Category: Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE : New sentencing approach to cut drug-fuelled crime [January 2025]
The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 20 January 2025.

A new report shows how drug-fuelled crime is being tackled through tough community sentences to get offenders with addiction issues back on straight and narrow.
- Intensive Supervision Courts tackling root causes of offending to cut crime and create safer streets, as part of our Plan for Change
- New approach to reduce drug taking by offenders with severe addictions
- Offenders who do not comply face strict consequences like being sent to prison
The innovative approach of Intensive Supervision Courts means offenders regularly meet with the same judge to track their progress, face random drug testing, and have access to more support from the Probation Service to stop reoffending.

Those who fail to comply face strict consequences including increased drug testing or being sent to prison.

Over a third of offenders in the community have a drug problem and this pilot is designed for offenders with addiction issues, to tackle the drug and alcohol dependence that is fuelling their crimes.

Despite significant addiction issues at the start of the sentence, offenders tested negative for drugs over two thirds of the time, and less than a quarter of offenders needed to be sanctioned for any bad behaviour.

Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending Minister, James Timpson said:

Drug and alcohol-driven crimes make our streets less safe. This report shows there’s a different, more effective way to stop prolific offenders on a never-ending cycle of crime.

These tough, new intensive supervision sentences cuts criminal behaviour and makes our streets safer.

This approach has seen positive results across the world in cutting crime, with other countries seeing a 33% decrease in further arrests compared to people on a standard sentence. Combining many of the successful components already tested across the world, the Ministry of Justice pilot launched in 2023 with three courts in Liverpool, Teesside, and Birmingham. In June 2024, a court in Bristol was added to the pilot.

Over 150 offenders across the country have now been given this new form of sentence.

Probation staff, the judiciary and local services like drug treatment providers have reported that offenders’ drug and alcohol use has reduced and those requiring help with their mental health were now receiving the right support, some for the very first time, to help cut their offending.

The latest offender statistics show that over half (55.5%) of offenders who served a prison sentence of less than 12 months went on to commit another crime within 12 months. For those serving suspended sentence orders with requirements, the figure was just 24%.

Serving his sentence at an Intensive Supervision Court, ‘Luke’ (not his real name) discussed how this helped him understand his offending history and made him feel like he did not need to turn to crime in the future.

Offender Luke said:

Being on the Intensive Supervision Court has completely flipped my life around and given me the opportunity to be a positive role model for my two kids and a brighter future with potential jobs.

I had been a cannabis user since I was 11 and it has been one the main reasons behind my offending behaviour. This community sentence hasn’t been easy but now that I have finished, I can proudly say it’s been one year and two weeks since I have touched the drug.

Revolving Doors, the national charity dedicated to breaking the cycle of crime, helped provide insight for the report.

Pavan Dhaliwal, Chief Executive of Revolving Doors said:

What we know for sure is that prison sentences rarely work for people caught in cycles of crisis and crime and come at a huge financial and societal cost. The evidence shows that using problem-solving approaches in courts and looking to address root causes such as problematic substance use and poor mental health are the best ways to help people turn their lives around.

It is promising to see early results showing the pilot in England has been able to divert people from custody and into tailored support. We look forward to seeing how it can be widened out into a more mainstream approach to reducing reoffending and preventing more people becoming trapped in the revolving door.

Intensive Supervision courts are delivered by a multiagency team who provide wraparound support, monitoring and treatment services for offenders. To help equip offenders with the necessary tools to reduce reoffending this team includes judges, court staff, the probation service, police, treatment providers and the local authority.
January 20, 2025
PRESS RELEASE : Archaic tech sees public sector miss £45 billion annual savings [January 2025]
The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 19 January 2025.

Public sector workers are being held back by archaic technology according to a new report set to be published on Tuesday.
- Public sector workers are being held back by archaic technology – crippling productivity and slashing public satisfaction in services, according to a new report set to be published on Tuesday.
- Inheritance from previous government shows an overreliance on contractors sending costs rocketing and how outages and cyber-attacks are putting NHS and public services in jeopardy.
- Comes ahead of ambitious reforms and new tech putting AI and digital technology to work for the public sector, delivering on the AI Opportunities Action Plan and saving taxpayers billions while improving public services to deliver across Plan for Change.
- New AI tools ‘Connect’ and ‘Scout’ also announced to help speed up clean power connections and keep mega-projects running to time, driving growth and lowering energy bills in the long term.
Taxpayer funded services from the NHS to local councils are missing out on £45 billion in productivity savings – more than enough to pay for every primary school in the UK for a full year – because they are too often dependent on old and outdated technology.

With nearly half of public services unable to be accessed online, people are spending too much time applying for support in person, including time on hold or travelling to council offices. Public sector workers are also wasting time sifting through physical letters. This means response times are unnecessarily long with British citizens paying the price and wasting valuable time on government admin.

Examples highlighted in a new report set to be published this Tuesday show the shocking state the previous government left public technology. It includes outdated examples including the need to register a death in person, which demands time from people unnecessarily as they are mourning the death of a loved and the pointless burdens placed on small businesses, like forcing firms to put an advert in their local paper when they want to buy a lorry – getting in the way of growth.

Some departments manage over 500 paper-based services and a lack of information sharing between departments further hampers citizens, often the most vulnerable. For example, patients with long term health conditions can be forces to speak to over 40 different services to access the care and support they need and are entitled to, with these different public bodies rarely sharing information, leaving people to repeat themselves time and again.

To tackle these issues, the Technology Secretary will use digital tools, AI and common sense to overhaul public sector technology – so it saves money, treats people with respect, and just makes sense. He will set out a wholesale reshaping of how services use technology, reaching across local government, the NHS, and more, in a bid to modernise the state.

The changes due to be announced could save taxpayers billions by making public services more productive, as well as freeing up public servants and doctors to spend more time helping the people they serve. The changes will also make it easier for people to access government services and drive economic growth by supporting businesses get the approvals they need more quickly – delivering on multiple aims of the Government’s Plan for Change.

Just over a week after the AI Opportunities Action Plan, the changes will deliver on key recommendations by transforming citizens’ experiences of government services, improving productivity and strengthening the foundations from how data is used, to boosting skills, and attracting talent.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

Technology that sits at the foundation of our country has been left to wither and decay under the hands of the previous government, too often grinding to a halt and stalling essential public services – racking up a huge bill for the taxpayer.

It doesn’t have to be this way – and it won’t be with our Plan for Change. There is a £45 billion jackpot for the public sector if we get technology adoption right, that’s twice the size of the black hole we faced when we took office, and it’s not an opportunity we can let pass us by. The new findings are also expected to show government departments have been pushed towards bringing in contractors and consultants to complete basic technological tasks instead of full-time staff. This trend was driven by weak salaries and headcount restrictions that stopped departments. This is despite them costing three times more than civil servants and eating up £14.5 billion in taxpayer money a year.

Findings will show that over one-in-four digital systems used by central government were found to be outdated. In the worst cases, this figure almost tripled (70%). This outdated technology can rack up huge maintenance costs, ultimately resulting in the taxpayer paying out three-to-four times more than if the technology was kept up to date.

A growing number of these outdated systems are “red-rated” for reliability and security risk. The report found that NHS England alone saw 123 critical service outages last year, often meaning appointments are missed and patients can’t get the care they need because staff were forced back to using paper-based systems.

Among the reforms to be announced later this week, a new offering from an expanded Government Digital Service will search for vulnerabilities across the public sector that hackers could use to shut down essential services and stop citizens accessing critical support. Support will then help different organisations fix these issues and make the UK more resilient to cyber attacks.

Energy AI tool – ‘Connect’

The Government is also today unveiling new AI tools that will help to speed up the queue to connect clean energy projects to the national grid, helping to reduce energy bills and power the AI economy amid plans to boost the UK’s computing power to drive growth, as part of the Plan for Change.

Connect, developed by AI experts in Whitehall, is an AI tool under development that could help to reduce delays large-scale energy generation projects, like wind and solar farms, are facing to get a connection to the electricity grid. New sources of clean, renewable energy will not only protect billpayers from unstable fossil fuel markets, but boost the UK’s wider energy security ambitions – freeing us up from relying on foreign sources of power and breaking the energy monopoly which countries like Russia currently control.

The technology will also support the work of the newly announced AI Energy Council, bringing together energy producers and big tech companies to understand the power demands of AI and the Government’s ambition to expand compute capacity by twenty times.

Over the last five years, the grid connection queue has grown tenfold and now contains over four times the amount of energy generation the UK is predicted to need by 2050. Many of these projects are speculative or do not have the necessary funding or planning permission to progress, causing delays for viable projects behind them.

Added to this, the ‘first-come, first-served’ connection process, and much-needed upgrades to the grid’s capacity, are contributing to energy developers facing delays of up to 10 years to get new renewable electricity flowing into the grid.

With input from the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero, Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator, the team behind ‘Connect’ are exploring how this work – powered by AI – could be applied to better match energy generation projects – like ready-to-go large scale wind farm projects stuck in a queue – to grid capacity where it is available.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:

This innovative use of AI could help us clean up the queue and slash waiting times to hook important energy projects up to the electricity grid, which is key to delivering our clean power by 2030 mission.

The sooner we can get more homegrown renewable energy onto the grid, the quicker we can deliver on our Plan for Change and homes and businesses can benefit from a new era of clean electricity.

Infrastructure AI tool – ‘Scout’

“Scout” is another tool developed by the team, which will help officials make sure major multi-billion-pound projects are delivered on time and to budget – whether that’s a new motorway or a mid-sized hospital. It does this by automatically analysing thousands of documents to help detect problems earlier, enabling timely interventions that keep critical projects on track.

The tool replaces manual processes where up to 150 reports and documents are reviewed, leading to crucial details being glossed over and opportunities to prevent problems missed. It will help civil servants to be more efficient, and improve the government’s ability to run multi-billion-pound projects to time and budget, fixing the foundations of our economy as we drive ahead in delivering economic growth.

In the tool’s analysis, it follows stringent guidelines set by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, and cuts manual processing time from hours in five minutes.

These tools are being announced following Matt Clifford’s AI Opportunity’s Action plan, where the Government accepted his recommendation to scale successful AI pilot projects within government. The wider plan looks to unleash AI to drive economic growth across the UK and deliver the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change.

Notes to editors:
- The State of Digital Government Report, with support from Bain & Company, is based on insights from over 500 leaders across 120 organisations, data from 100+ entities, and input from 65 stakeholders across public, private, and third sectors. It will be published next week in full.
January 19, 2025
PRESS RELEASE : Joint Statement between the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Prime Minister of Poland [January 2025]

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 18 January 2025.

This joint statement was released following the meeting between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on 17 January 2025.

Joint Statement following the meeting of the British and Polish Prime Ministers in Warsaw on 17 January 2025.

We met in Warsaw to discuss our close partnership and shared vision for our bilateral and international cooperation.

Today we reaffirmed our unshakeable support for NATO. We discussed a broad range of shared global challenges, including how to shore up European security in the face of an increasingly aggressive Russia. We agreed to continue joint support to Ukraine, including military support, training and reconstruction. Together we will work to tackle Russia’s hybrid attacks, including in cyberspace, take joint action to counter information manipulation, and deepen collaboration on extending sanctions against Putin’s regime. We are committed to holding Russia accountable for the crimes and damages perpetrated on Ukrainian territory.

We welcomed the start of the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of this year and discussed the Presidency’s priorities for the next six months. Together, we underlined the importance of a close partnership between the UK and the EU, including in the security and economic spheres. We looked forward to the UK joining the informal European Council meeting in February.

Here in Warsaw, we agreed to launch negotiations on a new Defence and Security Treaty between the UK and Poland. Building on the 2017 Defence Treaty, the new agreement will provide the framework and ambition for the deepest cooperation across the full range of external and internal security threats, and our shared determination to defend and promote peace and security in Europe together with our allies.

We expressed our strong support for the important and growing defence industrial relationship between the UK and Poland. A new Polish-British Joint Programme Office in the UK, planned to be established in the middle of this year, will give strong support to this work. It will focus on the £4bn bilateral agreement for the next generation of the short range air defence system NAREW. We also discussed Poland’s East Shield project to further strengthen its border, and the UK’s support to the project.

Together we underlined the imperative of tackling irregular migration, and agreed to establish a strategic border security and migration dialogue, to focus initially on tackling the threat from migrant smuggling networks and increased data sharing. We discussed the risks to Poland’s borders of the instrumentalisation of migrants through Belarus and Russia, and agreed to share best practice to address this challenge. We expressed our support for the role of sanctions as one of the tools for tackling irregular migration and organised immigration crime.

We celebrated our close trade and investment relationship, with growing bilateral trade, creating jobs and growth for the people of both countries. We agreed our governments would deepen bilateral dialogue on energy security and transition. We also agreed to explore a new forum between relevant ministers to address the shared challenges and opportunities, to be announced in the coming months.

The friendship between our countries lies in our close people to people links. We recognised the breadth of our cooperation, including co-operation on science and education. Looking ahead to 2025, we underlined the value of UK-Poland cultural co-operation, and looked forward to the UK-Poland Season of Culture 2025.

January 18, 2025
PRESS RELEASE : The UK will continue to support UNIFIL’s essential role in maintaining calm along the Blue Line – UK statement at the UN Security Council [January 2025]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 17 January 2025.

Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward, UK Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on UNDOF and UNIFIL.

After over a year of conflict and suffering across the Middle East, we now stand at a moment of hope for the people of the region.

With the Syrian people free from Assad’s tyranny, political progress in Lebanon, and news that a ceasefire and hostage release deal have been finalised for Gaza.

The UK will continue to work tirelessly to ensure we seize this opportunity and deliver much-needed peace.

The past year has seen continuous and devasting violence across the Blue Line.

We strongly believe that a ceasefire and lasting political solution are the only viable route to peace, stability and security for the Lebanese and Israeli people.

As we approach the end of the 60-day ceasefire period, every effort must be made to continue the progress and avoid a return to conflict.

Violations of the agreement will only bring us back to the brink, and we call on parties to uphold the commitments they agreed to.

Against this backdrop, the UK commends UNIFIL for maintaining its visibility and operational activities in difficult circumstances.

The UK will continue to support UNIFIL’s essential role in maintaining calm along the Blue Line and enabling the enhanced Lebanese Armed Forces deployment to southern Lebanon, consistent with the ceasefire agreement and UNSCR 1701.

We have consistently condemned attacks on UN Peacekeepers.

They must never be targeted.

All parties have an obligation under international law to ensure the safety and security of UN peacekeeping personnel and premises.

Turning to UNDOF, the UN Disengagement of Forces Agreement remains vital for stability at this pivotal moment for Syria and the wider region.

Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.

This is more important than ever as Syria embarks on a political transition in pursuit of a more secure and peaceful future.

The UK is clear that we expect Israel to adhere to their commitment that their presence in the Area of Separation is both limited and temporary.

We call on Israel to lay out timelines for their withdrawal from the Area of Separation.

Let me, once again, reiterate the UK’s long-standing position that the Golan Heights are occupied territory, and we do not recognise Israel’s annexation.

Finally, after months of despair, news of the agreement between Israel and Hamas offers much-needed hope.

The hostages and their families have endured unimaginable agony and the level of suffering in Gaza defies belief.

This deal is the basis for progress.

To bring the hostages home.

Bring relief, reconstruction and hope to long-suffering civilians.

And to achieve a long-awaited two-state solution with Palestinians and Israelis living in peace and security.

January 18, 2025
PRESS RELEASE : Keir Starmer meeting with Prime Minister Tusk of Poland [January 2025]

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 17 January 2025.

The Prime Minister met the Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk today in Warsaw.

The leaders had a warm and productive discussion, beginning by reflecting on the Prime Minister and Lady Starmer’s visit to Auschwitz and how 80 years on from its liberation, the world must never forget the atrocities committed there.

The UK and Poland are close allies and share an important relationship which the leaders agreed to continue to strengthen to deliver economic growth, security and prosperity for both countries.

They were delighted to announce the start of talks on a new Defence and Security Treaty, which will bring the UK and Poland even closer together to tackle shared threats – including Putin’s ongoing aggression, the vile people smuggling gangs fueling illegal migration, and protecting our energy security.

On Ukraine, the Prime Minister updated Prime Minister Tusk on his recent visit and meetings with President Zelenskyy. It was vital that international partners continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, the leaders agreed.

They looked forward to speaking again soon.

January 18, 2025
PRESS RELEASE : Keir Starmer meeting with President Andrzej Duda of Poland [January 2025]

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 17 January 2025.

The Prime Minister met President Andrzej Duda of Poland in Warsaw this afternoon.

The leaders reflected on the strength of the UK-Poland relationship, agreeing that our countries are the strongest of allies and our partnership will endure for generations to come.

They welcomed the launch of negotiations on the new UK-Poland Defence and Security Treaty. In the face of increasing threats to Europe’s security, they agreed the treaty would bring our two countries closer together to tackle shared threats such as Putin’s aggression and the vile people smuggling gangs wreaking havoc at our borders.

They also underscored the vital importance of NATO, which underpins Euro-Atlantic security.

The Prime Minister reflected on his visit to Ukraine, and both leaders agreed that President Zelenskyy can count on the support of the UK and Poland for as long as it takes.

January 18, 2025
PRESS RELEASE : Prime Minister’s remarks at joint press conference in Poland [January 2025]

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 17 January 2025.

The Prime Minister’s remarks in a joint press conference with Prime Minister Tusk in Poland today.

Thank you very much Donald [Tusk].

It is a real pleasure to be here.

You know, I remember back in July last year, we spoke on my first day as Prime Minister.

I told you about my wife’s family roots here in Poland. And of course we talked about our shared passion for Arsenal Football Club – which is not what we spent an hour talking about this afternoon I can assure you.

So this was always going to be a great partnership.

But there is so much that brings our two nations together.

You’ve touched on some of these important issues.

The deep bonds of family, of history, and of friendship – shared values and shared interests.

The Polish pilots who gave their lives in the Battle of Britain.

The Polish government-in-exile, which we hosted for many years in my part of London.

And I think our two countries are as close as ever today, because we have a shared view of the challenges that are before us.

Those challenges were of course the focus of our meeting this afternoon.

We talked about how we can strengthen our economic ties, boosting a trade relationship that is already worth £30 billion, how can we do more together on energy security and climate, and how can we deepen our cooperation on migration.

Poland of course faces Belarus and Russia, facilitating criminal gangs, driving migrants over the border – we discussed this – horrendously exploiting innocent people.

So we’re determined to work more closely together to smash the vile gangs that operate across Europe.

And of course we spent much of our time today focusing on defence and security.

As two of Europe’s biggest military powers, with our troops serving together, guarding the eastern flank.

We share an unbreakable commitment to NATO and an unbreakable commitment to Ukraine.

So Donald, I want to thank you for everything you have done to support Ukraine.

It’s been a huge and important part of the defence of Ukraine, and it is important that we recognise that, and we say thank you to that – and of course to the President as well.

We’re clear, together, that the route to a just and lasting peace comes through strength –

The strength to secure that peace, on Ukraine’s terms. And the strength to maintain it.

We will work with all allies to that end to step up our efforts to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position now, and guarantee that Ukraine will be able to defend herself and deter Russia in the future.

The defence of Ukraine is vital for the defence of Europe.

Poland currently holds the presidency of the EU Council.

And I want to congratulate you, Donald –

On making European security the focus of your presidency.

Because this is the issue of our time. This is where the challenge is that we must rise to.

We share your view that this is the central issue. The scale of the threat to Europe today must be matched by the scale of our collective response.

I am determined to deepen our security collaboration. Both with the EU and of course bilaterally.

And I am very pleased that we have agreed today to launch negotiations on a new UK-Poland security and defence treaty, covering all aspects of the threats we face.

And the steps we must take to meet them –

This includes deepening ties between our defence industries.

The UK has secured £8 billion worth of defence deals together over the last three years alone.

And we’re going further today, opening a new Joint Programme Office in Bristol to deliver our £4 billion partnership, to deliver the next generation air defence system to Poland.

Through our new treaty, we will keep deepening these ties.

Exploring what more we can do for our shared security, and ensuring that this is a strong, strategic partnership to rival any other.

In closing, I want to say that is a moment for determination, yes. But it is also a moment for reflection.

This month we mark Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, when the full horror of the Holocaust was exposed for the world to see.

I visited Auschwitz earlier today. I stood on those railway tracks, looked at the shoes and the suitcases piled high, the hair, the teeth, taken from those murdered by the Nazis.

For eight decades, the memory and pain of what the Jewish people suffered – of what Poland and others suffered, in that camp, has been passed from country to country. Generation to generation. Family to family.

I will never forget what I saw today.

And I will never forget my responsibility to pass this on to the next generation.

To remember, to learn, and to respect.

Our solemn promise: Never again.

That is our duty – now and always.

Thank you.

January 18, 2025
PRESS RELEASE : UK will support Guatemala to increase its climate ambitions [January 2025]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 17 January 2025.

The British Ambassador and Minister of Environment discussed opportunities to deepen the longstanding climate partnership between the UK and Guatemala.

Ambassador Juliana Correa visited Patricia Orantes, Minister of Environment, on 16 January to discuss this year’s top priorities on our shared environmental agenda, including the preservation of forests, protection of biodiversity and tackling climate change.

To help with these objectives, Ambassador Correa announced that the UK has made available more than US$30 million for 40 countries, including Guatemala, to support governments in raising climate ambition, alongside funding for NDC implementation, technical advisory support and cross-ministerial coordination. The World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will mange these funds allocated to the NDC Partnership.

In addition, the Ambassador stressed that the UK continues to implement in Guatemala and Mesoamerica the Biodiverse Landscapes Fund, which will invest more than US$7 million from 2023 to 2029 in the Mayan Jungle in Peten and a forest reserve in Trifinio (Chiquimula), with the aim of protect biodiversity, improve communities’ livelihoods and tackle the impacts of climate change.

Finally, Ambassador Correa and Minister Orantes agreed to explore the opportunities that environmentally friendly investments pose for the county, including on clean energies or waste management; that would create jobs while deepening the economic relationship between Guatemala and the UK.

January 18, 2025
PRESS RELEASE : Extension of Deborah Taylor’s term as Chair of the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board [January 2025]

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 15 January 2025.

The Lord Chancellor has extended the appointment of Deborah Taylor as the Chair of the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board (CLAAB) for an additional 12 months from January 2025.

The CLAAB was established following the recommendation in the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR) that an independent Advisory Board be set up to take a wider view and encourage a more joined-up approach to criminal legal aid within the criminal justice system.

The CLAAB plays a vital role in enabling collaboration with stakeholders across the criminal justice system. It ensures that criminal defence practitioners have ongoing input into the future development of the criminal legal aid system.

Biography

HH Deborah Taylor was a Senior Circuit Judge, Resident Judge at Southwark Crown Court and Recorder of Westminster until her retirement from the Judiciary in December 2022. In 2022 she was Treasurer of Inner Temple, where she advocated for greater diversity at the Bar.

Since March 2023, Deborah has been Chair of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) which deals with doctors’ fitness to practise and ensures members of the public are adequately protected. Deborah is also a Trustee of Shakespeare’s Globe.

Deborah has chaired the CLAAB since July 2023. During this time, Deborah has established a strong rapport with stakeholders and has fostered collaborative discussions on the operation and structure of the existing and future criminal legal aid schemes. The CLAAB published the first annual report on 14 November 2024.

Notes

The CLAAB has been meeting quarterly since it was first established in October 2022. Ministers have agreed to extend the CLAAB for an additional 12 months from January 2025.

The membership currently includes representatives from the Bar Council, the Law Society of England and Wales, Criminal Bar Association, London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association, CILEX, Young Legal Aid Lawyers, Young Barrister Committee, Crown Prosecution Service, the Legal Aid Agency and Ministry of Justice officials.

January 18, 2025
PRESS RELEASE : Norfolk farmer, Brian Rutterford, fined for taking water during summer drought [January 2025]
The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 17 January 2025.

A Norfolk farmer with a history of environmental offending has been fined for taking and using more water than permitted.

Following a successful prosecution by the Environment Agency, a Norfolk farmer with a history of environmental offending has been fined for taking and using more water than permitted, including during a summer drought.

Brian Rutterford, 77, of Undley, Lakenheath, was fined on 15 January at Norwich Magistrates Court for water abstraction offences and ordered to pay £4,300. Over four years, Rutterford took three times the amount of water he was licenced to take, from a small channel next to his farm in Hockwold-cum-Wilton.

The farmer continued to take water during the record-breaking hot summer of 2022, when East Anglia was officially in drought and many local water courses were dry. Rutterford’s actions impacted water supplies for the local community.

Brian Rutterford held two water abstraction licences, one for summer and one for winter. His licences required him to keep abstraction records and maintain abstraction meters, which he failed to do. Rutterford pleaded guilty to offences of over-abstraction under both licences between 2018 and 2022.

Environment Agency prosecutor Mrs Sarah Dunne told the court that, although Rutterford explained that he over-abstracted to address a leak in his lake that put his fish at risk, his activities had continued for a four-year period including during a summer drought. In addition, these water abstraction offences were committed during his suspended sentence for another environmental offence: for operating an unpermitted waste site at his farm.

The presiding magistrate told Rutterford that he had been ‘chaotic’ and ‘incompetent’, and that his previous environmental offence was an aggravating feature. He was ordered to pay a total of £4,300, which included a £2,000 fine for his offences, £100 for breaching his suspended sentence, £2,000 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £200.

Michelle Herron, East Anglia Operational Water Resources Specialist, said:

Water is a scarce resource. Abstraction licenses are issued to ensure that there is enough water for everyone and that there is no harm to the environment. Water abstractors have a responsibility to conserve supplies, especially during droughts. Mr Rutterford clearly failed in fulfilling his responsibilities, so it is right that he pleaded guilty and be fined by the court.

The Environment Agency protects communities from harm by carrying out robust regulation and enforcement on those who break the rules.

Drier summers will be an enormous challenge over the next few decades, so building resilience to drought is important. To protect water resources, the Environment Agency controls how much, where and when water is abstracted through the licensing system.

Background information

Case details:
- Rutterford held two water abstraction licences which allowed him to abstract water from the channel next to his Black Dyke Farm. Under his winter licence, he was permitted to abstract a limited amount of water to fill a lake at his farm. Under his summer licence, he was permitted to abstract a much smaller amount and only for the purpose of crop spraying. Conditions on his licences required him to keep abstraction records and maintain abstraction meters.
- Rutterford pleaded guilty to offences of over-abstraction under both licences between 2018 and 2022; for failing to maintain abstraction records in accordance with his licences and failing to maintain and calibrate his abstraction meters.
- Rutterford appeared at Kings Lynn Magistrates’ Court in 2019 for operating an unpermitted waste site at Black Dyke Farm. He had been given a suspended sentence of imprisonment. Rutterford’s water abstraction offences were committed during the currency of that suspended sentence.
Charges:
- Between 30th October 2018 and 1st November 2022, Brian Rutterford did abstract water otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of Abstraction Licence No 6/33/56/*S/0258 by exceeding permitted volumes contrary to s24(1) and (4) Water Resources Act 1991.
- Between 30th March 2017 and 1st November 2022, Brian Rutterford did abstract water otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of Abstraction Licence AN.033.0056.014 by exceeding permitted volumes contrary to s24(1) and (4) Water Resources Act 1991.
- Between 30th October 2018 and 1 st November 2022, Brian Rutterford did fail to comply with condition 9 of Abstraction Licence No 6/33/56/*S/0258 in that he failed to take, record and retain daily water abstraction records contrary to s24(4)(b) Water Resources Act 1991.
- Between 30th October 2018 and 1 st November 2022, Brian Rutterford did fail to comply with condition 8 of Abstraction Licence No 6/33/56/*S/0258 in that he failed to carry out regular maintenance and calibration of water abstraction meter, 05052121, contrary to s24(4)(b) Water Resources Act 1991.
Water abstraction licences:
- The Environment Agency controls how much, where and when water is abstracted through our licensing system. Anyone taking 20m3 of water per day or over is required to have an abstraction licence.
- Abstraction licences have conditions on them to ensure the environment and the rights of other abstractors are protected.
- Our powers and duties enable us to regulate the use of water under existing licences and to decide whether to grant new ones. Where abstraction is damaging the environment, we also have the power to amend or revoke existing licences.
January 18, 2025