinghamshire Mine Water Treatment | Water treatment/ Transfer | DPC | 755 | 2038 |
Yorkshire Water | West Yorkshire Water Treatment Works | Water Treatment works | DPC | 310 | 2029-30 |
Severn Trent/ Yorkshire | Source and Transfer | DPC | 419 | 2031 |
The full programme of all 30 major projects is listed in PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery but we will not know the bill impacts until companies have finished the procurement process and final bids are received and approved.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to respond to Question 31773 tabled by the hon. Member for Normanton and Hemsworth on 21 February 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Question 31773 was answered on 3 March 2025.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff his Department has seconded from Palantir since July 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
We have no records of staff seconded into the Department from Palantir as such the number of staff seconded in from Palantir since July 2024 is zero.