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 personnel were employed full-time to the Storms Overflow Taskforce in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There were no personnel employed full-time to the Storm Overflow Taskforce, as members were made up of representatives employed across the water sector. All available information relating to the Storm Overflows Taskforce and its membership is available online: Storm Overflows Taskforce - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .
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 recent progress she has made on bringing forward secondary legislation to operationalise the due diligence systems established in schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021; and if she will include (a) cattle, (b) soy, (c) palm, (d) cocoa and (e) timber within the scope of that legislation.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK Government has introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. We recently ran a consultation to seek views on how we should implement Environment Act provisions, including which commodities we should regulate through the first round of secondary legislation, and have since published a summary of responses, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tackling-illegal-deforestation-in-uk-supply-chains.
While a wide number of commodities have played and continue to play a role in driving global deforestation, we identified seven key commodities in consultation that are responsible between them for driving the majority of recent and ongoing deforestation. These commodities were: cattle (beef and leather), cocoa, coffee, maize, rubber, palm oil, and soy. The consultation also sought evidence on other commodities driving deforestation. We will take into account consultation responses in decisions around which commodities to regulate.
Whilst timber and timber products are also linked to widespread deforestation, the United Kingdom's Timber Regulations already prohibit the placing on the market of illegally harvested timber or timber products, and so these products are out of scope.
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, whether her Department is taking steps to regulate the import of (a) cattle and (b) derived products from deforested land under schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK Government has introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. We recently ran a consultation to seek views on how we should implement Environment Act provisions, including which commodities we should regulate through the first round of secondary legislation, and have since published a summary of responses, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tackling-illegal-deforestation-in-uk-supply-chains.
While a wide number of commodities have played and continue to play a role in driving global deforestation, we identified seven key commodities in consultation that are responsible between them for driving the majority of recent and ongoing deforestation. These commodities were: cattle (beef and leather), cocoa, coffee, maize, rubber, palm oil, and soy. The consultation also sought evidence on other commodities driving deforestation. We will take into account consultation responses in decisions around which commodities to regulate.
Whilst timber and timber products are also linked to widespread deforestation, the United Kingdom's Timber Regulations already prohibit the placing on the market of illegally harvested timber or timber products, and so these products are out of scope.
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, whether she plans to take steps to include all forest risk commodities in the secondary legislation that will implement schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK Government has introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. We recently ran a consultation to seek views on how we should implement Environment Act provisions, including which commodities we should regulate through the first round of secondary legislation, and have since published a summary of responses, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tackling-illegal-deforestation-in-uk-supply-chains.
While a wide number of commodities have played and continue to play a role in driving global deforestation, we identified seven key commodities in consultation that are responsible between them for driving the majority of recent and ongoing deforestation. These commodities were: cattle (beef and leather), cocoa, coffee, maize, rubber, palm oil, and soy. The consultation also sought evidence on other commodities driving deforestation. We will take into account consultation responses in decisions around which commodities to regulate.
Whilst timber and timber products are also linked to widespread deforestation, the United Kingdom's Timber Regulations already prohibit the placing on the market of illegally harvested timber or timber products, and so these products are out of scope.
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 her Department has made of the impact of the delayed Environment Act targets due on 31st October 2022, on the revised Environmental Improvement Plan, due on 31 January 2023.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We will publish the Environmental Improvement Plan before 31 January.
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 much funding (a) his Department allocated to and (b) was spent by the (i) Blue Planet Fund, (ii) Darwin Plus Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund and (iii) Darwin Initiative in each year since 2010; and how much funding his Department has allocated to each project in each of the next five years.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The requested information on allocation and spend for financial years 2010/11 to 2021/22 is provided in table 1 attached. Specific annual allocations for the Darwin Initiative, Darwin Plus and the Blue Planet Fund over the next five years will be subject to ministerial decisions and any future Spending Review. The Blue Planet Fund has a total anticipated budget of £500 million over at least five years delivered jointly by Defra and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and HM Government has committed to scaling up the Darwin Initiative and Darwin Plus.
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 the expected annual (a) resource and (b) capital expenditure will be on the Major Projects Portfolio projects entitled (i) Bridgwater Barrier, (ii) Nature for Climate Fund, (iii) Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme, (iv) Leeds Phase Two Flood Scheme and (v) River Thames Scheme in each financial year of those projects; and if he will place that information in the House of Commons Library.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/infrastructure-and-projects-authority-annual-report-2022.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2022 to Question 73124 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Public Expenditure, for what reason each grant allocation was not spent in full.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra and the Forestry Commission have worked fast to launch the new grant schemes in time for the 2021-22 planting season. The expenditures reflect the hectarage of trees planted and for which a claim has been submitted in that financial year. The area of trees planted is updated at quarterly intervals and published as official statistics in the Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators.
Projects that were planted during the winter 2021-22 but did not submit claims in time to meet the end of financial year reporting deadline, will be reported in the financial year 2022-23.
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 which companies his Department has held discussions on private investment in national parks in England in the last 12 months.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
HMG's 25 Year Environment Plan is clear that the right mix of public and private funding and financing for projects that protect and enhance nature will be crucial to the successful delivery of our ambitious environmental policy agenda. As part of the government response to the Landscapes Review (2019), Defra is supporting protected landscapes to build capacity and create a pipeline of investment-ready nature recovery projects in protected landscapes, including through the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund.
DEFRA is working with the national umbrella organisations for National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and National Parks Partnerships to support their existing collaborations with commercial partners such as Palladium under the Revere initiative.
Alongside this DEFRA is also supporting local farmers through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme. This has seen £11m in the first year of the programme invested into protected landscapes in England to support projects delivering for climate, nature, people and place.
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 discussions he has had with national park authorities on private investment into English national parks.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
HMG's 25 Year Environment Plan is clear that the right mix of public and private funding and financing for projects that protect and enhance nature will be crucial to the successful delivery of our ambitious environmental policy agenda. As part of the government response to the Landscapes Review (2019), Defra is supporting protected landscapes to build capacity and create a pipeline of investment-ready nature recovery projects in protected landscapes, including through the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund.
DEFRA is working with the national umbrella organisations for National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and National Parks Partnerships to support their existing collaborations with commercial partners such as Palladium under the Revere initiative.
Alongside this DEFRA is also supporting local farmers through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme. This has seen £11m in the first year of the programme invested into protected landscapes in England to support projects delivering for climate, nature, people and place.