Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making provision of data on water use rates a requirement for agricultural water licences.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency regulates water abstraction in England. The information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Environment Agency assesses water use for agriculture as part of the abstraction licence application process both when it first grants an abstraction licence and at renewal. The Environment Agency uses the following guidance to assess water need and use rates: Optimum use of water for industry and agricultural dependent on direct abstraction - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Environment Agency already receives information about how much water is used under abstraction licences in England. All ‘full’ abstraction licences must include requirements to measure or assess the amount of water abstracted. Licence holders must keep a record of how much water they abstract available for inspection. Licences that authorise the abstraction of 100 cubic metres per day or more must also send a return to the Environment Agency of how much water they have abstracted. The Environment Agency uses this information to assess compliance with licences and the environmental effects of abstraction. It also uses information about past usage to determine whether a time limited abstraction licence should be renewed on the same terms or for example have its quantities reduced.
The Environment Agency collates information about abstraction from all sectors and makes it available to Defra in a report called ‘ABSTAT’. The Environment Agency is currently producing an update to the ABSTAT report and will provide it to Defra in due course.
Defra and the Environment Agency are working to move the water resources licensing regime into the Environmental Permitting Regime (EPR). Under EPR, abstraction data will become public register information.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help maintain (a) Bournemouth's coastline and (b) the cleanliness of bathing water.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is taking a range of steps to maintain Bournemouth’s coastline. The Environment Agency (EA) has developed and maintains a strong professional partnership with the local authority, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, through which the EA has jointly secured an investment of £36 million between 2020 and 2027 for a flood management scheme to better protect 3,361 homes from coastal erosion and deliver over £1 billion of benefit to the local community. £17.5 million was invested between 2015 and 2020 in beach management to renourish the beach and replace timber groynes. Additionally, there are currently works on site at Hengistbury Head to the eastern end of Poole Bay to repair and upgrade the vital coastal asset known as ‘Long Groyne’ with new rock, at a cost of £12 million. In addition, there are numerous ongoing studies into flood and erosion risk, such as investigating more locally sustainable sources of beach nourishment for Bournemouth, and the delivery of a cliff management strategy for the whole of Poole Bay to better manage historic poor drainage and land instability of the cliff top.
The Government is committed to improving the quality of our bathing waters. Almost 90% of bathing waters in England met the highest standards of ‘good' or ‘excellent’ in 2023, up from just 76% in 2010 and despite the classification standards becoming stricter in 2015. Bournemouth has eight designated bathing waters; last season one was classified as ‘good’ and seven as ‘excellent’.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he (a) has had and (b) plans to have discussions with the Scottish Government on the potential impact of the Dangerous Dogs (Designated Types) (England and Wales) Order 2023 on the transport of dogs between England and Scotland.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra Ministers have written regularly to Ministerial counterparts in Scotland to encourage a UK–wide approach to the ban on XL Bully type dogs. This included highlighting the implications of the ban in England and Wales on the movement of XL Bully dogs between England and Wales, and Scotland. We also offered several meetings to discuss the XL Bully ban with the Scottish Government.
Defra officials continue to engage with officials from all the devolved administrations on a weekly basis to discuss the implementation of the ban.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March to Question 13992 on Electronic Cigarettes: Smuggling, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposal to ban disposable vapes on the number of illicit vapes in circulation in (a) 2025, (b) 2026 and (c) 2027.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As confirmed previously on 29 January, a ban on the supply and sale of disposable vapes was announced as part of the government’s response to its consultation on smoking and vaping. Defra has since published draft regulations outlining the scope and enforcement provisions for a supply ban in England along with a draft impact assessment. Final regulations and impact assessment will be published in due course. We continue to engage with relevant organisations on how best to support enforcement of a ban when it comes into force as well as exploring the potential for a future import ban.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 require the Environment Agency to commission the Independent Drainage Board to oversee the maintenance of the River Deben in Suffolk.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has a strategic overview of the management of all sources of flooding and coastal change and are the lead risk management authority for managing the risk of flooding from main rivers, reservoirs, estuaries and the sea.
The Environment Agency has permissive powers to undertake maintenance on main rivers. Where maintenance is the responsibility of the Environment Agency it focuses its efforts on those activities which will achieve the greatest benefit in terms of protecting people and property from flooding.
The Environment Agency can enter into public sector cooperation agreements with internal drainage boards (IDBs) for watercourse maintenance. This enables the Environment Agency to utilise the IDBs’ workforce, skills, experience and supplier frameworks. Such an agreement is already in place between the Environment Agency and the Suffolk IDB to deliver effective and efficient maintenance in the river Deben Catchment.
The annual maintenance programme for the river Deben currently includes channel clearance and grass cutting along with operational checks, the spend for this in 2023-24 was approximately £68,000. The Environment Agency anticipate a similar level of spend and maintenance activities for 2024-2025. Capital projects are undertaken as required, most recently in 2022-23 with approximately £121,000 spent on repairs to the river walls.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to commission the Independent Drainage Board to oversee the maintenance of the River Deben in Suffolk.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has a strategic overview of the management of all sources of flooding and coastal change and are the lead risk management authority for managing the risk of flooding from main rivers, reservoirs, estuaries and the sea.
The Environment Agency has permissive powers to undertake maintenance on main rivers. Where maintenance is the responsibility of the Environment Agency it focuses its efforts on those activities which will achieve the greatest benefit in terms of protecting people and property from flooding.
The Environment Agency can enter into public sector cooperation agreements with internal drainage boards (IDBs) for watercourse maintenance. This enables the Environment Agency to utilise the IDBs’ workforce, skills, experience and supplier frameworks. Such an agreement is already in place between the Environment Agency and the Suffolk IDB to deliver effective and efficient maintenance in the river Deben Catchment.
The annual maintenance programme for the river Deben currently includes channel clearance and grass cutting along with operational checks, the spend for this in 2023-24 was approximately £68,000. The Environment Agency anticipate a similar level of spend and maintenance activities for 2024-2025. Capital projects are undertaken as required, most recently in 2022-23 with approximately £121,000 spent on repairs to the river walls.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West 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 introducing a technical standard for microplastic filters in washing machines; and whether his Department has had recent discussions with industry representatives on developing a technical standard.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In Defra’s Plan for Water, there is a commitment for industry and businesses to develop low cost, effective microfibre filters in washing machines and encourage their use.
Defra commissioned an evidence assessment to understand the efficiencies, costs and benefits of installing filters in washing machines to trap microplastic fibres shredded from clothing during washing cycles. The report showed that filters demonstrated a range of efficiencies and costs associated with them. We recommended that filter manufacturers collaborate with the washing machine industry to develop and implement standardised tests to provide unequivocal performance data for the relevant government departments to consider. We await industry’s proposals.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on what dates the Priestley Way trash screen that sits on the River Brent and enters the Welsh Harp was cleared by the Environment Agency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency plans to attend once a week to clear the debris and waste build up on the Priestley Way Screen. By exception, operatives may not attend if they are required elsewhere to carry out higher priority work that could cause flooding or an environmental incident (for example, responding to emergency incidents). The Environment Agency arranges for a grab lorry to attend site once a month (although this frequency does increase at times of heavy rain and higher river levels when the screen can become inundated with waste much quicker). This lorry takes away up to 3 tonnes of rubbish each trip.
The Environment Agency cannot provide exact dates for when it cleared the screen in the past 12 months but can confirm it cleared the screen 43 times (this includes planned visits to end of March 2024).
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's planned timetable is to consult on which activities should fall within the scope of the public consultation on the activity regulations under the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 provides a framework for the introduction of future bans on the advertising and offering for sale, in England and Northern Ireland, of low-welfare animal activities abroad.
Future decisions on which specific animal activities will fall in scope of the advertising ban will be evidence-based and subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. Sufficient, compelling evidence will be required to demonstrate why any specific advertising ban is needed.
This Government continues to make animal welfare a priority and we are currently exploring a number of options to ensure progress as soon as is practicable.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has met stakeholders to discuss which activities should fall within the scope of the activity regulations under the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 provides a framework for the introduction of future bans on the advertising and offering for sale, in England and Northern Ireland, of low-welfare animal activities abroad.
Future decisions on which specific animal activities will fall in scope of the advertising ban will be evidence-based and subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. Sufficient, compelling evidence will be required to demonstrate why any specific advertising ban is needed.
This Government continues to make animal welfare a priority and we are currently exploring a number of options to ensure progress as soon as is practicable.