Lords
Oral Questions
15 April 2026
Marine Protected Areas: Bottom Trawling
As I said, we are working with the Marine Management Organisation on this, because we need to get it right. We had a huge number of responses. There is also ongoing research at the moment that needs to be taken into account. The way we are looking at this is that each marine protected area is set up…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
Flood Detection and Prevention: Technological Assistance
It is worth pointing out that a fair amount of work has been done, particularly by the Environment Agency, to improve community outreach and engage with the kinds of households that the noble Baroness describes. For instance, more than 1.5 million users are signed up to receive EA flood warnings in …
Lords
Oral Questions
18 March 2026
Trail-hunting
I reassure the noble Baroness and all noble Lords that, when I look at future policy and legislation as part of my role as a Minister, it is incredibly important that everything is evidence-led and, where scientific evidence is needed, that we take the most up-to-date scientific evidence into accoun…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 March 2026
Peatland Restoration
The noble Baroness is absolutely right that this is a very important issue. I am sure that she has read in detail our environmental improvement plan that was published at the end of last year. This was set out as one of our key actions on peatland and peatland restoration. The Government are committ…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 March 2026
Sustainable Farming Incentive: Small Farms
We have tried to reduce the complexity of the scheme. We want to make it more straightforward for more farms and different types of farms to access. There are opportunities for horticultural growers, which are often smaller farms as well. We are looking to better support tenant farmers and, importan…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 March 2026
PFAS
Clearly, we want to move forward as quickly as we can. The noble Baroness and others will be aware that we are working with the EU at the moment. There are negotiations. We know that the EU is looking at its own approach and, clearly, we need to take that into consideration and to work alongside it.…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 March 2026
British Farming: Competitiveness
The noble Baroness is absolutely correct that we talked in our manifesto about the importance of public procurement in supporting our food industry. The Procurement Act allows contracts for certain value thresholds also to be reserved for smaller UK suppliers. We want to look at the big suppliers an…
Lords
Oral Questions
2 March 2026
Forest-Risk Commodities
Due diligence, particularly around trade and standards, is incredibly important. We want, as I am sure the noble Baroness is aware, to grow our economy in this country, but at the same time we must support business and ensure that we are doing so in a way that is sustainable—whether it is to do with…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Life Sciences: Beagles
If the noble Baroness looks at the strategy, she will see that we have put £75 million of new money into that strategy to accelerate the phasing out of the use of animals. As I said in answer to my noble friend Lord McCabe, we have a target of a 30% reduction by the end of this Parliament in the are…
Lords
Oral Questions
28 January 2026
2 contributions
Yorkshire: Sustainable Water Management Solutions
My Lords, I pay tribute—
When we brought in the recent water Act, we expected water companies to respect what Parliament had passed, and to behave in the right way regarding paying themselves bonuses when they were continuing to pollute. We will do what we can to crack down on that and to change behaviour, but I am also ple…
Lords
Proceedings
26 January 2026
Water White Paper
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the Statement repeat this evening. Some proposals in this White paper are indeed most welcome, including the scrapping of Ofwat—something we have long called for—but it falls short of the fundamental reforms water customers are so desperately in need of. True refor…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 January 2026
Independent Water Commission
When we are delivering a once-in-a-generation reset of a system that has not been touched in, frankly, decades—in the last 14 years of the last Government—it is important that we make sure that we get the reforms right. If that means that there is a delay in publishing the White Paper, it is better …
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Environmental Improvement Plan 2025
My Lords, it is a privilege to participate in a debate led by the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, who made a very good point about the condition of our SSSIs. The Government’s 2025 plan speaks with confidence about restoring nature and becoming a clean energy superpower. That confidence must be matched by c…
Lords
Oral Questions
6 January 2026
Flooding Interventions
The noble Baroness is right. As someone who lives in a rural area that floods regularly, I am aware of the important role farmers play in managing flood risk and storing water on their land. Farmers can access payments in a number of ways, as I am sure the noble Baroness is aware. One is the farm re…
Lords
Debate
24 November 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the considerable amount of time she has given to so many of us in these discussions, particularly on Motions H1 and K1 in this group. First, on K1—this is the wrong order, but I am going to do it that way anyway—I particularly welcome this new and additional commit…
Lords
Debate
21 November 2025
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill
My Lords, please allow me to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Trees, former president of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, on his success in guiding this important Bill to its Third Reading in your Lordships’ House. Today we see a Private Member’s Bill sail through both Houses of Parliament…
Lords
Proceedings
13 November 2025
Biodiversity and the Countryside
My Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend Lord Grayling for securing this important debate on the impact of this Government’s policies on biodiversity and the countryside. The scorecard is looking pretty grim, as many noble Lords have pointed out in this fascinating debate, and I will address …
Lords
Debate
29 October 2025
4 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak very briefly, just in case there is a move to test the opinion of the House on Amendment 164 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Roborough. While we understand the intent behind the proposal, we on these Benches are not persuaded that removing the provision for mandatory payme…
I will speak briefly to this group. I applaud the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, for her resilience in the face of some opposition from her own Benches.
Amendment 197 seeks to end the automatic right for developers to connect surface water from new homes to the public sewerage system, regardless of…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
29 October 2025
5 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
First, I would like to associate these Benches with the best wishes sent to the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman. I hope she is better soon. One or two of us spotted her attempting to struggle in this morning. The Minister here has had to take up a whole raft of amendments on which she was not expecting …
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Roborough, for tabling Amendment 138. I will be extremely brief and I will explain why in a second. We look forward to hearing the Minister’s response. We all need to be extremely mindful of invasive non-native species and the pressures they put on our beautifu…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
Water Companies: Private Ownership
I thank the noble Baroness for that question. To build on the answer I gave to my noble friend Lord Sikka, we have already put in place new measures, including the emergency legislation last year, to ensure that we are bearing down on water executives. We have indeed taken action. As I said, we are …
Lords
Debate
29 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I rise to address Amendments 115 and 116, introduced with such eloquence by the noble Baronesses, Lady Willis of Summertown, Lady Young and Lady Bennett. These amendments attempt to reinforce safeguards within our planning system on a very strategic level. They are precise and would embed …
Lords
Debate
27 October 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendment 93, in my name and that of the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb, aims to secure the future of England’s chalk streams by enshrining specific protections and standards into our planning regime. As we made clear in Committee, these globally rare ecosystems—there are only 2…
My Lords, I thank the Minister. It is very clear there is a strong feeling within this House that there is a need for something to shift and be enshrined in law. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment in order to hand over and support the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Norwich if he decides to p…
+1 more contribution in this session