Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inland bathing water site applications were received in 2022; and how many and what proportion of those applications were accepted.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2022 Defra received 16 bathing water applications for inland sites. Three of these sites were designated as bathing waters: Rutland Water Whitwell Creek, Rutland Water Sykes Lane and an area of the River Deben Estuary at Waldringfield, Suffolk.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 of the impact on the environment of the (a) production and (b) sale of beef resulting from the Australia-UK free trade agreement.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Impact Assessment of the UK-Australia Free Trade Argument included an assessment of the potential environmental impact of the agreement. The Impact Assessment is available at gov.uk.
We continue to uphold our high environmental standards in our Free Trade Agreements and we are proud of the ambitious environment chapter agreed between the UK and Australia which affirms our shared commitment to the Paris Agreement and to strengthen cooperation on a range of environmental issues.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what value of dividends were paid to shareholders in England's private water companies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Decisions on dividends for water company shareholders are made by water company boards. Company boards carry out these decisions within the framework of regulatory price controls, licence conditions and company law. Ofwat is responsible for economic regulation of the water companies.
Water companies publish their dividend statements in annual reports, which are not held by the Government.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of shares in England's privatised water companies are owned by organisations overseas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
8 of the 15 English undertakers are wholly or majority owned by entities domiciled outside the UK.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to upgrade the sewage system in Northumberland.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through the Environment Act 2021 drainage and sewerage management planning is a statutory duty for sewerage undertakers. Each sewerage undertaker must prepare, publish, and maintain a drainage and sewerage management plan (DSMP). DSMPs will set out how water and wastewater companies intend to extend, improve, and maintain a robust and resilient drainage and wastewater system.
The Environment Agency is currently working with Northumbrian Water to review the options for the Drainage Wastewater Management Plan, which should be published in draft form by June 2022, with a final draft to be published in 2023.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the infrastructure in Northumberland has the capacity to handle waste sewage and drainage water.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through the Environment Act 2021 drainage and sewerage management planning is a statutory duty for sewerage undertakers. Each sewerage undertaker must prepare, publish, and maintain a drainage and sewerage management plan (DSMP). DSMPs will set out how water and wastewater companies intend to extend, improve, and maintain a robust and resilient drainage and wastewater system.
The Environment Agency is currently working with Northumbrian Water to review the options for the Drainage Wastewater Management Plan, which should be published in draft form by June 2022, with a final draft to be published in 2023.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce the amount of water lost through leaks in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has challenged water companies to improve their performance on leakage. In the current price review Ofwat has set a target for an average 16% leakage reduction by 2025.
Longer term, the water industry has also committed to reduce leakage by 50% from 2017/18 levels sector-wide by 2050, a target which has been endorsed by Government and is set out in our Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many greyhounds were imported (a) commercially and (b) non-respectively from the Republic of Ireland to the UK in each year between 2015 and 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Animal and Plant Health Agency is unable to provide the data requested for greyhounds as the breed of dog is not recorded on the system for commercial and non-commercial import of dogs from the Republic of Ireland to the UK.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to ensure that the trees lost as a result of Storm Arwen are replaced.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Forestry is devolved and so this answer is for England only.
Initial efforts have been focused on supporting the emergency services and utility providers in re-establishing essential networks and infrastructure with ongoing work to make sure impacted forests are safe for public access. It is estimated that it will take over a year to plan and implement the full recovery effort.
A felling licence is not required to harvest trees that are no longer growing such as those that are blown over or snapped by the wind or are dead or dangerous. In some situations, this may lead to blown trees being cleared with no obligation for the owner to restock. In England, Defra and the Forestry Commission are investigating how regulation and incentives could be used to reduce the risk that there is a loss of tree cover or woodland area in these situations. Regulatory arrangements for clearing windblown trees vary between devolved administrations.
The Government has committed to bring tree planting rates across the UK up to 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this parliament in May 2024. The England Trees Action Plan is supported by an intended £500 million from the Nature for Climate Fund. In the Net Zero Strategy, the Government also announced that it will boost the Nature for Climate fund with a further £124 million of new money, ensuring total spend of more than £750 million by 2025 on peat restoration, woodland creation and management.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the extent of damage to forest and wooded areas as a result of Storm Arwen in (a) Wansbeck, (b) Northumberland and (c) the North East.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Using satellite imagery, Forest Research estimates that around 5,500 hectares of woodland was damaged by Storm Arwen. Of this, around 1,700 hectares was in England and most damage occurred in the North East. A map showing suspected areas of windblow is available to the public at https://windblow-assessment-forestergis.hub.arcgis.com/ and is being used to validate satellite imagery. A summary of this information will be made available in February.
Forestry England is continuing to survey the forests it manages in Northumberland and the wider North East and it will be some time before the full extent of damage is known. There are no Forestry England woodlands within the Wansbeck constituency.