Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the top five countries were for chicken imports to the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The attached table shows the top five countries importing chicken meat into the UK in the last five years. It is based on Defra analysis of HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with supermarkets on providing adequate home delivery shopping slots for people who are (a) self isolating or (b) have covid-19.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
We are working closely across Government, with representatives of the food supply chain and with local authorities and charities to ensure that the elderly, vulnerable groups, and people who need to stay at home will have continued access to food.
To help industry respond to this unprecedented demand we have introduced new measures to support food deliveries. We have issued guidance to local authorities to allow extended delivery hours to supermarkets so that shelves can be filled up more quickly, and we have implemented extensions to drivers’ hours. We are also temporarily relaxing certain elements of competition law to ensure retailers are able to collaborate effectively in the national interest, for example by sharing distribution depots and delivery vans. We welcome the actions that industry is taking, including hiring more staff, including prioritising delivery slots for those that need them most.
The Government is working to ensure that up to 1.5 million people in England identified by the NHS as being at higher risk of severe illness if they contract Coronavirus will have access to the food they need. A new Local Support System will make sure those individuals self-isolating at home and who are without a support network of friends and family will receive basic food and essential supplies. The Government is working with a partnership of the food industry, local government, local resilience forums and emergency partners, and voluntary groups, to ensure that essential items can start to be delivered as soon as possible to those who need it.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who are reliant on coal for fuel in (a) Wallasey, (b) Merseyside and (c) the North West.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The impact assessment published alongside the Government response to the consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood included an assessment of the number of people who use coal as a primary heat source across England. The impact assessment can be viewed at the following site: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/867428/burning-wood-consult-ia.pdf. The proposals included in the Government response outline our intention to rollout the policy in a phased approach, this is to ensure that those reliant on coal as a primary heat source have the time and support they need to transition to the cleanest alternative fuel type, whilst minimising any associated costs.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
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 publish the titles of the reviews that her Department is undertaking.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra is currently supporting 5 independent reviews.
These are:
The reports for which are due over the course of this year.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to increase the number of trees planted in Wallasey.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government is developing policies to increase tree planting at a national scale and does not target particular constituencies.
Working with the Devolved Administrations, the Government is committed to planting 30,000 hectares per year of new forests across the UK by 2025, in line with the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendation. In England, the Nature for Climate fund will help drive planting in this Parliament.
We are supporting the creation of a Great Northumberland Forest, where one million trees will be planted by 2024. We are also investing £5.7 million to accelerate and further develop the Northern Forest - planting 1.8 million new trees, helping towards a long-term ambition of 50 million trees over 25 years.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of air quality in (a) the North West, (b) Wirral and (c) Wallasey.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Air quality is generally improving in the UK, as set out in the annual National Statistics report at the following URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-quality-statistics.
There are 171 national monitoring stations in the UK operated by the Environment Agency on behalf of Defra, of which 18 stations are in North West and Merseyside including two in Wirral (Wirral Tranmere and Birkenhead Borough Road). Near real-time measurements from these sites and further data tools can be found on the UK-AIR website (https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/). Within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral annual mean levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter have been below statutory limit values and stable over the last five years, consistent with national trends.
There are no automatic monitoring stations in Wallasey. However, Wirral Council also assesses its own air quality using 31 passive monitors to measure NO2 across the Borough which is made available through Annual Status Reports (https://www.wirral.gov.uk/environmental-problems/pollution-control/air-quality). Only one exceedance of the annual mean limit value for NO2 was observed in 2018 with levels at most sites either showing a lower or similar value compared to 2017 levels.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding from the Clean Bus Technology Fund her Department has allocated to Wirral Council.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We have not awarded any Clean Bus Technology Fund funding to Wirral Council, however we have allocated funding to Liverpool City Region Combined Authority of which the Wirral is a constituent part. In total, through four different rounds of the Clean Bus Technology Fund, we have allocated £6,833,026 to the Combined Authority.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with Wirral Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by George Eustice
We have communicated on a range of topics with local authorities, including in a conference call on 13 August along with other Government departments. Each local Authority has established a Brexit lead officer to liaise with Government.
Defra has identified areas where our exit preparations impact local authorities. For instance Environmental Health Officers are responsible for issuing Export Health Certificates on fish and we have discussed capacity and the requirements with them.
We regularly contribute to a cross-government working group which coordinates engagement with local authorities.
Information on leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement relevant to a particular local authority can then be accessed by the local authority via shared channels, such as:
Information on a range of Defra’s exit projects if we leave the EU without a withdrawal agreement has been made available to local authorities through these channels. This includes information on:
Local authorities have been invited to attend various meetings, including workshops, training events and roadshows on topics including: