Written evidence from Defra (NIT0062)

From Daniel Zeichner MP

Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs

Lords ECC - Defra Ministerial oral evidence session follow-up

Dear Chair,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to come the ECC Committee hearing on 22 May 2025. During the hearing there were a number of points we promised to follow up with further detail.

1. Further details regarding the farming regulation reform.
• At the Inquiry, we outlined that we would launch a comprehensive programme of stakeholder co-design meetings to reform the farming and water regulations. Ministers Hardy and Zeichner are due to open the programme with a roundtable shortly and further details on this will be shared in due course.
• Meanwhile, the Government is working closely with farmers, environmental groups and other partners to address concerns around agricultural runoff. We have launched an Independent Water Commission which will explore a range of issues, including catchment-based approaches to help tackle all sources of water pollution.

2. Background on nutrient management plans and what it covers, including which nutrients it covers.
• Nutrient management planning aims to match nutrient inputs (from fertilisers and organic manures) to crop and soil need. A nutrient management plan can contribute to help reduce excess nutrient use and losses to the environment, and enable increased nutrient use efficiency, i.e. more effective use of applied nutrients by crops.
• Guidance1 for developing nutrient management plans sets out that they should consider crop requirements for: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and sulphur, as well as crop-specific micro-nutrients which can limit productivity.

1 Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) | AHDB

• Through SFI, many farmers are carrying out an action to assess nutrient management and produce a review report. It requires a FACTS qualified adviser to visit the farm to assess the nutrient needs, identify opportunities to increase nutrient efficiency and help the farmer produce a written review report.
• Alongside supporting farmers to develop nutrient management plans through SFI, all farmers are required, in regulation, to limit their nutrient use. The Farming Rules for Water set a national regulatory baseline requiring land managers in England to plan nutrient applications to not exceed crop and soil need, take reasonable precautions to reduce and prevent diffuse pollution from applications of organic manure and manufactured fertilisers, land management, and cultivation practices.
• A new web-based, easy-to-use, nutrient management planning tool for Great Britain (NMPT-GB) is in development and set to go live on GOV.UK later this year. NMPT-GB will:
• facilitate access to the latest nutrient recommendations (for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and sulphur); and help to increase uptake of quality nutrient management planning by farmers and land managers to reduce nutrient pollution from agriculture.
• allow farmers and land managers to demonstrate compliance with regulations / environmental schemes, for example, Farming Rules for Water and SFI, using the tool’s recommendations and outputs.

3. Details on Wales’s forecasting for spreading using the MET office system, in response to Earl Russell's suggestion on producing 'spreading forecasts'.
• The Tywydd Tywi Weather project has installed six weather stations on farms Pembrokeshire which provide real time soil temperature, leaf moisture and soil moisture data alongside local weather conditions. This highly localised data is shared via an app with farmers so they can plan their nutrient and pesticide applications to minimise risk of pollution and maximise the value of their applications.
• The Met Office provide various forecasting services to farmers which they can use to help plan their activity, including nutrient applications. For example, farmers can receive information on predicted soil moisture so they can plan application to reduce risk of run off or leaching of applied materials.

4. Update on the Circular Economy Taskforce, with timeframes for their work including publication of the roadmap/strategy

• The Government has announced plans to develop and publish proposals for the Circular Economy Strategy this autumn. The Taskforce continues to work to that timeline and is iterating its policy proposals accordingly.
• Since the start of the year the Taskforce has spoken with hundreds of stakeholders via more than one hundred workshops, roundtables, trade events, interviews, and site visits. This engagement activity is directly informing the Taskforce’s policy work, including and going beyond the sectors for which the Strategy will include dedicated roadmaps (agrifood, built              environment,              chemicals              &              plastics,              textiles,              transport,              and electricals).

5. Exact figures regarding the number of investigations, court cases and enforcements on water companies.
• The Environment Agency conducted 4,626 investigations on water companies for FY 2024-2025, exceeding their target of 4,000 for that year.
• For FY 2024/25, the EA brought four prosecutions against water companies that resulted in fines totalling £915,000.

6. Detail regarding the spatial data maps of pollution sources and vulnerability indicating the link between more disadvantaged communities being more geographically affected by pollution..
• Substantial differences exist in the concentrations of outdoor air pollutants across the United Kingdom and in the distribution of anthropogenic and biogenic emission sources. Gradients in outdoor air pollutants concentrations exist in part due to the different effects of weather experienced in different UK regions and the proximity to regional and transboundary sources.
• Beyond transboundary and weather factors that can influence the distribution of air pollutants many studies have shown that low income and deprived communities often live in areas with higher air pollution concentrations and higher local emissions. UKHSA has been developing a pilot indicator to represent population level vulnerability to air pollution in England. It is at lower layer super output area level and is based on demographic characteristics such as the percentage of young (less than 16 years) and older people (65 plus years), socio-economic status (Index of multiple deprivation score) and the 2023 annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulate matter (PM2.5).

7. Clarification on who monitors air quality in homes and in businesses (We have received a specific follow up from Baroness Whitaker: are Local Authority Environmental Health Officers responsible for inspecting air quality in workplaces?)
• In addition to the HSE, Environmental Health Officers have inspection and enforcement powers for health and safety legislation covering business premises. This includes provision for adequate ventilation and air quality.

8. The evidence base is for determining that 32% of farms use low- emissions spreading techniques, and what exactly those low-emission techniques are.
• The data on uptake of low emission slurry spreading techniques refers to the use of trailing hose, trailing shoe and injection.
• The data quoted was from The British Survey of Fertiliser Practice Latest British survey of fertiliser practice report - GOV.UK based on the 2023 cropping year;
• Table B1.2a Application methods used by farms applying slurry to cropped fields, Great Britain 2023 33% of farms that applied slurry used a band spreader (trailing hose or trailing shoe) or injection when applying slurry (of any type) to cropped fields.
• Table B1.2b Application methods used by farms applying slurry to grassland, Great Britain 2023 32% of farms that applied slurry used a band spreader (trailing hose or trailing shoe) or injection when applying slurry (of any type) to grassland.
• Code of Good Agricultural Practice (COGAP) for Reducing Ammonia Emissions - GOV.UK contains pictures of these different types of spreaders and details of the estimated ammonia emissions reductions from each spreading technique.

9. Further              information              on              the              upcoming              consultation              on              domestic emissions.

• The Government is taking further action to reduce harmful emissions from domestic burning, particularly from solid fuels used in stoves, open fireplaces, and outdoor burning. We are currently working towards going to consultation to explore new measures that cut emissions and strengthen local enforcement.

Nitrogen emissions

I understand that the ECC Committee will also be including a table of nitrogen emissions in their report which is broken down by major sources (see below) which has now been reviewed and completed.

Table of reactive nitrogen in the UK

*Waste for ammonia includes composting, landfill, sewage sludge decomposition and waste incineration.

**Wastewater treatment includes emissions under NFR/IPCC code 5D1 and 5D2. This includes emissions during industrial and domestic wastewater handling. This does not include sewage sludge or sewage gas combustion as waste or for energy recovery, nor does it include emissions from the use of sewage sludge as a fertiliser. However, it does include sewage sludge decomposition process emissions.

***Agriculture is the dominant source of nitrate in water (about 70% of total inputs), with sewage effluent a secondary contributor (25-30%) nationally. This is taken from the Nitrate Pressure narrative and references work by Lord, E.I., Hughes, G.O., Wilson, L., Gooday, R., Anthony, S.A., Curtis, C. and Simpson, G., 2008. Updating Previous Estimates of the Load and Source Apportionment of Nitrogen to Waters in the UK. Final Report for Defra Project WQ0111

Questions:

1. Are there updated nitrous oxide figures for 2023?

• Yes, the latest published Greenhouse Gas Inventory has updated figures for 2023 emissions. These can be found here: Final UK greenhouse gas emissions statistics: 1990 to 2023 - GOV.UK

2. Are the estimates for nitrate sources in this document by the EA the latest available figures?

• Yes. We are in the process of updating source apportionment for sectors which suggests ~81% from agriculture to ground water, however this is currently unpublished.

3. Do you have any data for emissions of ammonia or nitrous oxide to the air from wastewater treatment plants, primarily from the actual water treatment processes (denitrification processes) as opposed to the sewage sludge?

• The NAEI includes estimates from Industrial Wastewater Treatment for N2O, this accounted for 0.7% of emissions 0.47 thousand tonnes) in 2022. There are no estimates of ammonia emissions from this source included in the NAEI. The figures provided in the table above include emissions from sewage sludge waste processing.

4. Any data on secondary PM2.5 formation resulting from ammonia from agriculture or other indirect sources?

• Defra commissioned modelling suggests in 2018 agriculture produced around 9% of UK manmade PM2.5 (4% of all PM2.5), mainly secondary PM2.5 from ammonia emissions. There are other studies which suggest the contribution could be higher.
• The NAEI does not include estimates emissions of secondary pollutants in line with international reporting requirements.

5. Any data on the amount of nitrogen that is denitrified (e.g. though wastewater treatment processes) and returned to the atmosphere as di-nitrogen?

• We have not been able to identify data other than that provided in the linked report published by WWF contains some estimates of N2 losses from water. Microsoft Word - WWF Comprehensive Approach to N_Final Complete Draft_03-02-22_proofread_CLEAN.docx.
• What is ‘other’ under NOx emissions, which contributes 21.7% in 2023?

Emissions of air pollutants in the UK – Nitrogen oxides (NOx) - GOV.UK

• The “Other” emission source in Figure 7, which contributed 21.7% of total NOx emissions in 2023, includes all UK sources, except road transport, non-road transport, industrial combustion, combustion in energy industries, natural sources and international transport. The main contributors are “Other Combustion” (0.6%), “Domestic Combustion“ (4.0%) and “Agriculture” (3.9%). A further breakdown of emissions by source is available within the ENV01 tables here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/env01- emissions-of-air-pollutantshttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-

sets/env01-emissions-of-air-pollutants. More detail on which emission sources are included within these groups can be found within the methods document, available here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d18bd7a005e6f9841a1d64/ Methods_quality_processes_UK_air_pollutant_emissions_statistics_naei23.p df. The most granular data by emission source and activity type can be found in the Air Quality Pivot Tables, here: https://naei.energysecurity.gov.uk/air- pollutants/air-pollutant-emissions-data

Sources:

Nitrous Oxide | National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory Nitrates_challenges_for_the_water_environment.odt

Emissions of air pollutants in the UK – Nitrogen oxides (NOx) - GOV.UK Emissions of air pollutants in the UK – Ammonia (NH3) - GOV.UK

I hope you find this additional information helpful.

Daniel Zeichner

Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs

11/06/2025