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1139805

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Mining: Seas and Oceans
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) effect on and (b) risks to the environment of deep sea mining; and if he will make it his policy to pursue a moratorium.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	278457
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/07/2019 answer text <p>Defra is investigating the risks and environmental effects of deep sea mining through a cross Government working group including Cefas, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The working group is supported by input from the National Oceanography Centre, Natural History Museum and British Geological Survey who are involved in a number of ongoing academic projects considering the impacts of deep sea mining. In addition, FCO and Defra commissioned a workshop in February 2019 which brought together UK universities, industry and consultancies involved in the assessment of deep sea mining activities, to share information, progress and research findings. The outputs of these discussions are being used to inform the UK’s input into the development of regulations, standards and guidelines at the International Seabed Authority.</p><p> </p><p>The UK is pushing for transparent, science-based and environmentally sound regulation of seabed mining by the International Seabed Authority to ensure effective protections of deep sea habitats and biodiversity while allowing UK businesses to realise the commercial opportunities.</p><p> </p><p>We are using our influence to secure the adoption of a mining code in 2020 that provides for robust and accountable oversight of mining activity. This includes (i) enshrining the precautionary principle and an ecosystem approach in the mining code; (ii) ensuring that in addition to the core regulations, effective and binding standards and guidelines to ensure environmentally sound mining have been adopted before exploitation licences are granted, and that these reflect the different environmental and other features of the different mineral deposits; (iii) ensuring that Regional Environmental Management Plans (REMPs) with robust environmental objectives are established before exploitation licences can be granted and that there is a clear regulatory link between the REMPs and exploitation licences; and (iv) allowing for the suspension of mining activities when operators fail to adhere to environmental safeguards or where new evidence of risk of serious harm arises.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 30/07/2019 09:51:10 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1139807

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	UK Seabed Resources: Pacific Ocean
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer on 5 February 2019 to Question 213318 on UK Seabed Resources: Pacific Ocean, if he will publish the domestic licenses granted by the Government for the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	278458
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is still consulting interested parties on whether to make the domestic deep-sea mining exploration licences, granted by the Government in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, publicly available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 23/07/2019 13:56:35 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1139808

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Deep Sea Mining
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the oral evidence given by his Department’s Chief Scientist Professor Gideon Henderson to the Environmental Audit Committee on 16 October 2018, what the implications are for his policies of the statement that deep sea mining will do substantial damage to that local environment on the seabed, and that is pretty much unavoidable; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	278459
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK is pushing for transparent, science-based and environmentally sound regulation of seabed mining by the International Seabed Authority to ensure effective protections of deep sea habitats and biodiversity while allowing UK businesses to realise the commercial opportunities.</p><p> </p><p>We are using our influence to secure the adoption of a mining code in 2020 that provides for robust and accountable oversight of mining activity. This includes (i) enshrining the precautionary principle and an ecosystem approach in the mining code; (ii) ensuring that in addition to the core regulations, effective and binding standards and guidelines to ensure environmentally sound mining have been adopted before exploitation licences are granted, and that these reflect the different environmental and other features of the different mineral deposits; (iii) ensuring that Regional Environmental Management Plans (REMPs) with robust environmental objectives are established before exploitation licences can be granted and that there is a clear regulatory link between the REMPs and exploitation licences; and (iv) allowing for the suspension of mining activities when operators fail to adhere to environmental safeguards or where new evidence of risk of serious harm arises.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 30/07/2019 09:02:38 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1139810

registered interest
date	17/07/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Deep Sea Mining
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to end UK Government sponsorship of deep sea mining exploration licences; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	278460
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK Government sponsored two 15 year deep sea mining exploration licences. The licence holder has contracts of exploration with the UN’s International Seabed Authority (ISA) which obliges them to undertake a plan of work. We have not received any further applications for exploration licences and do not expect to be granting any further exploration licences at this time.</p><p> </p><p>There are no plans to vary the Government’s policy towards deep-sea mining at this time. The UK Government will continue to deploy its expertise and influence at an international level to ensure sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep-sea ecosystems and enforceable environmental standards is established.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 23/07/2019 13:59:19 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas