Lord Katz (Lab)

I am grateful to the noble Lord for that; he has pre-empted my vote of thanks to the negotiating teams. I am glad about, and welcome, his recognition of our intent, the quality of the people involved and the thought we put into the negotiation process. The noble Baroness, Lady Miller, touched on the issue of Camber Sands and bio-bead spills. This was obviously an awful event. As somebody who enjoys the natural environment of the south coast’s beaches as much as anyone, I thought it terrible to see the impact of this spill. The Government have supported industry-led initiatives such as Operation Clean Sweep to promote good practice in pellet loss prevention. I cannot speak in more detail about the different kinds of sewage processing that the noble Baroness mentioned. If I recall correctly, a record level of investment from the water companies—around £100 billion—has been secured by Ofwat for the next period. That is exactly the sort of investment, in not just pipes but processing sewage, that will lead to the transition we want to see away from bio-beads and towards sludge. We inherited years of underinvestment in recycling infrastructure, but the foundations are now firmly in place. Through simpler recycling, extending producer responsibility for packaging, the deposit return scheme and the plastic packaging tax, we have created a comprehensive framework that will drive substantial increases in plastic recycling rates while stimulating investment, creating jobs and supporting our transition to a circular economy. We are committed to ending the throwaway society, delivering on our plan for change and ensuring that Britain leads the world in sustainable resource management.