Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s consultation on Consistency in household and business recycling in England, for what reason her Department has not yet published (a) the results of and (b) her Department’s response to the consultation entitled Consistency in household and business recycling in England; and when she expects to do so.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We received 896 responses to this consultation. Due to the large scope of the consultation, we wanted to carefully analyse the responses before making key policy decisions. Given the scale of change that will be required by this package of reforms we must ensure we take the time to get them right so they will be as effective as possible in achieving our objectives. We will be publishing our response to the consultation shortly which will confirm implementation dates and materials in scope for consistent collection, as well as our consultation on statutory guidance.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her proposed reform of waste collection practices will include a requirement that local authorities provide a free garden waste collection service.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We consulted on a range of options for dealing with garden waste in our 2021 recycling consistency consultation – including free collections, a maximum reasonable charge and methods to increase home composting rates.
We have considered the fairness of each option alongside its environmental benefit. We will confirm the policy decision on garden waste collections in our Government response to this consultation which will be published shortly.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to fully fund any additional costs incurred by local authorities arising from her proposed reforms to waste collection.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Any new financial burdens introduced through new statutory duties on local authorities will be assessed and the net additional cost covered by the Government in line with the latest New Burdens Guidance. In exceptional circumstances, Ministers at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities might decide to waive the funding requirement.
We are working to assess net additional costs to local authorities.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to group local authorities for funding purposes as part of her reforms to the collection of waste; and whether local authorities will be able to challenge how they have been grouped.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In line with the New Burdens Guidance the Government will consult with local authorities or their representative bodies to decide on the approach to allocating funding.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her proposed reforms to waste collection services of the ability of local authorities to purchase (a) new vehicles, (b) containers and (c) other necessary equipment.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To support the implementation of waste reforms, we will continue to make assessments of the ability of local authorities to purchase vehicles, containers and other equipment needed and support them in their local delivery.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to provide guidance to all local authorities on minimum service standards following her proposed reforms to waste collection services.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
When we publish the Government response to the 2021 consultation on Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England, we will launch a consultation on statutory guidance to support implementation.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to the London Borough of Bromley as compensation for the potential loss of income from the sale of recyclates arising from her proposed reforms to waste collection services.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Any new financial burdens introduced through new statutory duties on local authorities will be assessed and the net additional cost covered by the Government, unless exceptionally Ministers at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities agree to waive the funding requirement.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has with Cabinet colleagues to expedite the roll-out of better broadband to rural communities.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is already doing a great deal to roll out better broadband in rural areas. Through Project Gigabit, we are spending £5 billion so people in hard-to-reach areas can get ultra-reliable gigabit broadband speeds. We signed our first contract on schedule and have over £690 million of contracts covering rural areas out for tender right now.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide a list of (a) professional staff networks and (b) social clubs operating within his Department; and if he will provide the (i) budgets and (ii) FTE staff time allocated to each group within each of the last three years.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We have the following professional staff networks and social clubs operating within the Department:
Budgets are not officially allocated at such low levels. Each year we allocate £20,000 to the EDI Networks, which is distributed according to need. We are unable to provide details of these allocations.
Due to ad hoc membership, we are unable to provide details of the number of staff time allocated to each network.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to promote rural broadband; and if she will ensure that Downe and Cudham in Orpington constituency and other rural areas that have yet to receive funding for broadband are prioritised.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise that access to fast and reliable broadband is essential to support economic growth and thriving rural communities. We are working closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to ensure rural businesses and communities get the connectivity they need.
The Government is investing record amounts to level up digital infrastructure across the UK. We are already connecting some of the hardest to reach places in the country, including through the Superfast Broadband Programme and £200 million Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme.
The Government wants nationwide coverage of gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible and we are supporting rural areas as a priority. We have committed £5 billion of public funding to close the digital divide and ensure rural areas are not left behind. Further details will be announced in due course.
Defra has also allocated up to £79.5 million of grant funding from the Rural Development Programme for England, targeted at helping to connect businesses with broadband in some of the hardest to reach rural areas.
Those premises that do not have access to 'decent broadband' (10 Megabits per second download speeds) are able to request a Broadband Universal Service Obligation connection.