Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what financial support the Government has provided for research into the use, composting and tertiary recycling of polylactic acid as fresh feedstock for the manufacture of plastic bottles in the last financial year for which figures are available.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government has not provided any financial support for research into the use, composting and recycling of polylactic acid for the manufacture of plastic bottles.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
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 industry representatives on setting a date by which polyethylene terephthalate in plastic bottles will have been phased out and replaced by polylactic acid.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government has not had any discussions with industry representatives on setting a date by which polyethylene terephthalate in plastic bottles will be phased out and replaced by polylactic acid.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many reports his Department received of foxes killed by trail hunts by police force area in 2017.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
We have received no reports of foxes killed by trail hunts in 2017.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many reports his Department has received of foxes killed by trail hunts by police force area since 26 December 2017.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
We have received no reports of foxes killed by trail hunts by police force area since 26 December 2017.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
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 reasons for the decline in the bee population.
Answered by George Eustice
In 2014 Defra published independent research on the status of pollinators in the UK. This showed an overall decline in wild bee diversity, a major cause of which has been the loss of flower-rich habitat driven by changes in agricultural land use and urbanisation.
Our National Pollinator Strategy highlights the vital contribution we can all make, from farmers to window box gardeners, to support pollinators by ensuring they have food and a home.