Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of trees have been planted in 2023 as of 9 March 2023.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Forestry Commission produces statistics on new planting of woodland, and trees outside woodland, in England. These statistics are reported for each financial year with an interim mid-year estimate where data is available. We expect to publish statistics for the full 2022-23 year in June 2023. Forestry Statistics are available from the Forest Research website at https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/forestry-statistics-2022/ Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators are available from the GOV.UK website at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators .
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of trees were planted in the UK in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Forestry Commission produces statistics on new planting of woodland, and trees outside woodland, in England. These statistics are reported for each financial year with an interim mid-year estimate where data is available. We expect to publish statistics for the full 2022-23 year in June 2023. Forestry Statistics are available from the Forest Research website at https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/forestry-statistics-2022/ Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators are available from the GOV.UK website at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators .
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to achieve the targets in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Cardiff North on 27 February 2023, PQ 150587.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to Decision 15/6 adopted by the conference of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity on Mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting and review, whether her Department is taking steps to update the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan; and if she will take steps to enable the participation of the groups listed in para 23 of that decision in developing and implementing the strategy.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
At COP15 all Parties committed to reviewing and updating their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) to bring them into line with the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by COP16. In England the EIP will form an important contribution to the revised NBSAPs. We will provide further information on the next steps for the UK and our revised NBSAPs as they are developed.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of increasing the air quality grant for local authorities in the spring budget.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra remains committed to providing support for local authorities to tackle air pollution through the air quality grant. Since 2018 we have awarded over £35 million to a range of locally targeted projects. This includes £10.7 million in funding awarded to 44 local authorities this year.
The value of funding committed to the grant is reviewed annually. The budget available for the next round of funding will be announced in summer 2023.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the commitment of the European Commission and European Chemicals Agency to develop a roadmap toward full replacement of animal testing, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK chemicals regulation (a) remains competitive and (b) is at the forefront of scientific development.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has been at the forefront of opposing animal tests where alternative approaches could be used. We are determined that there should be no need for any additional animal testing for a chemical that has already been registered under UK REACH, unless it is subject to further evaluation that shows the registration dossier is inadequate or there are still concerns about the hazards and risks of the chemical, especially to human health.
The UK is supporting work to develop New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) which can provide information on chemical hazards and risk assessment. NAMs can provide information on chemical hazard and risk assessment without the use of protected animals. The UK is already, and will continue to be, a strong contributor to NAMs development at an international level. It contributes, for example, to the development of non-animal alternatives for chemical testing through collaborative research programmes and work at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which develops internationally standardised tools and guidance to support companies and regulators in the use of non-animal methods.
Defra is working with others across Government on the use of non-animal methods into chemicals and wider risk assessment where they are equal to or offer improvements to accuracy, speed and efficiency. Our approach to regulation aligns with this direction of travel; for example REACH contains the last resort principle, which means that an animal study can only be carried out once a company has exhausted other ways of assessing the chemical’s hazard.
We are developing a cross-government Chemicals Strategy to frame the work we are doing across chemicals and put us on a path for improved chemicals management. It will set out our priorities and principles for taking regulatory action to protect human health and the environment. We are aiming to publish the Chemicals Strategy in 2023.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government's revised air quality strategy will be published.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department plans to publish a revised National Air Quality Strategy later this year.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding to local authorities on achieving targets set out in the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The delivery of the Environment Act 2021 statutory targets does not place a specific burden on local authorities but will require a shared endeavour from government, local authorities, business and the individual decisions we all make. Through the Environment Act 2021 we have ensured a robust legal framework to hold current and future governments to account, protecting nature for generations to come.
We continue to engage with local authorities on specific targets and to assess any support they need in their delivery.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she last met with the Local Adaptation Advisory Panel for England Steering Group.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Local Adaptation Advisory Panel is an official-level forum in which Defra senior and working-level officials are actively engaged. Defra Ministers do not participate in the group.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support restorative and regenerative farming and agriculture across the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are speeding up and refining the rollout of our Environmental Land Management schemes, so they work for farmers, support resilient and sustainable food production and contribute to our ambitious targets including water quality, biodiversity, habitat creation and net zero.
The Countryside Stewardship scheme includes actions that can form part of a regenerative or restorative farming approach; to improve soil quality, enhance biodiversity, decrease water pollution and restore, create and manage habitats. We are expanding the Countryside Stewardship scheme to make around 30 additional actions available to farmers by the end of 2024, as well as targeting our funding towards actions in places where they can have the biggest impacts, in ways that are joined up across larger areas.
Later this year, we will open the next round of Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier, Higher Tier and Wildlife Offers for farmers and land managers wanting to start their agreements in January 2024.
Organic farmers will continue to have access to the Countryside Stewardship organic options, and other actions that may be relevant such as those relating to grassland, arable land, permanent crops, boundaries, waterbodies, and woodland and trees.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme was launched in June 2022. Farmers and land managers can apply for the scheme at any time, through a simple application process. People with a Sustainable Farming Incentive agreement can also have a Countryside or Environmental Stewardship agreement, so long as we are not paying for the same actions twice on the same piece of land, and the actions for which we are paying are compatible.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme contains standards that can support a regenerative approach and are designed so that there are options available for all types of farmer. The three standards available now are:
The six new standards being rolled out in 2023 are: