Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether all local authorities in the UK have reported to HM Government that they are prepared and resourced to take on responsibility for food safety and phytosanitary checks as part of clearance processes at UK ports after March 2019; and if not, which have not so reported.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra is working with the Food Standards Agency to look at the future arrangements for sanitary checks on imports of animal products to the UK after March 2019. As part of this we are working with a range of stakeholders, including local authorities, which are responsible for carrying out some of these checks along with other delivery bodies.
The Government is working to get the best deal for Britain when leaving the EU and through our new relationship with the EU we are aiming to achieve the freest possible trade in goods and services between the UK and the EU. The precise nature of our future relationship with the EU is still to be determined and is the subject of negotiation. Discussion on the sanitary and phyto-sanitary conditions that will be applicable to trade in animal and plant products will form part of these negotiations. Negotiations between the UK and the EU have so far been limited to the withdrawal arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there are arrangements by which the Flood Re scheme may be disapplied to private residences which exceed a certain number of bedrooms.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There are no arrangements for the Scheme to be disapplied to homes which exceed a certain number of bedrooms.
There are no restrictions on the number of bedrooms a private residential property can have in relation to its eligibility for Flood Re. Insurers decide whether or not to cede a policy to Flood Re based on their assessment of a residential property’s flood risk, any commercial considerations relevant to the insurer and the eligibility criteria for the Scheme.
It remains important to obtain a number of quotes to get the best deal.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 2 February (HL4792), whether they will publish the Section 20 Water Resources Operating Agreement relating to Kielder Reservoir with any information which might compromise national security or public safety redacted.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Environment Agency does not plan to publish the Section 20 Kielder Reservoir Operating Agreement because the document also contains commercially sensitive information.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 2 February (HL4792), whether they will publish the abstraction licences relating to (1) Thirlmere Reservoir, and (2) Haweswater Reservoir, with the precise locations of the abstraction points redacted.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Environment Agency does not publish the licences because these include the precise locations of abstraction points for public water supply which cannot be made generally available on national security and public safety grounds. Information on the Thirlmere and Haweswater reservoirs is already available at ‘Water Abstraction Licences - Environment Agency’ on gov.uk website.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the abstraction licences relating to the abstraction of water from (1) Thirlmere Reservoir, (2) Kielder Reservoir, and (3) Haweswater Reservoir.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Environment Agency maintains a register (The Water Abstraction and Impounding register) of all abstraction licences under the requirements of section 189 of the Water Resources Act 1991 and prescribed by Regulation 34 of SI 2006/641, the Water Resources (Abstraction & Impounding) Regulations 2006.
The Environment Agency does not routinely publish the licences because these include the precise locations of abstraction points for public water supply which cannot be made generally available on national security and public safety grounds.
The Kielder agreement is a Section 20 Water Resources Operating Agreement between the Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water Limited which has been in operation since 1989. It describes how the water should be released from Kielder to secure the proper use of water resources.
Due to the operating agreement there is no abstraction licence relating to the abstraction of water from Kielder. Releases are made from the reservoir to support abstractions from rivers downstream and, via the Kielder transfer tunnel, from other rivers in the north east area.