Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (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 reduce confusion regarding recycling in England; what plans they have to require companies to simplify recycling instructions on their packaging; and whether they have plans to legislate to standardise local authority rules over what can and cannot be recycled.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
As part of our Resources and Waste Strategy, we want to make recycling easier and ensure that there is a comprehensive and consistent service across England. This will help to reduce confusion with recycling, ensure that there is more recycled material in the products we buy, and that the UK recycling industry grows.
Following support at public consultation, the Environment Act 2021 requires that all waste collection authorities in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households. This core set includes: paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste. The Environment Act 2021 also requires that all businesses and non-domestic premises in England must make arrangements to recycle the same set of recyclable materials, with the exception of garden waste.
In our recent consultation on ‘Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England’, we consulted on defining these waste streams in greater detail in secondary legislation. We are currently analysing stakeholder responses and will publish the result of these decisions in our government response in early 2022.
Earlier this year we consulted on proposals to introduce Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging in the UK, these proposals include a mandatory requirement for producers to label packaging to indicate whether it is or isn’t recyclable. This will ensure that consumers are provided with clear and consistent information and will help to make it easier for them to recycle. We are currently analysing stakeholder responses to the consultation and will set out further details in the Government Response which will be published in early 2022.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - 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 recommendations of the Climate Change Committee in its report Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk, published on 16 June, which highlighted a growing gap between the level of climate change risk the UK faces and the level of adaptation underway; and what steps they are taking (1) to increase UK biodiversity, and (2) to ensure the restoration and protection of wildlife habitats.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Climate Change Committee's (CCC) Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk presented a detailed and up to date insight into the growing risks and opportunities to the UK from climate change. It will help inform greater ambition and action on enhancing resilience and inform the third Climate Change Risk Assessment Government Report, which we will lay in Parliament in January 2022. This report will state our position relative to the CCC's evidence and advice and set out a forward look for adaptation in the UK, including to the third National Adaptation Programme. We welcome the evidence the CCC has presented and recognise the need to go further in preparing for the impacts of climate change.
Domestic biodiversity policy is devolved in the UK, and this response refers to action in England. Our 25 Year Environment Plan marked a step-change in ambition for biodiversity and the natural environment and we are already taking action to fulfil this ambition.
We have committed to protect 30% of our land and sea by 2030, and will be extending protections on land and piloting Highly Protected Marine Areas in English waters to boost biodiversity recovery. Since 2010 we have already established over 100 new marine protected sites. We have also brought forward the first Environment Bill in over 20 years with ambitious measures to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age, including restoring and enhancing nature. The Bill requires a new, historic legally binding target to be set to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. This will help us to deliver our commitment to leave the environment in a better state for future generations.
Furthermore, we are investing in nature restoration and in nature-based solutions to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change and to support new green jobs, for example through our £640 million Nature for Climate and £80 million Green Recovery Challenge funds.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (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 improve the application process for licences from the Environment Agency to collect and transport waste in order to prevent illegal fly-tipping.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Fly-tipping is a crime which blights local communities and the environment, and the Government is committed to tackling this unacceptable behaviour.
The Government is committed to improving the carrier, broker and dealer (CBD) regime in England and we plan to consult later this year. We want to enhance the background checks needed to operate as a waste carrier, broker or dealer and introduce an element of technical competence as a requirement. We also plan to make it easier for regulators to enforce against non-compliant operators and to make it harder for un-registered operators to find work in the sector. We are working with industry and the regulator as we develop our consultation.
We also intend to consult on the introduction of mandatory electronic waste tracking. This will reduce the ability of waste criminals to hide evidence of the systematic mishandling of waste and make it easier for enforcement authorities to identify material dropping out of the system, and therefore make it easier to protect against fly-tipping. Together these measures will ensure all businesses will be made more accountable for the waste they handle, help to ensure that waste is dealt with appropriately and therefore help to reduce the incidence of waste crime and fly-tipping.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what safeguards they have put in place to ensure that the authorisation for the emergency use of pesticides containing thiamethoxam for use on sugar beet crops will not put pollinators at risk.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government remains committed to the restrictions put in place in 2018 on the outdoor use of three neonicotinoid pesticides to protect bees and other pollinators. The emergency authorisation that was recently granted for the exceptional use of Cruiser SB (containing the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam) has been issued with strict conditions attached to ensure that potential risks to pollinators will be minimised. It only allows use on the 2021 sugar beet crop in England, which is a non-flowering crop.
A threshold of predicted disease level must be met before the use of treated seeds is allowed and the application rate of the product will be below the previously authorised commercial rate. Conditions are also imposed on the planting of any flowering crops within 22 months of the sugar beet crop, and no oilseed rape is to be planted within 32 months of the sugar beet crop because of its attractiveness to bees. Additionally, an industry-recommended herbicide programme must be followed to limit flowering weeds in and around any treated sugar beet crops.
Protecting pollinators remains a priority for this Government. The National Pollinator Strategy is a 10-year plan which sets out how Government, conservation groups, farmers, beekeepers and researchers can work together to improve the status of pollinating insect species in England.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - 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 on endangered species of (1) the economic impact of, and (2) the travel restrictions put in place to address, the COVID-19 pandemic; and what action they are taking as a result.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
No formal assessment has been made of the impact on endangered species of the economic impact of, and travel restrictions put in place to address, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of rivers in England are considered to be in good ecological condition; whether this figure has declined since (1) 2015, and (2) 2010; if so, what are the reasons for such a decline; what active monitoring of the condition of such rivers they undertake; how regulatory oversight of those rivers is conducted; when the next Environment Agency report on the state of the environment in terms of water resources will be published; and what is the reason for any delay in its publication.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The 2019 data classifies 551 river water bodies out of 3767 as achieving good or better ecological status or potential. This represents 14.6% of all rivers in England. In 2015, 554 rivers were classed as achieving good or better ecological status or potential, representing 14.7% of all rivers in England. Headline national figures for water quality have remained static over this time period. The results in 2010 were that 22% of all rivers in England were meeting good or better ecological status or potential, but the methods for assessing rivers changed significantly after 2010 which mean this is not a comparable figure.
The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes targeted monitoring to provide the evidence it needs for its planning, regulatory and protection work. The law in England establishes wide-ranging regulatory requirements. For example, abstractions and discharges are permitted under the Environmental Permitting Regulations (2016), and the EA set a total of 4623 water quality permits in 2019.
The EA reports on the state of the environment in a number of different ways, including releasing data and analysis to meet specific statutory requirements and producing State of Environment (SoE) reports to provide a balanced picture of environmental state in England that go beyond these specific statutory requirements. A Water Quality report (Feb 2018) and a Water Resources report (May 2018) were produced as part of a rolling programme of SoE reports. These and other SoE reports will be updated at an appropriate time. There is currently no date set, or specific requirement for, an updated Water Resources or Water Quality report.
The Government recognises that more needs to be done and is committed to improving the water environment as set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan. We are tackling pollution from poor farming practice with regulation, financial incentives and educational schemes for farmers. Our Environmental Land Management Scheme, rewarding farmers for public goods, will be a key part of that. In addition to government investment in many local improvement schemes, water company investment is being scaled up to £4.6 billion in the next five-year, price review period. The Government is working with water companies to consider how best to address the problem of sewage discharge from storm overflows and our new chemicals strategy will build on a robust statutory regime to ensure chemicals are managed and handled safely.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - 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 conclusions of the report by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds A lost decade for nature, published on 14 September; and what steps they are taking to address the conclusion that "the UK will need to show precisely how it plans to fill the gap between rhetoric and reality in its own backyard".
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
In 2019, the UK Government published its assessment of progress with the goals and targets set under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In common with the RSPB’s assessment, this highlighted ongoing declines in biodiversity in the UK, and despite progress, a clear need to do more. Both reports point to success stories on which we can build, and the UK Government is determined to do just that.
Domestic biodiversity is a devolved matter in the UK. In England, our 25 Year Environment Plan marked a step change in ambition for wildlife and the natural environment. We are already taking steps to meet this ambition in our own backyard and in support of wider global efforts.
We have brought forward the first Environment Bill in over 20 years with ambitious measures to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age, including restoring and enhancing nature. The Bill will set the framework for establishing long-term, legally-binding environmental targets, for air quality, for water, for waste and at least one target on biodiversity. We are investing in restoring nature, for example through our £640m Nature for Climate fund to restore peatland and plant new woodland. We are developing a new Environmental Land Management scheme that will reward farmers and land managers for delivering environmental public goods. The UK is also at the forefront of marine protection with 357 Marine Protected Areas protecting 25% of UK waters, and we are examining ways to pilot Highly Protected Marine Areas.
Biodiversity loss is a global problem that requires a global solution. Our international spending on biodiversity has been growing and was over £200 million per year as of 2017/18. We are playing a leading role in developing an ambitious post-2020 global framework under the CBD and putting nature at the heart of our COP26 Presidency, paving the way for transformative action to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss holistically.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (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 work with international partners to protect oceans and seas from the impact (1) of rising temperatures, (2) of melting sea ice, and (3) of the depletion of fish stocks.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate provides the definitive assessment of climate change impacts on the ocean and cryosphere (icecaps). It shows that many of the changes that have taken place, such as ocean warming and the melting of sea ice, will continue if greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue. Accelerated and ambitious global GHG reductions are critical to reduce the impact of climate change on the ocean, alongside protecting our marine environment to build greater resilience.
As incoming president of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP26, the UK is committed to engaging with international partners, encouraging every country to develop ambitious new Nationally Determined Contributions to limit emissions. The UK is also engaging with Parties through the UNFCCC Ocean Dialogue on how to strengthen mitigation and adaptation action for the ocean under the Convention.
The UK is encouraging countries to join the UK-led Global Ocean Alliance, in support of a new Convention on Biological Diversity target to protect at least 30% of the global ocean within marine protected areas and other effective conservation measures by 2030. Scientific evidence indicates effective protection of at least 30% of the global ocean will help to reverse adverse impacts, preserve fish populations, increase resilience to climate change and sustain ocean health. There are currently 25 members of the Global Ocean Alliance from across the globe.
Through our Blue Belt programme, we are on track to protect 4 million square kilometres of ocean around the UK mainland and Overseas Territories within MPAs by 2020.
On the depletion of fish stocks, the UK has always been a strong advocate for setting harvest rates at or below a stock's maximum sustainable yield (MSY), to progress over-exploited stocks towards MSY and restore them to healthy conditions as quickly as possible, both through international agreements and in negotiations over catch limits for stocks of interest to UK fishers.
The Fisheries Bill provides the legal framework for making progress towards MSY in its precautionary objective (clause 1) and further details about how the fisheries administrations will achieve sustainable fishing will be outlined in the legally binding Joint Fisheries Statement and Fisheries Management Plans.
As we leave the EU, the UK will take its seat in regional fisheries management organisations and engage proactively with international counterparts, driving forward a sustainability agenda and helping to ensure sustainable management of high seas fisheries as an independent coastal state. The UK also plays a leading role in the global fight to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
The UK is also engaging internationally on science. For example, we are collaborating on research on the changes in the arctic ocean through a £16 million National Environmental Research Council funded programme and we will be participating in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-30), which through international collaboration will target a number of societal and research outcomes, including how climate change affects the ocean and coastal communities.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, following World Bee Day on 20 May, to raise awareness of the (1) importance of bees in the survival of ecosystems, and (2) role they play in the process of pollination; and what impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the beekeeping sector.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Awareness raising
This is a devolved matter and the information provided relates to England only. Protecting pollinators is a priority for the Government. Pollinators are an essential part of our environment and play a crucial role in food production through pollination. The Government supports two major events to raise awareness of the importance of bees and other pollinators and to encourage people to take action.
Firstly, there is our ‘Bees’ Needs’ campaign, which we run with our many partners to raise awareness of the steps we can all take to protect pollinators. Under current circumstances, we shall celebrate Bees’ Needs Week online this year, from 13 to 19 July. We encourage everyone across the country to get involved, to share their own stories and to find out more about the importance of pollinators and how they can support them.
Defra also organises, in partnership with the Green Flag Awards, Championing the Farmed Environment and the Bee Farmers’ Association, an annual Bees’ Needs Champions Awards to recognise and celebrate examples of exemplary initiatives undertaken by schools, local authorities, community groups, farmers and businesses to support pollinators.
Our awareness-raising work is a key objective of the National Pollinator Strategy, a ten-year plan which sets out how the Government, conservation groups, farmers, beekeepers and researchers can work together to improve the status of pollinating insects in England.
Beekeeping sector
Honey bee hives in the UK are managed by hobbyist beekeepers and bee farmers. Guidance with respect to beekeeping in relation to COVID-19 was published on the National Bee Unit’s BeeBase website in March. The guidance highlighted the importance of beekeepers acting responsibly and ensuring that they continued good beekeeping practices, effective stock management and health checks while respecting Government guidance on social distancing. Some beekeepers rely on being able to import queens and current indications are that COVID-19 does not appear to have had a significant impact on imports.
Training courses and beekeeping events provided by the Government and beekeeping groups have been cancelled. It is difficult to mitigate the effects of this but we are making efforts to develop additional online resources available to beekeepers. Our inspectors are able to continue their vital work of inspecting apiaries to target bee pests and diseases. Social distancing can be maintained as inspectors work outdoors and do not have to be in close proximity to the beekeeper.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what increase there has been in fly-tipping in the last five years; what estimate they have made of the cost of dealing with any such increase; what assessment they have made of any link between fly-tipping and criminal gangs; and what new measures they are proposing to address fly-tipping.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Defra publishes annual fly-tipping statistics for England, with the most recent publication on 7 November 2019 detailing the number of fly-tipping incidents reported by local authorities in the year to 31 March 2019. These can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. The statistics show that incidents of fly-tipping have gradually increased over the last five years, albeit with a decrease reported between 2016/17 and 2017/18. The 2018/19 figures reported an increase of 8% from 2017/18. However, this most recent increase in recorded incidents does not necessarily mean the number of fly-tipping incidents has increased. Local authorities have reported that as they make it easier for citizens to report fly-tipping, for example through mobile apps, they see an increase in the number of incidents recorded.
Since 2017/18 we have changed the way that we present the costs of dealing with fly-tipping. The standard unit costs used for the majority of clearance and enforcement categories in previous statistical releases are now more than 10 years out of date. Defra therefore took the decision to cease using these costs from the 2017/18 fly-tipping statistical release onwards and total cost estimates for fly-tipping clearance and enforcement are not currently produced. However, we do report the clearance costs for ‘tipper lorry load’ and ‘significant/multi load’ incident categories, and enforcement costs for ‘prosecutions’, as these are reported directly by local authorities.
In 2018/19, 3% of all fly-tipping incidents were of ‘tipper lorry load’ size or larger, compared with 4% in 2017/18. This is consistent with the 3% of these incidents reported in 2014/15. The cost of clearance to local authorities in England have shown an increase however, costing £12.9 million in 2018/19, compared with £12.2 million in 2017/18 and £7.3 million in 2014/15.
Local authorities carried out a total of 2,397 prosecutions for fly-tipping offences in England in 2018/19, an increase of 7% on 2017/18 and 32% on 2014/15. Costs of prosecution actions have subsequently increased, from £288,037 in 2014/15 to £1,002,000 in 2018/19. The success rates for prosecution actions against fly-tipping are consistently above 95% and have been since records began in 2007/08.
In 2018, Defra commissioned a review into serious and organised criminality in the waste sector. This considered the operation of organised criminal gangs in the waste industry, including in relation to illegal dumping and fly-tipping. The recommendations of this review were included within our Resources and Waste Strategy (RWS), published in December 2018, which set out an ambitious package of commitments to modernise the way waste is regulated, in order to prevent, detect, and deter waste crime, including fly-tipping. In recent years, we have bolstered local authorities’ powers to tackle fly-tipping and we committed to further reforms in the RWS.
We are taking forward the commitment in the RWS to develop proposals for the reform of the waste carrier, broker, and dealer regime. We are working with industry and the regulator and we intend to consult later this year. At the same time, we intend to consult on the introduction of mandatory electronic waste tracking. This will reduce the ability of waste criminals to hide evidence of the systematic mishandling of waste and make it easier for enforcement authorities to identify material dropping out of the system, and therefore make it easier to protect against fly-tipping.
The Environment Bill provides a significant step forward in delivering a number of the commitments set out in the RWS. The provisions in the Environment Bill will work to ensure waste criminals, such as illegitimate waste operators reliant on fly-tipping for income, are held accountable for their actions.
Defra has previously worked with the Sentencing Council to amend sentencing guidance for fly-tipping offences and will continue this work to help to secure tougher penalties in line with the Government’s manifesto commitment.
As well as legislative changes, Defra is developing a fly-tipping toolkit, following a commitment in the RWS. The toolkit will be a web-based tool to help local authorities and others work in partnership to tackle fly-tipping. It will cover, for example, the use of new technology to report fly-tipping, the presentation of cases to court, the sharing of intelligence within and between partnerships and promoting the duty of care to individuals and businesses.