Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to align their carbon emission reduction plans with the UK's proportionate share of the remaining global carbon budget for limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government’s Carbon Budget Delivery Plan is a dynamic long-term plan, setting a course to reach net zero by 2050. The Plan demonstrates the UK's commitment to play a leading role in tackling climate change, with a domestic target and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) both consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature goal to limit global warming to well below 2°C and pursue efforts towards 1.5°C. The UK over-achieved against the first and second carbon budgets, and latest projections show that the UK is on track to meet the third.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the report by Zero Hour, Net Zero: The Ambition Gap, published on 10 August 2022.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government welcomes independent recommendations to help limit global warming to 1.5C and to reach net zero. The Government has set ambitious targets to reach net zero by 2050, has overachieved on Carbon Budgets one and two, and is on track to deliver Carbon Budget three. The Climate Change Committee has stated that their confidence in the UK meeting Carbon Budget four has increased in the last year.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government which planned housing developments, if any, are currently not proceeding as result of low water levels across the UK.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra are aware of some developments, such as in Cambridge and North Sussex, which are seeing objections to planning concerning water availability and the impact on the environment. Defra is working closely with DLUHC to identify solutions to overcome these barriers to enable growth.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the environmental risks of (1) pesticides, and (2) highly hazardous chemicals.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK, as party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is committed to meeting a global target to reduce the overall risks from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half by 2030, as agreed at COP15 as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Individual countries will be starting from different baseline positions in making their contributions to the overall global target and the UK will need to update and submit its National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans by the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity, in 2024.
The UK is also committed to publishing a National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (NAP), which will outline how we will take action to minimise the risks and impacts of pesticides to human health and the environment, while ensuring pests and pesticide resistance can be managed effectively.
We are developing a cross-government Chemicals Strategy to frame the work we are doing across chemicals and put us on a path towards improved chemicals management. It will set out our priorities and principles for taking regulatory action to protect human health and the environment. Internationally, the UK is participating in negotiations for a new global framework for the safe and effective management of chemicals, to replace the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) prevent, (2) reduce, and (3) eliminate, plastic pollution.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has taken an ambitious approach to tackling plastic pollution. We have already banned microbeads in rinse-off personal care products, as well as banning and restricting commonly littered plastic items – including our upcoming restrictions on single use plastic plates, cutlery, balloon sticks and expanded and extruded polystyrene food and drinks containers from October this year. Our single use carrier bag charge has reduced the use of single use carrier bags by 98% in the main retailers and in the Plan for Water, we recently announced that we will change the law to ban the sale of wet wipes containing plastic subject to public consultation, which will be launched in Autumn 2023.
The UK Government is also proud to have supported the proposal by Rwanda and Peru that led to the ambitious resolution to start negotiating an international legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution, agreed at the United Nations Environment Assembly in March 2022. The UK is proud to be a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, a coalition of like-minded Governments that are committed to achieving an ambitious international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. The High Ambition Coalition has agreed a common ambition to end plastic pollution by 2040, underpinned by strategic goals and deliverables.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (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 (1) the speed with which the Environment Agency considers permits for recycling plants, and (2) the extent to which the Environment Agency consents to permits in time for projects to proceed.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Environmental permitting regulations specify statutory timescales for the Environment Agency (EA) to consider permit applications and the EA also has its own performance measures and is subject to corporate reporting.
The EA communicates with operators through sector bodies and on individual applications about its timescales to enable them to make their applications in time for projects to proceed. The EA also provides an enhanced pre-application service to applicants which helps improve application quality and applicants’ understanding about the time it will take to obtain a decision. The EA also works with applicants to consider prioritising applications that are time-sensitive or critical. Environmental permits are often one of a number of permissions and measures that an operator will need in place prior to commencing a project.
To fulfil the EA’s statutory duties, it must be satisfied that the risk to the environment and communities from proposed activities is minimised and managed. Activities that are higher in risk, complex, or novel take longer to determine.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the reasons for the delay in the assessment by the Environment Agency of the Fenix alkaline battery recycling plant waste permit application at Willenhall.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Environment Agency's (EA) National Permitting Service is dealing with the application from Fenix Recycling Ltd as a priority.
This application is for the recovery and disposal of hazardous waste and this type of facility and activity has the potential to cause significant harm to the environment and local community. The site is near residential properties and the applicant's submissions so far do not include enough information to satisfy the EA potential risks are understood and will be minimised.
The application was submitted on 15 February 2021 and allocated for assessment on 21 April 2021. The application did not contain enough information and the EA was only able to begin assessing the application on 27 May 2021 once additional necessary information was received from the applicant. A public consultation was held from 29 June to 19 August 2021.
The EA's assessment and the public consultation responses raised concerns about the operator's approach to specific risks that were not addressed by the information provided in support of the application. The EA requested more information from the applicant on 17 December 2021 to address this and is still awaiting their response.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the reasons why permits for battery recycling facilities, including the Fenix plant in Willenhall, were not authorised by the Environment Agency.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
In the specific case, I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to PQ HL5950. Generally, the most common reasons why a permit for installations may not be authorised are operator competence (ability to operate a regulated facility and fulfil the obligations of an operator), the activity posing unacceptable risk to people and the environment, or that insufficient information is provided to allow for assessment of potential impacts.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which regulatory body or Department is responsible for approving personal protective equipment specifically for the practice of dentistry.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet PPE - note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when camping sites with shared facilities will be permitted to open to the public.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
From 4 July, people can travel to holiday accommodation - including camping sites - for overnight stays in England.
Campsites will be allowed to reopen shared showering and toilet facilities. These facilities, as well as campsites’ waste and water points, should adhere to all Government guidance on cleaning and social distancing to minimise the risk of transmission.
This marks Step 3 in the Government’s recovery strategy. All decisions have been and will continue to be based on scientific evidence and public health assessments.