Speeches by Reynolds.

“In some areas it is urgent, and in other areas we are making even more progress than we thought we were. It really does depend on the target you are talking about. For example, we are making quite good progress on air quality, but in other areas—we will be honest about this—we face challenges. In some of the target are…”

“We know that some Departments encounter this more as part of their daily work. I do not know if it is a case of needing more support or senior leverage, but we are continuing our work to make sure that every Department is engaged. Where Departments are used to working on issues that affect the environment daily—for exa…”

“As a Department we work across Government to make sure that concerns around nature and the environment are taken into account in the round. I think we have now protected the small farmers, given that we have increased the threshold significantly. We worked hand in glove with MHCLG on the Planning and Infrastructure Bil…”

“We are happy to reflect on that.”

“It depends on what the Government want to do. We have to ensure that, as the Chancellor has set out, we meet our fiscal rules—that is really important—and that as a Government we have financial discipline. We have secured a record amount for flood defences, both maintaining current defences and constructing new defence…”

“There have been some pretty significant arrests in recent weeks as well. The cross-working between our Department, our arm’s length bodies, the Home Office and the enforcement agencies is starting to pay a dividend in holding people to account. However, it is an ongoing piece of work, because we know there are many ind…”

“I was not the Secretary of State at the time of the spending review.”

“That is an interesting question. I do not really see it like that. I do not have any competitive tension with my Cabinet colleague Ed Miliband. By the way, he is somebody I have worked with closely for many years in different guises. We work closely with DESNZ on offshore wind because, in order to make sure we meet the…”

“Sorry, it is only because it is in the forefront of my mind, and I will come to it, but one of the areas where I worked across Government was on the APR issue, which was quite a big change that we were able to bring forward. We work very closely with Government Departments on planning issues. We have worked very closel…”

“Yes.”

“Obviously, we are very serious about meeting the 30 by 30 commitments that we made internationally, both on land and in our seas. I would say, though, that I know the OEP did a very serious piece of work, a progress report, but that was focused on the progress up until March of last year. There has been quite some prog…”

“On flooding, we have simplified the rules so that a wider range of solutions can be taken forward by a wider range of actors. For example, and I am sure as a Committee you will be glad to hear this, making sure that nature-based flooding measures are put in place, not just filling holes with concrete, and making sure t…”

“We are happy to take that away as a proposal.”

“We do a number of things across Government on these issues. Various Departments of Government own and manage quite big swathes of land, such as the MOD, DFT and others. We work very closely with them on climate adaptation and other issues with regard to their land management. As a Government, we have quite a large esta…”

“To the last bit of your question, obviously, as you would expect, I was very involved. That is something I worked on across government, and I think we reached a good position, which is significantly increasing the threshold. However, we have retained the policy, which is obviously that if you have land that is worth ov…”

“We work closely with the OEP. I meet the chair and the chief executive. My junior Ministers do, too. There is also a lot of joint working and cross-working between officials. However, it is independent of us and, as you will see, it challenges us, and rightly so. That is what it is there for. When I say we work closely…”

“Thank you for the question. We are one Government, and I work very closely with my predecessor. Obviously, he is in the same building as me, just up the corridor at MHCLG. Certainly, from my perspective and the Government’s perspective, it is good that we have a Secretary of State for Housing who knows DEFRA and some o…”

“I think it should be collaborative, but it is independent. There is a balance. For example, we sight each other on our reports. That is not to say that we have a hand in its reports or that it has a hand in our reports. It does not and we do not. That is where the independence is. However, if the OEP is going to publis…”

“Yes. Ideally, we would like to make progress even more quickly because, as you say, otherwise by the time you get to our response—”

“We had some issues last year with the farming budget and the ELM schemes. The SFI reached a point where the budget was spent, and then it was cut off very suddenly. They are tricky schemes because, for example on the ELMs capital grant, we give farmers quite some flexibility. It means that, over two or three years, the…”