1-20 of 223 results for subject:Algae
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To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will hold discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on how best practice across the UK can be utilised to help with green blue algae problems in Lough Neagh.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will hold discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on how best practice across the UK can be utilised to help with green blue algae problems in Lough Neagh.
Baroness Hayman visited Lough Neagh with Defra officials and Minister Muir in March 2025, to see first-hand some of the shared challenges. Subsequently at the November 2025 meeting of the Interministerial Group for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ministers from across the UK, including the Northern Ireland Executive, discussed water quality issues and how to share best practice. Ministers agreed to establish an officials’ group to enhance the sharing of research data and behavioural change evidence to support policy making and delivery across the UK.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to publish updated guidance on incorporating (a) blue-green algae and (b) other additional public health factors into bathing-water quality assessments.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to publish updated guidance on incorporating (a) blue-green algae and (b) other additional public health factors into bathing-water quality assessments.
The purpose of the Regulations is to ensure the protection of public health through the use of monitoring and classifications. Bathing waters are one of the most visible ways in which the public interacts with the water environment and so it is critical that appropriate regulations meet the needs of water users and those involved with managing bathing water sites.
On 28 October 2025, the Department laid before Parliament an SI which incorporates reforms to modernise the Bathing Water Regulations. Coming into effect on 21 November 2025, these reforms include the scope to extend the bathing and monitoring season from 21 November 2025. We will continue to evaluate environmental and societal impacts of future reforms and engage stakeholders as we move to implementation.
Current guidelines on Environment Agency and Local Authority roles during pollution incidents, including blue-green algae, remain valid.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of blue-green algae on water quality in UK rivers.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of blue-green algae on water quality in UK rivers.
The Environment Agency (EA) works with others including local authorities and Public Health England to manage waterbodies affected by blue-green algae and the risks they pose. The EA does not routinely monitor for blue-green algae but attends incidents and analyses samples where appropriate, assessing the risks and notifying water body owners, abstractors, Environmental Health Officers, as necessary.
Excessive nutrient enrichment is a major cause of algal blooms. The Government recognises this and is taking action to reduce nutrient pollution. The Environment Act 2021 sets legally binding goals to cut agricultural nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment entering water by 40% by 2038 (compared to a 2018 baseline), and to reduce phosphorus loadings from treated wastewater by 80% by 2038 (compared to a 2020 baseline). We have also committed to a review of the Environmental Improvement Plan, which will outline how Defra will meet these targets.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve biodiversity in coastal areas impacted by algae overgrowth.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve biodiversity in coastal areas impacted by algae overgrowth.
In the most ambitious target on water pollution in history, we will halve sewage pollution by 2030.
We are restoring our waterways to good health so communities can once again take pride in their rivers, lakes and seas.
We are abolishing Ofwat and establishing a new, single, powerful regulator. We are ending the era of water companies marking their own homework by ending operator self-monitoring. And we are ensuring greater local involvement in planning decisions around water.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has received a request for assistance with algal bloom pollution in Lough Neagh from the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has received a request for assistance with algal bloom pollution in Lough Neagh from the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland.
The Secretary of State and the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland recently discussed the shared priority of improving water quality in the UK. There was agreement to collaborate further by enhancing joint scientific research and exchanging best practice methods to tackle pollution of culturally and economically important water bodies such as Lough Neagh.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps with relevant authorities to help tackle the prevalence of toxic algae that is harmful to dogs in waterways.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps with relevant authorities to help tackle the prevalence of toxic algae that is harmful to dogs in waterways.
Algae grow naturally in water. When their growth conditions are good, such as periods of hot, calm weather - algal blooms can develop. Some algae, notably cyanobacteria or ‘blue-green algae’, can produce toxins which can kill, or make ill, pets, wild animals, and livestock. They can also harm people, producing rashes after skin contact and illnesses if swallowed. An excess of nutrients (like phosphorus) can increase frequencies and severities of blooms.
Reducing nutrient pollution is a priority for Defra and the Environment Agency. Phosphorus loadings to English rivers from water industry sewage treatment works were reduced between 1995 and 2020 at a cost of £2.1 billion capital, with a further £2.4 billion committed in the 2019 water industry price review for action in 2020 to 2025. Government has set legally binding targets for the reduction of nutrients from wastewater and agriculture in the Environment Act 2021.
The Environment Agency works with landowners and relevant authorities in analysing affected sites, warning the public and restricting access where blue green algae poses a risk to water users.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency on algae pollution in Lough Neagh.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency on algae pollution in Lough Neagh.
Environmental matters including algae pollution in Lough Neagh are devolved. In the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive and Ministers, it is for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to work with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency on this matter.
My Lords, I shall first speak to the Statement on the agricultural transition plan. We know from the Statement that Defra is moving away from the direct payment schemes that farmers have been receiving for many years from the EU, such as the basic payment scheme, and is
instead moving...
My Lords, I shall first speak to the Statement on the agricultural transition plan. We know from the Statement that Defra is moving away from the direct payment schemes that farmers have been receiving for many years from the EU, such as the basic payment scheme, and is
instead moving...
My Lords, the farming Statement in the other place on 26 January has been generally welcomed. Farmers are keen to move forward with ELMS, but sufficient detail to allow them to plan ahead has been sadly lacking in the past. This current announcement provides more information, which should give some...
My Lords, the farming Statement in the other place on 26 January has been generally welcomed. Farmers are keen to move forward with ELMS, but sufficient detail to allow them to plan ahead has been sadly lacking in the past. This current announcement provides more information, which should give some...
My Lords, I will be very brief. Exactly as the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, said, the images of this incident are quite something. Given its importance, I would be very interested to understand from the Minister why Professor Gideon Henderson, the main scientific adviser to Defra, was not involved at...
My Lords, I will be very brief. Exactly as the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, said, the images of this incident are quite something. Given its importance, I would be very interested to understand from the Minister why Professor Gideon Henderson, the main scientific adviser to Defra, was not involved at...
My Lords, I will try to give noble Lords as much time to ask questions as possible. I thank noble Lords on the opposition Front Benches for their questions. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, for her support for this transition. I know that this announcement has been long...
My Lords, I will try to give noble Lords as much time to ask questions as possible. I thank noble Lords on the opposition Front Benches for their questions. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, for her support for this transition. I know that this announcement has been long...
My Lords, I declare my farming interests. I very much enjoyed the Minister’s upbeat presentation on the situation in agriculture, but I know that, from his own farming experience, he will empathise with the fact that any farming business is a complex series of ecosystems that interact with each other,...
My Lords, I declare my farming interests. I very much enjoyed the Minister’s upbeat presentation on the situation in agriculture, but I know that, from his own farming experience, he will empathise with the fact that any farming business is a complex series of ecosystems that interact with each other,...
There are two reasons for that. First, we have a programme of tailing out the basic payment scheme and replacing it with ELMS. That requires us to manage the public money properly. Secondly, we want this to be an iterative—a wonderful Civil Service word—process that responds to our understanding of...
There are two reasons for that. First, we have a programme of tailing out the basic payment scheme and replacing it with ELMS. That requires us to manage the public money properly. Secondly, we want this to be an iterative—a wonderful Civil Service word—process that responds to our understanding of...
My Lords, I declare my interests as laid out in the declaration of interests. How will the Government make farmers confident in this excellent report when they are signing contracts with other countries that will allow people to export into this country and compete with our farmers when they do...
My Lords, I declare my interests as laid out in the declaration of interests. How will the Government make farmers confident in this excellent report when they are signing contracts with other countries that will allow people to export into this country and compete with our farmers when they do...
I am grateful to my noble friend for reminding me that I should have drawn noble Lords’ attention to my entry in the register as a farmer. As he knows, and as I have said frequently from this Dispatch Box, it is the Government’s policy that all trade deals should...
I am grateful to my noble friend for reminding me that I should have drawn noble Lords’ attention to my entry in the register as a farmer. As he knows, and as I have said frequently from this Dispatch Box, it is the Government’s policy that all trade deals should...
My Lords, the Minister said that the Government were ring-fencing the £2.4 billion for ELMS, but the fact is that the basic payment scheme has been going down much more quickly than the sustainable farming incentive has been going up, so there is an inevitable gap in farmers’ incomes as...
My Lords, the Minister said that the Government were ring-fencing the £2.4 billion for ELMS, but the fact is that the basic payment scheme has been going down much more quickly than the sustainable farming incentive has been going up, so there is an inevitable gap in farmers’ incomes as...
We have tried to help farmers in as many ways as possible. For example, we have brought forward to a half-yearly payment what they are currently
receiving in the basic payment scheme, so what they were receiving in one lump sum they now receive six- monthly. That has helped their...
We have tried to help farmers in as many ways as possible. For example, we have brought forward to a half-yearly payment what they are currently
receiving in the basic payment scheme, so what they were receiving in one lump sum they now receive six- monthly. That has helped their...
My Lords, I welcome the further update on the transition plan. When the Agriculture Bill was going through this place, pleas were made to the Minister’s predecessor to allow us to amend the two agricultural Acts that are the foundation of the tenancies. Will my noble friend take that away...
My Lords, I welcome the further update on the transition plan. When the Agriculture Bill was going through this place, pleas were made to the Minister’s predecessor to allow us to amend the two agricultural Acts that are the foundation of the tenancies. Will my noble friend take that away...