Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding is available to local authorities for clean air programmes.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have allocated over £883 million to help local authorities develop and implement local NO2 reduction plans and to support those impacted by these plans. In addition, the Local Air Quality Grant scheme has supported over 500 projects with a total of over £53 million since 2010. We are currently considering whether the Local Air Quality Grant scheme might be redesigned to better deliver positive outcomes for local air quality.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward (a) legislative proposals to amend the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and (b) other legislative proposals to reclassify catapults as illegal weapons when used to harm wildlife.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government takes crimes against wildlife seriously, including those involving the use of catapults. The Government has no current plans though to amend the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales.
While the Act does not include catapults in the list of weapons that a person must not use to kill an animal, it is still illegal under this Act to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species. There are a range of offences around deliberate attempts to kill, injure or inflict harm on wildlife under provisions not just in this Act, but also in the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and in the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 make it his policy to allow water customers to have a meter removed from their property.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has committed to a 20% reduction in water demand by 2038 and halving leakage by 2050. Metering is central to identifying and reducing leakage and enabling better value for money for the consumer. The Government set out that water companies in areas of ‘water stress’ can compulsorily meter, following evidence it provides value for money and has customer support in their resource planning. Where this is the case, a customer may not be able to switch back to unmeasured charges. Other water companies do offer the opportunity for customers to switch back to an unmeasured charge following meter installation. All water companies offer social tariffs as part of affordability packages for consumers who may be struggling to pay their water bills.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of ending the automatic right of new housing developments to connect to the sewage system.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water Industry Act 1991 permits owners of premises or of private sewers to connect to the public sewer and to discharge into it foul and surface water. A sewerage company may, however, refuse this connection if it appears that the construction or condition of the connecting drain or sewer does not reasonably satisfy the standards it reasonably requires or if the connection would be prejudicial to its own sewerage system. Where there are questions or disputes about reasonableness, the regulator - Ofwat - would make the final determination.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
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 to commence schedule 3 of the Floods and Water Act 2010.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains firmly committed to delivering standardised sustainable drainage systems in new developments as stated in our Plan for Water (April 2023). A consultation will take place shortly and final implementation decisions will be made on scope, threshold and process.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) gypsophila, (b) solidago, (c) orchids, (d) dianthus and (e) chrysanthemum consignments were imported from the EU between 2010 and 2020.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
During the period described this data was not collected as the goods detailed were not under restriction from the EU.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce (a) single-use and (b) other plastic waste.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In December 2018, the UK Government published its Resources and Waste Strategy. This sets out how we will achieve a circular economy for plastic and achieve our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042.
Our goal is to maximise resource efficiency and minimise waste to keep plastic in circulation for longer by following the principles of the waste hierarchy: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. One way will do this is by making producers more responsible for the plastic they make with our incoming Collection and Packaging Reforms.
Single-use plastics are a particularly problematic type of plastic that makes up much of our waste. We have introduced bans, including most recently in October 2023, on the supply of many unnecessary single-use plastic items. To tackle the use of virgin plastics, the Government brought in the Plastic Packaging Tax in April 2022.
Internationally, the UK is a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition, a group of over 60 countries calling for an ambitious and effective UN Treaty to end plastic pollution. At the current round of negotiations in Canada, we are continuing to support a treaty that will address the full lifecycle of plastic to tackle the problem of plastic pollution globally, including through designing out waste and supporting a circular economy for plastic.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
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 effectiveness of hedgerow protections.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There has been no formal assessment made of the effectiveness of hedgerow protections. The majority of hedgerows on agricultural land were previously managed in accordance with rules contained in cross compliance that were conditioned to payments made through the Basic Payment Scheme and some agri-environment schemes. As we moved away from the Basic Payment Scheme at the end of last year, cross compliance and the hedgerow management rules also ended. The Government consulted last year on the best approach following the end of cross compliance and on the 16 April laid new regulations that, if approved, will put management practices for hedgerows on agricultural land into law.
Certain hedgerows are also protected from removal under the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 if they meet specific criteria. These regulations are enforced by Local Planning Authorities, who can utilise their understanding of the local context and landscape character.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his expected timetable is for publishing his Department's roadmap on household water efficiency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We published our ‘Roadmap on water efficiency in new developments and retrofits’ in the Environmental Improvement Plan in 2023. This sets out 10 actions to achieve our statutory target to reduce water demand by 20% by 2038. Within this we committed to implementing a Mandatory Water Efficiency label by 2025, to enable consumers to identify water efficient products. In October 2023, the Government publicly committed to a spring consultation to fulfil the roadmap action to Review the Building Regulations 2010, and the water efficiency, water recycling and drainage standards (regulation 36 and Part G2, H1, H2, H3 of Schedule 1), considering industry competence and skills.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
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 with water companies to help tackle leaks.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Reducing losses through leakage is an important part of maintaining secure supplies of water for customers now and in the future. Government is committed to reducing leakage and has set a statutory water demand target to reduce water demand per person by 20% by 2038. This includes reducing leakage by 37% by 2038, on a trajectory to a 50% reduction in leakage by 2050. Ofwat set out a £51 billion five-year investment package in the Price Review 2019, including requirements for water companies to cut leaks by 16% and reduce mains bursts by 12% between 2020-2025. Ofwat will hold water companies to account for delivering leakage reduction targets, with financial penalties if they fail to meet them.