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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Douglas-Miller on 3 January (HL1212), how many times in each of the past five years the Environment Agency has (1) undertaken an internal review, or (2) asked the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to carry out an external review, of a response to a specific pollution incident.

The Environment Agency proactively undertakes internal reviews of incidents to identify what went well so that good practice can be shared. It will also review what did not go well so that lessons are identified, and performance can be improved. All the most serious incidents are reviewed and all less serious incidents where significant operational impact has been identified. There are approximately 100 serious incidents each year. The table below shows the number of incidents each year which have undergone a routine internal review.

The Environment Agency asked SEPA to carry out a review of an incident near Windermere that occurred in June 2022. They have no records of any other referrals.