Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to make water market structures within the English retail water market more accessible for smaller business customers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Ofwat, the economic regulator for the water industry, regulates and monitors the operation of the retail business market. They published their first annual report on the market, Open for Business, in July 2018.
It identified that small and medium sized business customers are not yet experiencing the same benefits that larger customers receive from the retail market, and raised a number of issues that could be affecting this.
These included issues that could potentially hinder retailers engaging with certain customer groups, particularly small businesses, and that could also affect customers’ experience of the market.
Ofwat and Market Operator Services Ltd (MOSL), the market operator, have been taking a number of actions to investigate further and address these issues.
Ofwat is currently undertaking a further assessment of the market with a view to publishing their second annual report, likely in July.
My Department has ongoing discussions with Ofwat and MOSL about these issues and will discuss the outcomes of the second annual report with Ofwat in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment OFWAT has made of whether the water market is working effectively for new entrants and small business customers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Ofwat published their first annual report on the market, Open for Business, in July 2018 and are currently undertaking a further assessment of the market with a view to publishing their second annual report, likely in July.
The first report highlighted that, overall, market opening has benefited both customers who have switched and those who have not. Ofwat estimate that in the first year customers who switched or did not, but renegotiated services, saved:
around £8 million through lower bills;
approximately 270 to 540 million litres of water, equivalent to 100 to 200 Olympic sized swimming pools, due to water efficiency measures from switching; and
time from more convenient billing or better customer services
The report identified that small and medium sized business customers are not yet experiencing the same benefits that larger customers receive from the retail market, and identified some issues preventing the market reaching its full potential for them and entrants to it. These include:
Ofwat are working with market participants, including the Market Operator (Services Ltd, MOSL), to address these issues.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will review the way in which the Environment Agency responds to water abstraction applications, with particular regard to businesses in East Anglia.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Environment Agency has wide ranging duties covering matters it may take into account when it deals with water abstraction licence applications. When making decision on licence applications, the Environment Agency balances the needs of businesses, people and the environment.
The legal framework in which the Environment Agency is required to operate means that, where a licence application may affect protected species or habitats, or cause the environment to deteriorate as a result of unacceptable environmental damage, the balance must be weighted in favour of the environment. However, the Environment Agency works with applicants to secure access to water for them on reasonable terms whilst still protecting the environment.
Ultimately, applicants can appeal the Environment Agency’s licence application decisions, where applications are refused or licences have been granted subject to conditions. Appeals are normally decided by an Inspector appointed from the Planning Inspectorate.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish recommended dietary advice, similar to that for fruit and vegetables, for meat and fish.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government recommends eating some meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein as part of a healthy balanced diet. Government advice is that we should eat on average no more than 70 grams of red meat a day due to the increased risk of bowel cancer. It also recommends eating two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily, as oily fish provide long chain omega-3 fatty acids, which may help to prevent heart disease.
Dietary recommendations for meat and fish consumption are published in the national food model, the Eatwell Guide and its supporting messages. The Eatwell Guide provides visual representation on national guidance of how a balanced diet looks. A copy of the Eatwell Guide is attached.
Supporting documentation includes the Government Dietary Recommendations: Government recommendations for energy and nutrients for males and females aged 1-18 years and 19+ years, which outlines the breakdown of calorie, vitamin and mineral intake for different age groups. A copy of the Government Dietary Recommendations is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what acreage of land in England is owned by conservation bodies; and which bodies own such acreage.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Natural England is the statutory nature conservation body in England.
There are currently 224 National Nature Reserves (NNRs) in England, with an approximate area of 94,000 hectares. Natural England manages in whole or in part 143 NNRs, with a total area of approximately 65,000 hectares. Of these, Natural England owns about 20,000 hectares, leases about 30,000 hectares, and manages about 15,000 hectares under Nature Reserve Agreements. The remainder are managed by 53 'Approved Bodies' (organisations approved by Natural England to manage NNRs under Section 35 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981). Almost all NNRs are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) (over 99% by area) and 84% is designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Areas (SPA), or both.
Defra does not hold information on individual land ownership outside the government estate, although many environmental non-government organisations are open about the size of their land holdings. For example, the National Trust and the RSPB, both of whom own significant area of land, publish data and maps of their reserve boundaries across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The public forest estate in England, which is managed by Forest Enterprise England (an executive agency sponsored by the Forestry Commission), covers over 250,000 hectares and is managed for multiple purposes, including conservation.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the UK total food import expenditure is made up of items (1) finished in the EU, and (2) part-finished in the EU, which could be finished in the UK.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra does not hold the statistics required to answer this question. Overseas trade commodity data collected by HMRC does not include any details of where products are manufactured, or of any intermediate manufacturing processes.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to use the UK fishing fleet to collect plastics from the seas around the UK on days when they are restricted from fishing.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There is no scheme at this time to financially support fishing fleets in collecting litter from the sea during periods when fishing activity might be restricted. We encourage Fishing for Litter: an initiative which supports fishers in Scotland and Southwest England in collecting litter during their usual fishing trips. We also recognise the work that the many NGOs and charitable groups do in conducting beach cleans and litter collection at sea. We are reviewing what more can be done to reduce plastic in the marine environment and will set out our plans shortly in our Resources and Waste Strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure food security for consumers in the UK.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The UK has a high degree of food security as shown by the UK Security Assessment. This is built on access to diverse sources of supply, including our excellent domestic production. Consumers will continue to have a wide choice of food after we leave the EU.
Defra regularly assesses the security of food supply and has well-established relationships with industry on supply chain resilience. We will be using these to support preparations for leaving the EU.
It is also essential that we maintain public confidence in the food we all eat; we will therefore ensure there is no compromise on animal welfare, environmental and food standards. We will remain global leaders in environmental protection and animal welfare standards, maintaining our high quality produce for British consumers.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to ensure that consumers in the UK can be certain from food labelling that the meat they purchase is not Halal.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government is aware that there is public concern about meat from animals slaughtered in accordance with religious beliefs being sold to consumers who do not require their meat to be prepared in this way. There are no domestic or European Regulations that require the labelling of Halal meat but where any information of this nature is provided, it must be accurate and must not be misleading to the customer.
The Government believes that consumers should have the necessary information available to them to make an informed choice about their food. This is an issue the Government is considering in the context of the UK’s exit from the EU.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 20 February (HL5471), how the remaining 20 per cent proposed charge for permit variation that does not relate to staff or IT costs is made up.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The remaining costs are made up of a wide variety of expenditure which includes property costs, finance, HR, shared services (transactional processing), procurement, administration, insurance, transport and plant, utilities, and travel. The Environment Agency’s consultation response document will provide more information on the make-up of charges. This is due to be published in March.