Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
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 that (a) food labelling is accurate and (b) imported food is not labelled as having been produced in Britain.
Answered by George Eustice
All information provided with food must not be misleading and, specifically, origin information must be given where not to do so would mislead consumers. Food labelling rules require that accurate origin information must be displayed with many foods, including fresh and frozen meat. If a food business operator fails to provide mandatory information, or provides information that is misleading (including provenance information) they will be served with an improvement notice. Failure to observe the improvement notice is an offence.
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
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 ensure that discard free fisheries are achieved under the provisions of (a) the current discard ban and (b) after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
The UK continues to participate in the North Sea and North Western Waters regional groups on the phased implementation of the EU Landing Obligation which will be fully implemented from 1 January 2019. After the UK leaves the EU, Defra will continue to work with our industry and others to ensure that we operate a discard policy that reflects our mixed fisheries.
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of farmers in north Cornwall have taken up the Entry Level Stewardship scheme since 2015.
Answered by George Eustice
Entry Level Stewardship closed for new applications in 2014. There have been no new Entry Level Stewardship applications since 2015 in North Cornwall or elsewhere.
In 2015, the Environmental Stewardship Scheme was replaced by Countryside Stewardship, which offers 5 year land management agreements beginning on the 1st January in the year following application. In North Cornwall we have approved 83 Countryside Stewardship agreements with a 1st January 2016 start date and 102 with a 1st January 2017 start date.
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the amount raised by retailers in north Cornwall since the introduction of the five pence charge for single use carrier bags.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra does not hold information specific to regional data as this is not a legal requirement. In total, the charge has raised approximately £95 million from retailers towards good causes since it was introduced in October 2015. The proceeds have been donated to causes covering the arts, education, environment, health, heritage and sports as well as local causes chosen by customers or staff.
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of secondary residences which do not have a water meter.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
No such estimate has been made in relation to secondary residences.
Water companies provide data to the Environment Agency on households that have a meter fitted, as part of the annual review of their water resources management plans.
The following table sets out the proportions by water company, as at March 2017.
Water Company | Percentage of household metering |
Affinity Water | 47 |
Anglian Water | 77 |
Bristol Water | 47 |
Cambridge Water | 70 |
Essex & Suffolk Water | 58 |
Northumbrian Water | 32 |
Portsmouth Water | 28 |
Bournemouth Water | 69 |
SES Water* | 50 |
Severn Trent | 41 |
South East Water | 76 |
South Staffordshire Water | 35 |
South West Water | 79 |
Southern Water | 84 |
Thames Water | 39 |
United Utilities | 38 |
Wessex Water | 60 |
Yorkshire Water | 49 |
England | 50 |
* previously Sutton & East Surrey Water
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
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 amount of food waste which went into landfill (a) nationally and (b) in Cornwall in each of the last three years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The latest available estimates from the Waste and Resources Action Programme are available at the following link:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Estimates_%20in_the_UK_Jan17.pdf
These estimates are not broken down further by region.
Other information through permit data for waste sent to landfill would not provide a robust estimate since much of the food waste would be recorded as part of mixed municipal waste rather than just for food waste.
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in frequency and scale of algal blooms on the health of the marine environment in the last 12 months.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The health of the marine environment including phytoplankton (and any potential algal blooms) is monitored for ecological status in the nearshore coasts and estuaries and for environmental status from the coast to offshore waters. The majority of English marine waters are considered to be healthy. There are some localised areas – estuaries or shallow harbours – that are affected by eutrophication but this is primarily due to nuisance green macroalgal mats, not blooms of phytoplankton.
Several years’ worth of data is used to assess the health of marine waters which allows for typical variation between different years (often due to local meteorological conditions). The Environment Agency uses the latest evidence from a number of sources in a regular Weight of Evidence (WoE) assessment that suggests there has not been a significant change in recent years.
The Environment Agency is involved, with other partners, in the S-3 EUROHAB project which is investigating using data from the recently launched European satellite, Copernicus Sentinel 3, to track the growth and spread of harmful algal blooms in the Channel in near real time.
The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) collects water samples from designated shellfish growing areas on behalf of the Food Standards Agency (FSA). These are analysed for various species of potentially harmful phytoplankton in the context of human health. The FSA data at individual beds shows that the proportion of samples over harmful limits varies quite widely each year.
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of clean air zones in market towns; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The UK plan for tackling nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations, published in July 2017, is supported by a technical report. The technical report presents the evidence used to develop and assess the plan in addressing levels of NO2 across local authorities in the UK, including assessing the role of clean air zones. The plan and technical report are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-quality-plan-for-nitrogen-dioxide-no2-in-uk-2017
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what level of investment from the public purse is planned for flood prevention in North Cornwall in (a) 2017-18 and (b) the subsequent four years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government plans to invest approximately £476,000 for the period 2017-18, and £1.2 million for the period 2018-19 to 2020-21 on flood and coastal risk management schemes in the North Cornwall constituency. Budgets for 2021-22 and beyond have not been set.
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of recycling plastic waste to produce hydrogen.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra has not made any assessment of the potential merits of producing or recovering hydrogen from plastic waste.