Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to introduce secondary legislation under Schedule 17 to the Environment Act 2021; and what plans they have to review the regulations once implemented.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Act includes provisions to make it illegal for larger businesses operating in the UK to use key commodities that have been grown on land that is illegally occupied or used, but the required secondary legislation to operationalise the scheme was not introduced in the last Parliament. The new Government will set out its approach to addressing the use of forest risk commodities in due course.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the delivery of the local nature recovery strategies.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) are currently being prepared across England. They will identify and prioritise actions and areas for nature recovery and nature-based solutions. The first strategies are expected this autumn with the remainder following in the first half of 2025.
In July, the Secretary of State announced a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan to ensure it is fit for purpose to deliver our legally binding environmental targets. Defra is working with stakeholders to undertake this review, including looking at the role of, and support for, LNRSs in its delivery.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he expects the Animal Welfare Committee to (a) complete and (b) publish its review of responsible sourcing of fur.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector. The Animal Welfare Committee’s opinion on the sustainable sourcing of fur is due to complete in 2025 and will be published on GOV.UK thereafter.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any cases of hen harrier brood meddling have taken place this year; and whether the Hen Harrier Action Plan is intended to be continued, either on a trial or other basis.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains committed to securing the long-term future of the hen harrier as a breeding bird in England. This currently includes the implementation of the six actions set out in the Hen Harrier Action Plan. Changes to this approach in the future would require ministerial review.
No brood management of hen harriers was carried out this year. Natural England is currently reviewing and analysing the data gathered under the hen harrier brood management trial, a process which will be concluded later this year. These findings will play a critical role in assessing the effectiveness of brood management as a conservation technique.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which the release of trifluoromethane (HFC-23) from manufacturing and other processes within the UK is being prevented in line with the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol; and what steps they are taking internationally to support and move towards such measures being taken around the world.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
HFC-23 emissions in the UK are reported annually in the National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory submitted to the UNFCCC and have been assessed to be insignificant (~0.0MtCO2e) for all reported years since 2010. Since 2012, HFC-23 emissions have represented less than 0.1% of the UK’s territorial HFC emissions.
As a donor country to the Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund, the UK provides financial support for developing countries to comply with their Kigali Amendment obligations, including those regarding HFC-23.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional guidance to local planning authorities would be appropriate in order to ensure that exemptions to biodiversity net gain can be properly and confidently assessed.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will build the housing and infrastructure that Britain desperately needs while protecting the environment.
That is why we are working closely with the sector to make biodiversity net gain work effectively and proportionally, with exemptions in place for any development that would have no or minimal impact on nature.
The list of specified exemptions is narrow and focused and keeps the policy ambitious, while being proportionate and deliverable for developers and local planning authorities.
Officials are monitoring the implementation of biodiversity net gain closely, and regularly meet with those engaging with it across local planning authorities, developers, and the land management sector.
Biodiversity net gain fundamentally changes how developers choose land to build on and how they design sites, and we are pleased to see so many stakeholders embracing this opportunity to deliver much needed development and deliver for the environment.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they are monitoring the success and roll-out of biodiversity net gain policy; and whether they have plans to review the current system of exemptions.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will build the housing and infrastructure that Britain desperately needs while protecting the environment.
That is why we are working closely with the sector to make biodiversity net gain work effectively and proportionally, with exemptions in place for any development that would have no or minimal impact on nature.
The list of specified exemptions is narrow and focused and keeps the policy ambitious, while being proportionate and deliverable for developers and local planning authorities.
Officials are monitoring the implementation of biodiversity net gain closely, and regularly meet with those engaging with it across local planning authorities, developers, and the land management sector.
Biodiversity net gain fundamentally changes how developers choose land to build on and how they design sites, and we are pleased to see so many stakeholders embracing this opportunity to deliver much needed development and deliver for the environment.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what initial assessment they have made of the implementation of biodiversity net gain to date.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will build the housing and infrastructure that Britain desperately needs while protecting the environment.
That is why we are working closely with the sector to make biodiversity net gain work effectively and proportionally, with exemptions in place for any development that would have no or minimal impact on nature.
The list of specified exemptions is narrow and focused and keeps the policy ambitious, while being proportionate and deliverable for developers and local planning authorities.
Officials are monitoring the implementation of biodiversity net gain closely, and regularly meet with those engaging with it across local planning authorities, developers, and the land management sector.
Biodiversity net gain fundamentally changes how developers choose land to build on and how they design sites, and we are pleased to see so many stakeholders embracing this opportunity to deliver much needed development and deliver for the environment.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 8 August (HL429), what plans they have to conduct their own analysis on the cost of taking Thames Water into public ownership, and whether they plan to consider alternative calculations from other agencies such as by Moody's Ratings who calculated that the cost would be £14.5 billion.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have no plans to nationalise Thames Water or other water companies so are not considering alternative calculations on renationalisation. We continue to carefully monitor the situation at Thames Water. The Government is also focused on tackling the public’s immediate concerns to clean up the nation’s polluted waterways and turn around the sector’s performance.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of farming funding on the Government's ability to reach it's (a) nature recovery and (b) net zero targets.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The level of farming funding in future financial years will be confirmed as part of the Government’s spending review.
We know farmers require stability in order for the Government to reach its nature recovery and net zero targets. We have already started to deliver on our commitment to restore stability by continuing the rollout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, and will go further by optimising our schemes and grants, ensuring they produce the right outcomes for all farmers including small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms, while delivering food security and nature recovery in a just and equitable way.