Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made, and when they plan to implement their commitment in the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests to work on new procurement policies to limit the consumption of commodities associated with deforestation.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Joint Statement on REDD+ by the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway made at the United Nations Climate Summit on 23 September 2014 in support of the New York Declaration on Forests contains a commitment that:
“We will work with other consumer countries to promote national commitments that encourage deforestation-free supply chains, including through public procurement policies to sustainably source commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber“.
The Government Buying Standard for food and catering was amended in October 2012 to include a new requirement to procure palm oil, palm kernel oil and derivatives from sustainable sources. All food and catering products bought by central Government must meet these sustainability requirements.
The Government’s Timber Procurement Policy also requires central Government Departments, Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies to procure timber and timber products that are both legal and sustainable.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made on the implementation, through public procurement policy, of their commitment to achieve 100 per cent sourcing of credibly certified sustainable palm oil by the end of 2015.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government Buying Standard for food and catering was amended in October 2012 to state that, from the end of 2015, all palm oil used for cooking and as an ingredient in food shall be sustainably produced. The Government has been making good progress towards meeting this requirement, with the majority of departments reporting that their catering contractors are complying with it. The next report on progress under the Greening Government Commitments, covering 2015/16, will include an update on sustainable procurement issues, including palm oil.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the badger culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire after four years of operation.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government plans to publish a report on the fourth year of licensed badger control operations in parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire as it has done for the first three years. The Animal and Plant Health Agency continues to assess annually the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle in areas where badger control is licensed for the purposes of controlling the disease. The analysis after the first two years in Somerset and Gloucestershire is available on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage, by total value, of government departments’ procurement contracts for relevant construction projects meet or exceed the mandatory Government Buying Standard level in 2014–15; and why that data was not included in the Greening Government Commitments annual report for 2014–15.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Greening Government Commitments annual report for 2014-15 sets out the data reported by departments on the proportion of government procurement contracts in a number of key product groups which met or exceeded Government Buying Standards in that year. The information specifically on construction contracts is set out in Annex 2, procurement table 3 of the annual report. As with previous years’ annual reports, the available data is presented by department, rather than for the whole of government. It is not possible to provide a figure on the proportion which met or exceeded the Government Buying Standards for the whole of government, as not all departments were able to report complete information.
It is the responsibility of each Department to put the Government Buying Standards into practice in its own procurement activity.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of leakage at landfill sites in Britain, and what plans they have to investigate landfill sites to identify any that are leaking.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Environment Agency is responsible for regulating landfill sites that hold an environmental permit, which includes all operational and some closed sites. Operators of landfill sites must comply with their permit conditions and these will normally include a requirement to monitor emissions or leakage. The Environment Agency assesses compliance with permit conditions on an ongoing site-specific basis.
The monitoring and management of historic landfill sites that are no longer operating under a permit is a matter for local authorities under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Government does not hold these records and has therefore not made an assessment of leakage from these sites.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - 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 15 December 2015 (HL4104), when they intend to make public the report of the Lead Ammunition Group, which was submitted on 3 June 2015, and their response.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government is still in the process of considering the report’s findings and recommendations and will respond to it as soon as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of microplastics from toiletries and detergents on aquatic life.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Microplastics from cosmetic products make up a very small percentage of the total of microplastics entering the marine environment, with estimates ranging from 0.01% to 4.1%. Defra has funded a project, undertaken by the University of Plymouth, to study the effects of microplastics in the marine environment. The project studied whether chemical pollutants stick to plastic particles, whether marine organisms ingest plastic particles and pass them along the food chain, and whether the plastics themselves, or associated chemical pollutants, could cause harm to those organisms. The final report for this project is currently undergoing peer review.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have (1) to develop a new strategy for the implementation of the European School Milk Scheme from 2017, and (2) to involve stakeholders in developing that strategy.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
If the European Parliament formally endorses the proposal for a revised EU School Milk Scheme in Plenary on 8 March 2016, it is likely to enter into force in spring 2016 and apply in schools from August 2017. We will use this period to consider the new requirements and consult with interested parties. Member States that wish to participate will be obliged to submit a multi-annual national strategy setting out their priorities for implementing the new Scheme. Detailed rules for the drawing up of national strategies will be adopted by the Commission in a delegated act which will be negotiated in the coming months.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the records of retailers concerning carrier bag charges will be made public after the first reporting period, 5 October 2015 to 6 April 2016, in the light of the fact that members of the public can obtain copies of retailer carrier bag records within 28 days.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra is required to publish every retailer record received on an annual basis. All records supplied by retailers will be published on the GOV.UK website by 31 July each year.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether retailer records provided to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be made available on the department's website, in the light of the guidance <i>Carrier bag charges: retailers</i>' <i>responsibility </i>that states such information will be made public.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra is required to publish every retailer record received on an annual basis. All records supplied by retailers will be published on the GOV.UK website by 31 July each year.