My Lords, I think that in the mood of the times on the environment and all that we have seen, whether in reference to climate change or the use of plastics, this country and the world are moving into a different phase of thinking about things that we did wrong before. Whatever happens, we in this country, with the expertise that we have, should be championing all these things. I do not think, for instance, on scientific expertise that I can do anything other than say that we have some of the world leaders in this matter. Clearly, the UK Technical Advisory Group will continue to liaise with agencies and Governments across the UK, with our European friends and with our global counterparts, precisely because, as has been said, so many of these things have a knock-on influence.
On the issue of the water supply fittings referred to by the noble Baroness, my understanding is that the amendment is to ensure that the UK will not be in breach of WTO rules. Our current legislation makes it clear that UK standards still need to be met when installing water fittings in agricultural storage products, and I stress that products from the EEA and any other country can still be used and installed if they meet the current high UK standards. That is the background.
I will look at the issue of technical omissions because I respect—as I respect all the comments that have been made—what the noble Baroness said about those. The technical omission of certain articles, including Article 10 of the water framework directive, does not impact on the functioning of the water and floods policy regime. Article 10 repeats existing obligations that are already transposed into our domestic law. We are already under- taking these obligations and will continue to undertake them as set out in our domestic law. However, I will pick up the point that the noble Baroness made.
My noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering asked about the procedure to change Article 20. Article 20 of the water framework directive is about the technical adoption of the directive. We will continue to co-operate effectively with our European and global counterparts to exchange the latest scientific information. We will of course also liaise with the devolved Administrations through the current UK Technical Advisory Group. She asked about cross-border issues. The Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency collaborate on the cross-border river basin districts in setting standards and developing river basin management plans for Solway Tweed and Northumbria. The SI amendments are operability matters. They will certainly not lead to a lowering of standards. That is not the purpose. In fact, there are no policy changes and we wish to retain our standards, if not improve them.
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I think I alluded to future EU directives. This instrument is about preserving and protecting the existing regime, and it will be for the Government and
Parliament to consider improvements consistent with our overall approach on the environment set out in the 25-year environment plan. This is again a matter about which we should be positive.
On the technical question of the adoption of Article 20 of the directive, the technical aspects of the directive require updates by the EU Commission. These will be transferred to the Secretary of State in a separate SI. The updates will continue to be for scientific and technical progress, and this will be preserved in the SI.
On the consultation, obviously it is important that we consulted more than 25 external environmental stakeholders. There was an event on 27 September to explain the approach to the drafting and the continuity of existing policy. Stakeholders were invited to view the instrument prior to it being laid. The RSPB and the NFU exercised that opportunity and no concerns were raised by anybody about the instrument because it is about operability and is a technical matter.
I will look at Hansard to see whether there are any outstanding matters. This is an operability matter.