Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 prosecutions for fly tipping in each year since 2015.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
In 2014/15 there were 1,180 prosecutions by local authorities in England for fly-tipping offences with 97.8% of those resulting in a conviction. In 2015/16 there were 2,135 such prosecutions with a 97.9% success rate and in 2016/17 there were 1,571 prosecutions with a 98.4% success rate.
The statistics are published annually by Defra and are available here: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. They will be updated with figures for 2017/18 in October.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 11 December 2017 to Question 117510, what discussions his Department has had with Ofwat to ensure that water and sewerage companies adopt the latest technology in leakage detection and that such technology provides value for money.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
In its Price Review 2019 methodology (https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/regulated-companies/price-review/2019-price-review-final-methodology/), Ofwat is challenging companies to commit to achieving at least a 15% reduction in leakage, and to provide a clear explanation where they cannot achieve such a reduction. Companies will need to be both efficient and innovative in addressing leaks in their network. The specific technologies chosen by the companies to detect and manage leaks is a matter for them.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with Ofwat on ensuring water and sewerage companies improve their response to leakages.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I have regular discussions with Ofwat across a range of water policy issues, including leakage.
The Government's Strategic Policy Statement (SPS) to Ofwat, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/661803/sps-ofwat-2017.pdf sets out that we expect companies to cut leakage. The SPS also expects Ofwat to promote ambitious action to reduce leakage and per capita consumption, where this represents best value for money over the long term, including exploring setting targets in future.
Ofwat has already suggested in its draft methodology that it expects companies to justify their proposals against options, including a 15% reduction by 2025, or upper quartile performance on leakage per property per day. The draft methodology can be found at:
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department respond to Freedom of Information requests.
Answered by George Eustice
FOI requests may be responded to by any member of staff across the Department, as they are allocated to the most appropriate person to respond depending on the subject of the request.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions her Department took longer than 30 working days to respond to a freedom of information request in each month since July 2016.
Answered by George Eustice
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 24 March to question number 68042.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average response rate was of her Department to individual Freedom of Information requests in each month since July 2016.
Answered by George Eustice
Response rates for Freedom of Information requests received by Defra are published quarterly on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
Information has been published up to September 2016 and subsequent figures will be published in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 28 February 2017 to Question 65352, what plans she has to meet the United States Environment Protection Agency to discuss the use of microbeads.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra will continue to monitor the progress of the US ban, but has no plans to meet the United States Environmental Protection Agency to discuss the use of microbeads.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether officials from her Department have met officials from the World Health Organisation to discuss a ban on the use of microbead products.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra has not met with the World Health Organisation to discuss microplastics.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will conduct an assessment of the potential biological effects of microbead products including those not in her Department's proposed ban.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra funded a study on micro plastics that was published last year and which has contributed to our knowledge base in formulating the consultation.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will monitor the effectiveness of the US ban on microbeads which is due to come into effect in July 2017.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Yes.