My Lords, the instrument before your Lordships makes only technical changes to retained EU law to ensure that floods and water legislation will continue to function when the UK has left the EU. I emphasise that the instrument corrects technical deficiencies and creates no new policy. In addition, we have consulted with the devolved Administrations on the instrument, and they have given consent where appropriate.
Part 1 makes introductory provision about the citation, commencement, territorial extent and application of the instrument. Part 2 makes operability amendments to some primary legislation, such as the Water Act 1989, which applies to England and Wales only. The amendments replace the words “EU obligation” with “retained EU obligations” to reflect the change after the exit from the EU. They also address the use of the term “environmental objectives”, which is defined in the water framework directive. The amendments instead define that term by reference to our domestic legislation which implements the water framework directive rather than the EU directive itself.
Part 3 amends technical deficiencies in secondary legislation, and I will highlight the key types of amendments. Regarding the sludge regulations, Regulation 6 amends the 1989 regulations to include a reporting obligation for the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers on the implementation of the regulations every three years.
Regulation 7 amends the urban waste water treatment regulations, which apply to England and Wales only. As well as changing references to “EU law”, so that they now refer to “retained EU law”, a requirement is included that relevant environmental reports are to be published by the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers.
Regulation 8 deals with water fittings regulations, which extend and apply to England and Wales only.
The amendment in Regulation 9 to the drinking water undertakings regulations, which again extend to England and Wales, changes the word “implements” to “implemented”, to reflect that there will be no future requirements to transpose EU directives after exit day.
The Water Industry (Special Administration) Rules are amended by Regulation 12. The special administration regime is an insolvency regime specifically created for water and sewerage companies. It is a reserved matter, but the regime only applies to England and Wales, as Scotland and Northern Ireland have different water industry structures.
The silage, slurry and agricultural fuel oil regulations apply to England only. They are amended by Regulation 13 to allow products such as silos and slurry tanks that are of equivalent standards to the British standards to be installed, wherever they are manufactured.
On the question of the Incidental Flooding and Coastal Erosion (England) Order 2011, Regulation 14 amends the order, which applies to England only. As with the Water Act 1989, it changes the definition of “environmental objectives” so that it relates to our domestic legislation which implements the water framework directive rather than to the directive itself, which will not be part of our law.
Regulation 15 amends the Bathing Water Regulations, which extend to England and Wales. The amendments correct cross-references to the bathing water directive which would be deficient on exit. A requirement is also included for the Secretary of State and the Welsh Ministers to publish a report each year containing monitoring results and other information about bathing water season.
Similar amendments to deal with cross-references to EU legislation are made to the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations by Regulation 16. These apply to England only. An obligation is also placed on the Secretary of State to publish reports on the implementation of these regulations.
Regarding the flood reinsurance regulations, which are dealt with in Regulation 17, this is a reserved policy area and this amendment covers all of the UK. A minor technical amendment is made to the reference on obligations on the scheme administrator arising from “directly applicable” EU legislation. This will instead read as the obligations arising from “retained direct” EU legislation.
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The water supply and private water supplies regulations apply to England only. The amendments in Regulations 18 and 19 fix cross-references which are deficient. Provision is also included so that the Secretary of State has an obligation to produce and publish reports on drinking water quality.
Regulation 20 amends the England and Wales regulations which implement the EU water framework directive. Many of the corrections replace the term “EU instrument” with “retained EU law”. These amendments cover England and Wales, reflecting the fact that the two countries share a single set of regulations implementing the directive. The Welsh Government agree to this approach. This policy area is fully devolved for Northern Ireland and Scotland, but we have made very similar operability corrections to the separate regulations governing the cross-border river basin districts of Northumbria and Solway Tweed, which are shared between England and Scotland. This approach was agreed by the Scottish Government.
The inserted Schedule 5 makes a series of modifications to the water framework directive and two other connected directives so that references to those directives continue to work properly after EU exit. These include modifying references to “member States” and to EU legislation. There are also some necessary omissions such as articles about reporting to the Commission and to the Commission resolving issues between member states.
The two sets of water abstraction regulations referred to in Regulations 21 and 22 extend and apply to England and Wales. Regulation 22 fixes cross-references to terminology used in the water framework directive to make it operable.
The regulations amending and revoking EU decisions extend and apply to all the UK and have been drafted in liaison with the devolved Administrations and with their consent.
Having taken your Lordships through each element of the regulations, I hope that you will understand why I want to emphasise that they are about fixing technical deficiencies in the floods and water legislation to ensure that it continues to operate effectively. I emphasise again that this instrument does not introduce new policy and preserves the current regime for protecting and improving the water environment. I beg to move.