Fortieth Report of Session 2022–23

Instruments reported

At its meeting on 14 June 2023 the Committee scrutinised a number of instruments in accordance with Standing Orders. It was agreed that the special attention of both Houses should be drawn to one of those considered. The instrument and the grounds for reporting are given below. The relevant departmental memorandum is published as an appendix to this report.

1S.I. 2023/497: Reported for requiring elucidation

Plant Health and Phytosanitary Conditions (Oak Processionary Moth and Plant Pests) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

1.1The Committee draws the special attention of both Houses to these Regulations on the ground that they require elucidation in one respect.

1.2These Regulations, which are subject to the negative resolution procedure, provide for a demarcated area for the control and containment of Oak Processionary Moth. The demarcated area is made up of an infested zone and a buffer zone. There is a general prohibition against moving high-risk oak trees within those zones (with some limited exceptions). These zones are defined by reference to the areas of certain local authorities and local authority wards set out in the Schedule to the Regulations. Regulation 4(2) provides that references to the area of a local authority or a local authority ward is the area as determined by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England on 22 May 2022 and updated in October 2022. A footnote states that the Commission publishes the local government boundaries on the Ordnance Survey’s election maps website and provides a link to the relevant webpage.

1.3The Committee asked the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to explain whether it will be possible to obtain a copy of the online map setting out the areas referred to in regulation 4(2) once the map undergoes a further update this year. In a memorandum printed at Appendix 1, the Department states that if the Local Government Boundary Commission were to amend the boundaries, the new boundaries would be published on the Ordnance Survey’s election maps website. The Department goes onto explain that previous maps would be available on the Open Geography Portal provided by the Office for National Statistics and the www.gov.uk website. The Department also refers to an interactive map hosted by the Forestry Commission.

1.4In the Committee’s view, access to these alternative sources for the historic boundaries do not solve the problems arising from the approach taken by regulation 4(2) and its accompanying footnote. The maps on the Open Geography Portal and the www.gov.uk website are at a large scale and do not currently identify with sufficient clarity the boundaries of each local authority area or local authority ward. On this basis, even if the data set for the boundaries referred to in regulation 4(2) are uploaded to those pages, the Committee is unclear whether the maps will be sufficiently detailed. In addition, whilst the map provided by the Forestry Commission is somewhat more detailed, this is a map that is focused on showing where Oak Processionary Moth has been found rather than reflecting the boundary areas referred to in regulation 4(2). This compounds a lack of clarity between the boundaries referred in regulation 4(2), which refers to boundaries determined on 22 May 2022, and the boundaries referred to in the footnote, which are “in effect at 5 May 2022”. There is also the problem, acknowledged implicitly by the Department’s memorandum, that the footnote will become incorrect as soon as the Commission makes any changes to the areas of local authorities or local authority wards. This will make finding out which boundaries are being referred to, and so whether the prohibition applies, more difficult.

1.5The Department’s memorandum does not adequately explain how it will be possible to obtain access to the boundaries referred to in regulation 4(2) once they are updated. As a result, this will create a practical problem in identifying whether a person is complying or not with the prohibition set out in this instrument. The Committee accordingly reports these Regulations for requiring elucidation, not provided by the Department’s memorandum.

Instruments not reported

At its meeting on 14 June 2023 the Committee considered the instruments set out in the Annex to this Report, none of which were required to be reported to both Houses.

Annex

Draft instruments requiring affirmative approval

Instruments subject to annulment

Draft instruments subject to annulment

Instruments not subject to Parliamentary proceedings not laid before Parliament

Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

S.I. 2023/497

The Plant Health and Phytosanitary Conditions (Oak Processionary Moth and Plant Pests) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

1)The Committee has asked the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for a memorandum on the following point(s):

“Given that regulation 4(2) fixes the definition of local authority areas to the boundaries determined on 22 May 2022 (and updated in October 2022), explain whether it will be possible to obtain a copy of the online map setting out the areas referred to in regulation 4(2) once the map undergoes a further update this year.”

2)If the Local Government Boundary Commission were to amend the boundaries of local authority areas, these new boundaries would be published on the Ordnance Survey’s maps website at https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-government/tools-support/election-maps.

3)Previous maps are available on the Open Geography Portal provided by the Office for National Statistics. All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, see: Open Geography Portal (statistics.gov.uk). An amendment to the administrative boundaries referred to within this instrument would lead to the relevant datasets for 2022 becoming accessible on this website where they can be viewed and downloaded.

4)In addition, PDF maps of the boundaries referred to in this instrument are currently available on the gov.uk webpage which provides details of the policy and restrictions regarding oak processionary moth, see: Managing oak processionary moth in England - GOV UK (www.gov.uk). The 2022 boundaries of local authority areas are also available on the Forestry Commission interactive map. Both the PDF and interactive maps, and the boundaries within them, will be maintained online at Oak Processionary Moth Monitoring (arcgis.com).

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

30 May 2023

Formal minutes

Wednesday 14 June 2023

Virtual meeting

Members present

Jessica Morden, in the Chair

Lord Beith

Lord Chartres

Baroness D’Souza

Peter Grant

Gareth Johnson

Damien Moore

Maggie Throup

Lord Sahota

Baroness Sater

Lord Smith of Hindhead

Report consideration

Draft Report (Fortieth Report), proposed by the Chair, brought up and read.

Ordered, That the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.

Paragraphs 1.1 to 1.5 read and agreed to.

Annex agreed to.

A Paper was appended to the Report as Appendix 1.

Resolved, That the Report be the Fortieth Report of the Committee to both Houses.

Ordered, That the Chair make the Report to the House of Commons and that the Report be made to the House of Lords.

Adjournment

Adjourned till Wednesday 21 June at 3.40 p.m.