Speeches by Creagh.

“That is a great question and one that I asked at the start of this process, because these policies are all new, so it is a question of how they interoperate. It is important to say that BNG is a separate and distinct policy to the nature restoration fund. It is globally pioneering, and it applies to most Town and Count…”

“Yes, how do we keep them? Some of that is about CPD, in my view. Some of it is about putting people on three-year or two-year courses and showing clear career progression.”

“I do not think it is any secret that over the last 15 years, local government planning has been very much a Cinderella service. We are at a stage now, through the introduction of these new BNG and local nature recovery strategies, where we are in a learning process—local planning authorities certainly are. There is als…”

“What we have seen throughout the development—the gestation, if I can call it that—of the Bill is lots of cross-departmental working. That includes both myself and Minister Pennycook, but we have also been working with MOJ and of course with DESNZ, the Treasury and No. 10 to try to get it right. I have been sighted arou…”

“We have certainly disagreed—there have been moments of disagreement. I think we can both own up to that without too much—”

“I think you need a Socratic dialogue. We have had meetings where we have gone in with differing opinions, and we have come out and developed a way forward. I would say that our officials have been working incredibly closely together, including during the passage of the Bill as it made its way through the Commons. No Bi…”

“I am reassured, because we have biodiversity net gain applying to all but the very smallest developments. The Environment Act introduced BNG in 2024 and, subject to some very small exceptions, this is a world-leading initiative that enables nature-positive development. The facts of BNG are that development leaves biodi…”

“That is right. In our consultation, we are looking at how we can streamline the small sites metric, so that it is easier and quicker to complete the calculation to meet the BNG requirement. This is about having flexibility and easing costs for developers, while broadly maintaining environmental outcomes.”

“May I just say one final thing about BNG? One of the issues that it has thrown up in its first year of working is that on brownfield sites there are what are called open mosaic habitat sites. That could be some old car park, or an area where there was some old building, that you and I would class as scrubland but over …”

“The national planning policy framework and the land use framework, which we have just consulted on, are going to work hand in hand to support local planning authorities with their housing delivery, while making sure that we meet our environmental and climate change goals. I think having that framework is going to help …”

“Well, yes, but we would not necessarily have started from here. We had an incredibly ambitious timetable—rightly, in my view—to proceed with our goal of 1.5 million homes. These policies have developed in parallel, but as Minister Pennycook has set out, there is a view that we could have waited five years and had a per…”

“We have a large-scale package of digital improvements across DEFRA group digital systems. That will also drive productivity gains across the different planning systems. We have new casework management systems, additional functionality and integration across government. That should improve the service user’s experience,…”

“The reason that nutrient neutrality was included is that that is where it has already happened—that and, I think, great crested newts. You start with what you know. The legislation allows EDPs to be put in place to address relevant environmental impacts. Natural England will set out a package of conservation measures s…”

“I think until EDPs are in place, developers should continue to secure nutrient mitigation, get their planning consents and progress their building. We continue to support mitigation schemes and are clear that mitigation and, most important, nature recovery need to go hand in hand with development. There is a role for p…”

“I will start with that, as LNRSs are in my purview. They are a new system of spatial strategies for nature recovery and the environment. Some are already in place; they are being developed across England at the moment, and we expect to have the majority of them published by the end of 2025 or shortly afterwards, to hel…”

“May I come in? There are the five principles in the policy statement around environmental policy—the EPPS. That is provided to Ministers as part of routine advice. We, as Ministers, have been advised about our duties under the EPPS as this Bill has been developed and has gone through. With respect to the publication of…”

“It is part of the policymaking process. It is not routinely published, to enable a space for Ministers to receive and consider advice. We are obviously committed to very high standards of transparency, but there is no statutory requirement on us to publish it. It wouldn’t be routinely done.”

“Also, we do not have a set format to record this information. It generally comes in and says whether our duties are engaged, and if so, how, but it is not in a standard format template, so we cannot just say, “Here is the thing. This is the advice,” because obviously—”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Amendment, etc.) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I rise to speak about an issue of growing urgency: the need to ensure that those who profit from the sale of electrical pr…”

“I will reply and set out next steps. After the regulations enter into force in 21 days—after I lay and sign them—online marketplaces not already registered with a producer compliance scheme must do so by 15 November 2025. All online marketplaces will be required to submit the methodology that they will use for determin…”