Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of his Department’s £30 million Big Nature Impact Fund will be allocated to protecting and restoring Britain’s temperate rainforests.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working to design a new Big Nature Impact Fund, which aims to develop environmental markets by investing in projects capable of generating revenue from ecosystem services.
The Fund should focus investments on the creation or restoration of carbon-rich biodiverse habitats, primarily native woodlands and restored peatlands. This could also fund projects which support and expand England's temperate rainforests. This was set out in our procurement document:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/1b46e6f5-c2ec-4d9b-8504-b77c4eb3f112
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 improve water quality in shellfishing areas to meet class A standards.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
A review of shellfish waters undertaken by the Food Standards Agency has resulted in 15 sites securing seasonal Class A status for between three and ten months of the year, and an additional 3 harvesting areas were upgraded to a year-round Class A status. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is also considering changes to the classification system to ensure that classifications are awarded in a proportionate and pragmatic way while continuing to ensure high levels of public health protection. The FSA’s focus is on proposals that could impact harvesting areas that would allow more businesses to export live bivalve molluscs to the EU from Class A waters.
Longer term improvements to the quality of shellfish waters are set out in Environment Agency’s Shellfish Action Plans. The EA assesses the reason for waters not achieving the microbial standard and develops a programme of appropriate measures to address the failures. These improvement measures are then taken forward by working with water companies and the agricultural sector in the relevant catchment.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase domestic consumption of UK-caught seafood
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are committed to encouraging consumers to buy and eat more locally caught fish and shellfish from UK waters, thereby increasing domestic consumption.
Through the Domestic Seafood Supply Scheme, we provided funding for projects that helped to increase the supply of local seafood to domestic markets and help to increase consumption of locally caught seafood in the UK.
Additionally, we have worked in partnership with Seafish on the 'Sea for Yourself' consumer facing campaign to inspire the UK to eat more locally caught seafood. The launch of their 'Love Seafood' brand in October 2020 will help consumers across the UK reconnect with the enjoyment of seafood by promoting the choice, convenience and balanced living that it provides. 'Love Seafood' represents an ambitious long-term initiative to reframe the nation's view of seafood and encourage consumers in the UK to eat more seafood over the next 20 years.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what safeguards he is putting in place to prevent the overuse of neonicotinoids.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains committed to the neonicotinoid restrictions put in place in 2018 to protect bees and other pollinators. We will only consider exceptions in special circumstances where emergency authorisation for limited and controlled use appears necessary because of a danger that cannot be contained by any other reasonable means and where the risk to people, animals and the environment is considered acceptably low.
The emergency authorisation that was recently granted for Cruiser SB (containing the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam) meets all these requirements. It only allows use on the 2021 sugar beet crop to address a serious threat from viruses transmitted by aphids. The use of this product will be tightly limited and controlled. A threshold of predicted disease level must be met before the use of treated seeds is allowed and the application rate of the product will be below the previously authorised commercial rate. There is also a prohibition on any flowering crop being planted within 22 months of the drilling of the sugar beet crop. This period is extended to 32 months for oilseed rape, which is attractive to bees and other pollinators.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 6 March 2020 to Question 21397 on Waste Management, when he plans to announce the two waste streams for which his Department will consult on introducing extended producer responsibility schemes by 2022.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are continuing to review our evidence base to inform our prioritisation of these waste-streams for consultation on the basis of environmental impact. We will confirm our priorities in due course.
We also continue to progress extended producer responsibility reform for packaging and will undertake a second consultation on proposals in 2021.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on developing his policies for the Environmental Land Management scheme.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
In February, we published our ELM policy Discussion Document. This sought views on how the ELM scheme would work, including the proposition of a three-tier scheme design. In parallel, our stakeholder-led ELM Test & Trials Programme, which comprises 67 tests and trials to date, is continuing. Lessons from the tests and trials and the responses we received to the policy discussion document are informing scheme design decisions, ahead of the national pilot which is due to launch in late 2021. A summary of responses received along with our follow up actions will be published in the coming months.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 Prime Minister’s speech to the UN General Assembly of 26 September 2020, what steps his Department plans to take to use the UK G7 presidency to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK plays a leading role in driving the global response to eradicate illegal wildlife trade. We intend to invest over £66 million between 2014 and 2024 on work to directly tackle the illegal wildlife trade in animals and plants, including to reduce demand, strengthen enforcement, ensure effective legal frameworks and develop sustainable alternative livelihoods.
We are working across Government to define the objectives for the UK’s G7 Presidency in 2021. These objectives will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the recommendations set out in the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion's report, Making the UK a Global Leader in Sustainable Fashion, published in September 2020.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have noted the report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion on 15 September, and we are considering its recommendations carefully in line with our Resources and Waste Strategy.
Our existing plans for textiles were outlined in the answer I gave my hon. Friend on 17 June 2020 [PQ UIN 58081]. We intend to set out our detailed plans in a new Waste Prevention Programme to be published for comment later this year.
[https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-06-10/58081]
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 support upskilling in the fishing sector.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra works with a range of organisations on supporting upskilling, including Seafish who provide opportunities such as skills and compliance training courses. Defra also strongly supports the ‘Seafood 2040: A Strategic Framework for England’ initiative, which aims to deliver a single cross-sector seafood training and skills plan. The purpose of this plan is to support businesses in the seafood supply chain to recruit and retain workers with suitable skills.
The Government has also committed to putting in place new funding after the end of the Transition Period comparable to the European Maritime & Fisheries Fund which will go towards funding skills training and supporting economic regeneration.
As skills policy is a devolved matter, the Northern Ireland Executive, Scottish Government and Welsh Government are responsible for taking forward actions in their jurisdictions on this policy area.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government has made on undertaking a consultation on food labelling requirements relating to animal welfare standards.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government has committed to a serious and rapid examination of what can be done through labelling to promote high standards and high welfare across the UK market. The consultation is currently being drafted for a planned launch at the end of the transition period.