The Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee is expected to raise a number of issues usually of great interest to the public and media - including sewage outflow, air quality, and flood defences - when it questions the Environment Agency at a parliamentary evidence session at 2.30 PM on Tuesday May 17 in Committee Room 6.
The session is a one-off hearing with the Chair and Chief Executive of the Environment Agency (EA) and could include questions about the future of the Agency itself. The EA is included in a Treasury review of governmental ‘Arms Length Bodies’ (independent agencies sponsored by ministries or departments) that was announced in March 2022.
Dr Neil Hudson MP for Penrith and The Border and Member of the EFRA Committee said:
“ Our Commons EFRA Committee this week continues in our evaluation of Government Agencies and how they support looking after our precious environment. This session will be with the leadership of the Environment Agency and we will explore their responses to crucial issues like flooding, sewage pollution of rivers, air quality and waste handling. It is right and proper that we robustly question and hold to account these agencies, as we did with the incoming Chair of Ofwat last month.”
The session may cover the following areas:
· sewage discharge and storm overflows;
· flooding and coastal erosion;
· manure spreading on farms;
· air quality;
· exporting plastic waste abroad; and
· rural mental health.
The hearing will be broadcast on parliamentlive.tv
The witnesses are:
· Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the EA
· Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the EA
