Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
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 progress made by the Canal & River Trust on growing alternative income sources to its grant funding.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government currently provides an annual grant of over £50 million to the Canal and River Trust, guaranteed until 2027. We are undertaking a review of the grant, as required by the 2012 Grant Agreement. The review is assessing whether the grant is providing value for money and whether there is a case for continued government funding beyond the end of the grant period in 2027. As the review is ongoing, I am unable to provide specific details. The outcome of the review will be announced when it has concluded.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of reducing funding for UK waterways and reservoirs on the (a) level of risk faced by communities and (b) economic, social and environmental afforded to areas near those waterways and reservoirs.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government currently provides an annual grant of over £50 million to the Canal and River Trust, guaranteed until 2027. We are undertaking a review of the grant, as required by the 2012 Grant Agreement. The review is assessing whether the grant is providing value for money and whether there is a case for continued government funding beyond the end of the grant period in 2027. As the review is ongoing, I am unable to provide specific details. The outcome of the review will be announced when it has concluded.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment as part of the review of the Canal & River Trust's future grant funding of the potential impact of climate change on the cost of maintenance and repair of waterways.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government currently provides an annual grant of over £50 million to the Canal and River Trust, guaranteed until 2027. We are undertaking a review of the grant, as required by the 2012 Grant Agreement. The review is assessing whether the grant is providing value for money and whether there is a case for continued government funding beyond the end of the grant period in 2027. As the review is ongoing, I am unable to provide specific details. The outcome of the review will be announced when it has concluded.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her review of the future grant funding for the Canal & River Trust post-2027 will conclude; and whether she will publish that review once concluded.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government currently provides an annual grant of over £50 million to the Canal and River Trust, guaranteed until 2027. We are undertaking a review of the grant, as required by the 2012 Grant Agreement. The review is assessing whether the grant is providing value for money and whether there is a case for continued government funding beyond the end of the grant period in 2027. As the review is ongoing, I am unable to provide specific details. The outcome of the review will be announced when it has concluded.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to respond to the correspondence of 30 August and 27 September 2022 from the hon. Member for Lichfield on legislation on septic tanks.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 14 th October 2022.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) inspections and (b) other steps his Department is taking to ensure that (i) pests and (ii) diseases are not imported into the UK from (A) agricultural, (B) horticultural, (C) meat products and (D) other goods originating from the EU.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Biosecurity is a top priority for the Government, not only to protect consumers, but also to ensure that trading partners and industry have strong assurance of the UK's standards of food safety, animal and plant health.
Since 1 January 2021, the UK has put in place strict biosecurity controls on the highest risk imports of animals, animal products, plants and plant products from the EU. These controls on the highest risk goods will remain in place. We constantly review whether further safeguards are needed and have a scientific process to assess and respond to changing biosecurity threats.
Existing pre-notification requirements and the four-hour derogation for pre-notification will continue for all products of animal origin. Traders must continue to pre-notify to maintain traceability of imports and to allow UK authorities to collect essential data to inform design decisions. Traceability is vital for identifying consignments posing potential risk and allows us to properly manage any biosecurity incidents.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will increase fines for fly-tipping in order to provide a deterrent in response to reports that the majority of fines given to offenders caught fly-tipping are lower than the cost of hiring a skip; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Fly-tipping is a menace – which is why we have been taking significant action to stamp it out.
Our proposals on electronic waste tracking will replace outdated paper forms with a robust online system. Our proposed reforms to licencing for waste carriers and brokers will allow us to clamp down hard on rogue waste operations, and make it easier than ever to detect unlicensed operators. These build on enhanced enforcement powers in last year’s Environment Act, and on £350,000 of Defra grant funding for local council projects to tackle areas of persistent fly-tipping.
In 2016 we legislated to introduce a fixed penalty notice for fly-tipping of up to £400 – but, for more serious offences, prosecution allows for an unlimited fine and up to five years imprisonment. While sentencing is a matter for courts, we are working with the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to produce a guide on how councils and others can present robust prosecutions which should support tougher sentences. We intend to publish this in the spring.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to renew the annual grant to the Canal and River Trust when the current funding period ends; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The 15-year Grant Agreement signed in 2012 between Defra and the Canal and River Trust (CRT) requires that a review of the grant is undertaken at the 10-year point to inform a decision on any future Government funding beyond 2026/27 when the current grant period ends. This review is currently underway and will consider the case and context for any future funding arrangements, reporting by 1 July 2022.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of the Australian practice of using drainage nets to collect plastic and other small objects to prevent them from entering rivers and seas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Waste water treatment in the UK is largely determined by the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations 1994. The Regulations have the objective of protecting the environment from the adverse effects of wastewater by setting minimum treatment levels supplemented by additional requirements to limit pollution from discharges. All discharges to the water environment require a permit issued by the Environment Agency under the Environmental Permitting Regulations. The Environment Agency will include the necessary conditions in water company discharge permits to limit sewage-related debris from entering rivers and seas. In the UK, rather than the Australian practice of using drainage nets, this is achieved through engineering design and the use of screens at the point of discharge to the environment.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
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 guidance for riparian owners published by the Environment Agency entitled Living on the Edge, what the legal basis is for the statement in that guide that there is no public right of navigation on most non-tidal watercourses.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The legal position is complex. It is the Government’s view that those seeking to navigate inland rivers for recreational purposes where there is no navigation authority should establish that they have a legal right to do so, either through voluntary agreement with riparian landowners or otherwise.