“Intensely frustrating” – that’s how one guest describes the slow progress of the UK towards ratifying the UN High Seas Treaty.

On this episode of Committee Corridor, host Toby Perkins MP explores how the UK could help tackle the threats facing the world’s oceans, following the UN Ocean Conference in June.

Much of the world’s ocean is unregulated, leaving vulnerable habitats unprotected from threats of pollution, unsustainable fishing and damaging practices such as deep sea mining. The High Seas Treaty is critical to establishing marine protected areas in international waters but needs to be ratified by 60 states before it can come into force. The UK signed it two years ago but has fallen behind other countries in ratifying it – the guests in this episode consider why.

Join Toby as he sits down with Fiona Thomas, Head of Public Affairs at the leading environmental charity, the Marine Conservation Society, to consider the UK’s progress on pressing marine concerns of bottom trawling, ‘forever chemicals’ and global targets such as 30x30 (to protect and conserve at least 30% of the world’s land, freshwater and ocean by 2030).

There is a very real risk that rising sea levels will cause some of the world’s most vulnerable countries to disappear underwater by the end of this century. Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Committee, describes how Small Island Development States are particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change and need the world to notice.

Finally, Toby hears from Pippa Heylings, a fellow MP from the Environmental Audit Committee, about the evidence and outcomes of the Committee’s recent report on Governing the Marine Environment.

Find out more about the work discussed in this episode:

Environmental Audit Committee: Governing the Marine Environment

International Development Committee: UK Small Island Developing States Strategy

Marine Conservation Society

Select committees are on Instagram: @UKCommonsCommittees

Listen to our back catalogue!

Is our water system broken? The interim report from the Independent Water Commission says so. “Irresponsible owners, poor leadership, low investment and ineffective prioritisation,” reports the House of Commons’ Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. The scale of the challenge facing regulators is huge, says the National Audit Office. And consumer trust in the water industry is at an all time low.

What will it take to put it right?

Join Committee Corridor host, Toby Perkins MP as he sits down with the environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey to work out what’s gone wrong. Informed and incensed, Feargal is clear about the options ahead for water companies and regulators.

After questioning 10 of England and Wales’ water and sewerage companies, the EFRA Committee Chair, Alistair Carmichael MP, explains how the sector has forgotten its core functions to provide water and sewerage services to the public and to protect the environment.

There’ll be no let-up in parliamentary scrutiny as the Public Accounts Committee will report in the coming months. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP relates what shocked his committee most about the recent NAO report on the sector and how low levels of consumer trust are not surprising while bills rise and the performance of companies falls.

Find out more about the inquiries and reports mentioned in this episode:

Current work by the Environmental Audit Committee

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee: Priorities for water sector reform

Public Accounts Committee: Water sector regulation

National Audit Office: Regulating for investment and outcomes in the water sector

Select committees are on Instagram @UKCommonsCommittees.

1.5 million new homes and net zero by 2050: can the Government do both?

A safe, secure and affordable place to live is the foundation of a healthy and prosperous life. But the UK is facing an acute shortage of homes. What is to be done, and how do we ensure environmental targets are still delivered? The latest episode of Committee Corridor, the podcast from Select Committees at the House of Commons, considers the housing crisis.

Ahead of the Spending Review (on June 11), host Toby Perkins MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, asks: how do we build enough homes, ensuring they are both of high enough quality and contribute to meeting our environmental and nature goals?  

Toby speaks to Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation (NHF) which represents housing associations, who sets out the scale of priorities facing the sector; how buildings need to adapt to climate changes by improving energy efficiency and the sector’s commitment to improving the condition of quality and safety of residents’ homes.

Labour MP Joe Powell, member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, tells Toby what the Committee found when it recently explored the issue of temporary accommodation. Meanwhile former House of Lords Built Environment Committee Chair Lord Moylan voices concerns over the clarity of proposed planning reforms.