Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the accuracy of the statistics published by Wildlife and Countryside Link showing the unintentional killing of (a) seals, (b) dolphins and (c) other protected species as a result of certain types of fishing UK waters; and what steps she will take to reduce this scale of loss.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Minister Hardy attended the launch of Wildlife and Countryside Link’s “Hidden in the Haul” report. The department is considering the report’s detail.
To understand and address bycatch, Defra funds a range of initiatives including:
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which techniques used by fishermen in UK waters are assessed by her Department to pose the most risk of inflicting bycatch losses; and what measures she will put in place to minimise such risk in future.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Minister Hardy attended the launch of Wildlife and Countryside Link’s “Hidden in the Haul” report. The department is considering the report’s detail.
To understand and address bycatch, Defra funds a range of initiatives including:
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the extent to which the legal requirement for fishermen to report marine mammal bycatch to the Marine Management Organisation is being fulfilled; and what enforcement steps she intends to take with regard to this obligation.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The reporting of marine mammal bycatch is an important obligation and the requirement is communicated to the fishing industry at regular intervals by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) along with other applicable regulation. We take compliance seriously and any breaches of the reporting requirement are dealt with in line with MMO’s published Compliance and Enforcement Strategy.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the extent to which the functions of (a) national parks, (b) Natural England, (c) the Environment Agency and (d) Forestry England are (i) clearly delineated, (ii) complementary and (iii) overlapping; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the number of these bodies.
Answered by Mary Creagh
The Government is conducting a full review of all Arm’s Length Bodies. This review is ongoing, and the outcomes will be published in due course.
However, as National Parks are not classified as Arm’s Length Bodies, they are not included in the review.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations she has received from the Campaign for National Parks on the effectiveness of the Protected Landscapes Duty, introduced under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, in promoting (a) earlier consideration of environmental aspects of planning proposals, (b) cleaner rivers, (c) improved public transport for rural communities, (d) stronger local economies, (d) more wildlife and biodiversity recovery and (e) fairer public access to nature; and whether the impact of the Protected Landscapes Duty has fulfilled the principal recommendations of the 2019 Glover Review.
Answered by Mary Creagh
The Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Defra and MHCLG Secretaries of State and the Minister for Nature received a letter from the Campaign for National Parks on 7 October 2025 titled ‘Do not weaken the laws protecting National Parks and National Landscapes’. We will respond in due course.
The Government is working with a range of partners to consider the impact of the Protected Landscapes Duty. The duty is intended to facilitate better outcomes for England’s Protected Landscapes, which are in line with their statutory purposes.
The Government has published guidance on the Protected Landscapes duty to ensure public bodies operating in these areas, including water companies, deliver better environmental outcomes working together with Protected Landscape organisations.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to Question 12881 on Food: Imports tabled by the Rt hon. Member for New Forest East; and if he will include in that Answer (a) the reasons for which sealed refrigerated food vehicles entering the UK via the Port of Dover and intended for embarkation on cruise ships from the Port of Southampton are required to undergo biosecurity checks at an inland border security facility in Sevington, Kent and (b) whether a biosecurity risk would manifest itself between the port of arrival and the border security facility.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Answer to Question 12881 was published on 7 March 2024 and I trust it addresses the concerns raised by the Rt Hon Member. I apologise for the delay in responding.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the location of the new border control post in Sevington on biosecurity risk.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Until now, goods from the EU enter the UK without certification and checks, apart from those required for the highest-risk live animals and plants. Now that we have moved away from the EU’s rigid biosecurity surveillance and reporting systems, we are responsible for mitigating our own biosecurity risks, which otherwise could devastate UK industries and our ability to export food, as well as posing risks to the environment, public health and the wider economy: by taking a risk-based approach our controls will be focused on consignments proven to cause the most significant biosecurity risk.
Defra has worked closely with the relevant designating authority so we are confident that Sevington will have the necessary measures in place to appropriately mitigate biosecurity risks that relate to this facility being located away from the point of entry. The approach to physical checks at inland Border Control Points has already been successfully adopted for plants. Work is also underway with key stakeholders, including the Food Standards Agency, to ensure robust operational procedures for vehicles travelling from port of entry to Sevington. These measures will ensure that biosecurity and food safety are not compromised.
Where a consignment is called to Sevington inland border facility for a physical inspection, those goods will not be legally cleared for sale or use within the UK until they have attended and been cleared at the Border Control Post (BCP). Where the BCP has concerns, either due to non-attendance or evidence of non-compliance, there are existing provisions, including requiring return or destruction of the goods, or for the goods to be referred for inland controls by the local authority. These are part of the established processes for Border Control facilities like Sevington that sit outside the controlled zone of ports, including those at Liverpool Birkenhead, Newhaven, Portsmouth and Tyne. Other EU ports like Dublin also carry out checks at control posts outside of the port itself.
African Swine Fever safeguard checks will be conducted with Border Force at the point of entry. It has never been our intention that these would move to any inland border facility.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason sealed refrigerated vehicles containing food for cruise ships sailing from UK ports are included in the Border Target Operating Model regime; if he will re-examine submissions made to the consultation on the provisional operating model in 2023 about this category of transit; and if he will make it his policy to exclude from the operating model sealed ships' stores that are in transit and not destined for use in the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer
In response to stakeholder feedback on the draft Border Target Operating Model, we made a change to the timeline for the introduction of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls. Delaying the introduction of the SPS controls by three months has provided stakeholders additional requested time to prepare for the model. It also has the added benefit of bringing the implementation of controls closer to the introduction of further benefits to industry through the upcoming UK Single Trade Window. Movements of SPS animal origin goods that enter Great Britain for the purposes of supplying a ship due to leave from a different port to the one of entry follow the requirements for transit movements, with a reduced burden compared with imports for placing on the GB market. Unlike health certificates for medium risk products being imported into GB, public health attestations are not required for transit health certificates. This means they do not have to meet the same regulatory requirements as goods that are imported into GB, and it is therefore crucial that SPS controls are introduced on these products to prevent them from entering the GB internal market. Identity checks will be performed on medium risk goods for the purpose of supplying a ship at the same percentage as both identity and physical checks would be performed on an import of a medium risk good.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what biosecurity restrictions on imported foodstuffs arriving in sealed refrigerated vehicles (a) were in place prior to and (b) have been in place following the UK's departure from the European Union; and for what reason was the Border Target Operations Model introduced.
Answered by Mark Spencer
When the UK left the European Union, we became responsible for designing and implementing our own border controls. The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) is key to protecting the UK’s biosecurity and ensuring our trading partners have confidence in our standards. The longer we do not have full visibility and control over sanitary and phytosanitary imports, the greater the risks to our public health, our food and farming industries, and our natural environment. The risks of keeping imports unchecked is massive for the UK economy. For example, an African Swine Fever outbreak such as that on the continent would see stocks of pigs slaughtered and make our pork unexportable to the rest of the world. The BTOM strikes the appropriate balance between protecting the UK’s public health, food supply chains and farming industries and natural environment, and setting a pragmatic, proportionate controls regime.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
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 (a) take steps with stakeholders to understand the (i) circumstances which led to Southern Water cutting off water supplies to households in the Waterside area of New Forest East constituency during the evening of Thursday 2 November 2023, (ii) reasons for which the water supply was not resumed until the morning of Sunday 5 November and (iii) reasons for the lack of advance warning to customers, (b) make an assessment of the adequacy of support given by Southern Water to vulnerable customers whose water had been cut off and (c) make it her policy to require water companies to increase their resilience levels to ensure they can deliver water to customers during periods of similarly heavy rainfall in the future.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
On 2 November, the effects of Storm Ciaran were seen at Testwood Water Treatment Works in Hampshire. The heavy rainfall and consequent flooding impacted water quality, which meant that it was not possible for the Treatment Works to effectively treat the volume of water needed to maintain supplies. This included to properties in the Waterside area of the New Forest. Southern Water attempted to minimise the impact but as soon as it become apparent that supply would be affected, notifications were provided to customers, through their website and social media.
Once flooding reduced, Southern Water increased supplies slowly to safeguard safety and drinking water quality standards. Customers had water supply restored gradually over the course of Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 November. Arrangements were put in place to support those customers off supply, including the opening of three bottled water stations, and regular deliveries to vulnerable customers.
Throughout the water supply outage, my officials engaged closely with Southern Water to ensure steps were taken to resolve the incident as soon as possible. I was regularly briefed on the emerging situation and ensured that Southern Water was supporting customers in the impacted area, particularly those who are vulnerable.
And on 8 November, I met with Lawrence Gosden, CEO Southern Water, to consider what lessons could be learned from this water supply incident and the actions Southern Water are taking avoid future interruptions at Testwood Water Treatment Works. The company is also providing a detailed report to the Drinking Water Inspectorate, who will carry out a full assessment on the event.
Ensuring a plentiful supply of water is a government priority with our Plan for Water, published in April 2023, setting out how we will enhance water supply infrastructure and improve resilience to drought as well as managing water demand. Earlier this year, regional water resources groups and water companies, including Southern Water, consulted on their draft Water Resource Management Plans. Within their plans, water companies must consider all options, including demand management and water resources infrastructure for at least the next 25 years.
Water companies are also using the £469 million made available by Ofwat in the current Price Review period (2020-2025) to investigate strategic water resources options, that are required to improve the resilience of England’s water supplies. Ofwat also recently announced that water companies are bringing forward £2.2 billion for new water infrastructure delivery, over the next two years, with £350 million worth of investment in water resilience schemes.
Where a company does not meet their performance expectations, Ofwat, the independent water regulator, will take decisive regulatory action. For example, due to underperformance in 2022-23 across several areas, including on supply interruptions and customer satisfaction, draft decisions by Ofwat will mean Southern will return over £42 million to its customers in the 2024-25 financial year.
Government and regulators will continue to closely monitor Southern Water’s Performance and will not hesitate to hold them to account if they fall short.