Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have carried out a cost-benefit analysis of bat surveys in planning applications; and, if so, what value they placed on the life of a bat, disaggregated by indigenous species.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
This government has committed to leave the environment in a better state than we inherited it, underpinned by our target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. Protecting and conserving bat populations, including species like the serotine bat, is an important part of this.
Natural England (NE) has not carried out a cost-benefit analysis of bat surveys in planning applications. However, NE is in the process of evaluating the benefit to bat conservation from actions taken as a result of regulatory work. It is expected that the initial findings will be published in early 2022/23.
NE is currently testing a new approach to bat licensing through the Bat Earned Recognition Pilot. The pilot aims to streamline the licensing process through accrediting ecologists, enabling them to have greater discretion to progress low risk cases, estimated to be up to 90% of all applications. This will reduce costs and delays for customers whilst providing better outcomes for bats. The pilot is well advanced and is currently in the process of accrediting ecologists, with a view to being operational from early in 2022.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - 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 the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on fish exports.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK has secured tariff free access for fisheries products caught or from aquaculture and a substantial transfer of quota from the EU which will benefit fishing communities across the UK. We recognise the temporary issues the fishing industry is facing, and know businesses involved in the export of highly perishable goods, such as fish, will be more affected by delays at the border. That is why, we have announced a £23 million scheme which will provide crucial support for fishermen and seafood exporters, who have experienced delays and a lack of demand for fish from the restaurant industry in the UK and Europe. This is in addition to the £100 million fund announced by the Prime Minister last month.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what actions they are taking to rectify issues with commodity codes that are reportedly causing trucks exporting fish to France to be delayed at the UK–France border.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Fish Export Service (FES) went live on 29 December 2020, providing the functionality to create a UK catch certificate for fish and shellfish caught by UK flagged vessels for export. The FES service included a simplified commodity code selection process designed to assist users as much as possible. FES launched with 1957 commodity codes, covering most fish and shellfish products. Since this date, following user feedback, the system has been further improved and updated to include 1959 commodity codes.
Following further industry feedback since this date, a commodity code review panel has been set up to continuously assure and update commodity code reference data as more traffic comes through the system. The department is also actively engaging with other departments, including HMRC customs leads, to jointly review and respond to feedback being raised by exporters of fish and shellfish products.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in enabling British exporters to conform with wooden packing requirements under International Standards For Phytosanitary Measures No. 15 following the UK's departure from the EU.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra, the Forestry Commission and other relevant UK plant health authorities have established a strong and trusted relationship with the wood packaging material (WPM) sector who understand what actions they will need to take to manage these new international standards for plant health, International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15 (ISPM15). Both the UK WPM industry body Timcon and the EU WPM industry body FEFPEB have released no deal statements to help their members and businesses which use WPM to prepare in the event of a no deal exit. Further, the WPM industry bodies are improving ISPM15 processes and increasing their supply of ISPM15 certified WPM in preparation for EU exit.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what evaluation they have carried out of the benefits of the grant-in-aid they provide to the National Forest Company.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Since 1995, the grant in aid provided by Defra to the National Forest Company (NFC) has facilitated benefits to the environment, economy and communities with an increase in forest cover from 6% in 1991 to nearly 21% in 2018, planting 8.7 million trees and creating more than 7,000 hectares of new habitat. 70% of woodlands have been brought into active management and there has been an increase in the visitor economy of 30% with an economic impact of £428 million each year, supporting more than 5,000 jobs.
A report commissioned by Defra and the NFC (attached) in 2010 calculated a net present value for the National Forest of £721 million between 1991 and 2100. The report estimated that by 2100 the cost-benefit ratio of the National Forest will be 1:4.8 for regeneration, biodiversity, wildlife and non-use values, landscape, recreation, carbon sequestration and timber production. The largest contributor to the benefits is the recreational value. The additional indirect benefits of regeneration, ecosystem services, health, education and social care are not captured in this analysis.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have considered using High Speed 2 as a conduit for a pipeline for pumping water from areas with an excess supply of water to those which are under-supplied.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government recognises the need to increase long term security of water supplies. The Government has committed to a ‘twin track approach’ to improving water resilience in its Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat and in the 25 Year Environment Plan.
The Government is developing a national policy statement for water resources, which will set out the need for and streamline the delivery of nationally significant water resources infrastructure including water transfers.
The National Infrastructure Assessment published by the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) confirmed that strategic transfers are a necessary part of improving the security of water supplies.
Water companies have recently consulted on their draft water resources management plans. None have proposed a scheme using HS2 to transfer water as a preferred option. Each company faces different challenges in maintaining their supply-demand balance and it is for the individual company to decide how best to meet this requirement.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what contribution they made to the 2014 UK Squirrel Accord; and whether the red squirrel population is expanding relative to that of grey squirrels across the UK.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government is committed to protecting and expanding red squirrel populations and tackling the threats that grey squirrels pose to them.
Defra and the devolved administrations are signatories to the UK Squirrel Accord, which aims to promote a coordinated approach to controlling grey squirrels and securing the future of our red squirrels. The UK Squirrel Accord supports the Government’s long term strategy for controlling grey squirrel populations. Defra has provided funding to the Animal and Plant Health Agency to explore the potential for developing a fertility control method for grey squirrels.
In addition the Forestry Commission works with Natural England and other bodies as part of the Red Squirrel Northern England Project, a conservation project to help protect red squirrels and expand the biggest population of red squirrels left in England. Recent evidence shows the range for red squirrel presence in northern England is stable.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to enable British exporters to conform with wooden packing requirements under ISPM15 following the UK's departure from the EU.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The precise nature of our future relationship with the EU is still to be determined and is the subject of negotiation. The Government is working to get the best deal for Britain and through our new relationship with the EU are aiming to achieve the freest possible trade in goods and services between the UK and the EU.
Discussion on the sanitary and phyto-sanitary conditions that will be applicable to trade in animal and plant product will form part of these negotiations. Negotiations between the UK and the EU have so far been limited to the withdrawal arrangements.