Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what criteria his Department uses to determine whether water companies have failed to carry out their (a) statutory functions and (b) licensed activities to such an extent that his Department would apply to the High Court for them to be placed into special administration under the provisions of the Water Industry Act 1991.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Defra Secretary of State and the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat), with consent of the Secretary of State, have the power to request the court to place a company in a special administration regime (SAR) so that its business can either be rescued or transferred as a going concern to new owners. Section 24 (2) of the Water Industry Act 1991 sets out the legal parameters for which a SAR can be applied for.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to increase the transparency of the process for licensing game bird shoots.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has introduced several improvements to the transparency of processes since 2023 including proactively publishing all regulatory documents relating to GL43 and GL45 on Gov.uk, and by sharing the number of individual licenses approved and rejected in a previous PQ (PQ 202935). Defra has regularly engaged with a broad range of stakeholders to develop an improved risk assessment process, as well as a general licence for Special Protection Areas for birds. Defra has kept stakeholders informed of progress throughout the development of the general licence and individual licensing process.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 publish the names of the members of his Department’s expert committee that is responsible for reviewing Natural England’s advice regarding licencing applications to release non-native gamebirds.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2023, Defra established an expert panel to advise on individual licence applications to release common pheasant or red legged partridge on or within 500m of Special Protection Areas for birds. The panel consisted of experts in exotic disease control and epidemiological risk from Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 23 April 2024 to Question 22091 on Furs: Trade, what his planned timetable is for publication of the report from the expert Animal Welfare Committee on responsible sourcing in the fur industry.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Committee project on the responsible sourcing of fur is expected to conclude in 2025. The report will be published on gov.uk once finalised.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 statement by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention entitled Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus Infection Reported in a Person in the US, published on 1 April 2024, what assessment he has made of the level of risk posed by H5N1; and whether he has had discussions with the (a) Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and (b) Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on the potential implications for the UK Biological Security Strategy of that statement.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are in close contact with counterparts in the United States on the incidents of influenza of avian origin in cattle in the USA. We know that the strain of virus involved has not been detected in the UK.
We are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, UK Health Security Agency, Food Standards Agency and Cabinet Office officials and with international partners on risk assessments to consider the routes of incursion, animal to animal spread and animal to human spill-over and to review our well-tested surveillance mechanisms and preparedness activities in light of this emerging situation.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 Answer of 28 March 2024 to Question HL3136 on Poultry: Animal Welfare, what his timeline is for consideration of the findings of the Animal Welfare Committee Opinion on the welfare implications of different methods and systems for the catching, carrying, collecting and loading of poultry; what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Welsh and (b) Scottish government; and when he plans to decide on next steps.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We continue to consider in detail the various findings and recommendations in the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on poultry catching and handling. In doing so we are working very closely with the Welsh and Scottish Governments and engaging in regular discussions with them on options to ensure, where possible, a consistent approach. Once our analysis of the options is complete, we will be able to set out a timeline for next steps.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 18 March 2024 to Question 19037 on Climate Change: Investment, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing an additional £3 billion per year for nature restoration for adaptation as set out in the report by the Climate Change Committee entitled Investment for a well-adapted UK, published on 1 February 2023; and how much funding his Department plans to provide for nature restoration and adaptation in each of the next ten years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through the Environment Act 2021, the Government committed to the legally binding target of creating or restoring more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside of protected site by 2042. Taking actions for nature, including protecting our land and species, is also a core part of our third National Adaptation Programme.
This Government is not currently planning to make an additional assessment around providing £3bn per year on nature restoration for adaptation and cannot commit to funding beyond the life of this parliament, but regularly reviews budgets as part of business planning and spending review decisions.
Defra has guaranteed an average £2.4bn annual budget for the farming sector for the life of this Parliament. This includes paying farmers to restore valuable habitats such as lowland peat and to engage in sustainable agroforestry and wetland management, which will support adaptation to climate change. A range of bespoke funding also exists to support nature restoration. Our recently awarded Species Survival Fund is supporting 20 projects with £25m for habitat creation and restoration, while Natural England has launched 12 Nature Recovery Projects spanning over 300,000 hectares since 2022, with 13 more to come by 2025.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 it his policy to publish data on the amount of plastic burnt in incinerators each year.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We publish estimated tonnages of residual waste plastics processed by Energy from Waste facilities as part of our Experimental Statistics on the carbon impact of waste from households managed by local authorities in England.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 it his policy to include the commitment to reduce plastic waste exports in his negotiating priorities for the Global Plastics Treaty.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is a member of the High ambition coalition to end plastic pollution and has taken an ambitious stance in negotiations, supporting a treaty that will address the full life cycle of plastic including restraining and reducing the production and consumption of plastic to sustainable levels, addressing plastic design and encouraging more recycling and re-use of plastic. Controls on plastic waste exports are already established under the Basel Convention. The UK is an active Party to the Basel Convention and the UK supported the tightening of controls on plastic waste exports adopted by parties in 2019.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to reduce exports of plastic waste.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We want to deal with more of our plastic waste at home. The Government’s collection and packaging reforms will help to stimulate investment in the UK reprocessing infrastructure so we can reduce our dependency on plastic waste exports. In addition, the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto made a commitment to ban the export of plastic waste to countries which are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).