Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
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 take steps to accelerate the designation of Highly Protected Marine Areas in UK waters.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra recently consulted on five candidate pilot Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). The consultation closed on 28 September. The responses are currently being analysed and will inform the Secretary of State's decision on whether pilot sites should be designated and if so, what their final site boundaries should be. Any pilot HPMAs would be designated through the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 by 6 July 2023. This would be a year from the start of the consultation as required by the Act.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of 3G sports pitches on the environment.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Concerns about environmental impacts of Third Generation (3G) synthetic surfaces regarding runoff to watercourses and into groundwater have been previously raised with the Environment Agency however there is currently limited evidence to substantiate these concerns.
3G synthetic surfaces often contain rubber crumb. This rubber crumb may be derived from waste materials, which can be permitted as a non-waste product under the Quality Protocol for Tyre Derived Rubber Material. Quality protocols seek to ensure recycled materials are handled correctly to be used with minimised environmental impacts. The Environment Agency is conducting a routine review of this Quality Protocol to ensure it reflects current uses in products, remains fit for purpose and takes account of the latest available evidence.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is her policy to introduce sustainable food labelling in the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Within the Food Strategy the Government announced its policy position towards sustainable food labelling.
Through the Food Data Transparency Programme (FDTP), we will develop consistent and defined metrics to objectively measure the health, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare impacts of food.
We will work with stakeholders to create a common framework of metrics which the food and drink industry must follow when making voluntary information available to consumers regarding their food's emission and sustainability claims.
This mandatory methodology will be for participating companies to consistently follow, providing a common standard where eco-information is voluntarily used should they choose to include such information on their products.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the report of the Global Resources Initiative working group on finance.
Answered by Steve Double
The report has been published on gov.uk and can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/global-resource-initiative-taskforce.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish recommendations from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee arising from the seventh Quinquennial Review of Schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee's (JNCC) seventh Quinquennial Review report was submitted to ministers on 19 April. It provides ministers with independent scientific advice on proposed changes to Schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. We will consider the recommendations carefully before publishing JNCC's advice later this year. We will consider the report alongside the responses from the Nature Green Paper consultation before any decisions are made.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
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 towards the introduction of sustainable food labelling in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government is currently undertaking significant work in this area to improve the evidence base and address current evidence gaps which will help to inform our policy priorities. For example, specific impacts of environmental labelling on consumers' purchasing behaviour are less well known, so Defra has commissioned consumer insights work to strengthen this evidence area. This will aid better understanding towards the efficacy of eco-labelling on consumer buying preferences and assist in identifying whether environmental labelling leads to more sustainable supply chains, in alignment with reducing the UK's emissions targets.
We want to empower consumers with more effective information to help them make healthier, greener, and more sustainable choices in their diet and are reviewing how food information can be improved - such as through improved labelling - so consumers can make more informed decisions while maintaining freedom of choice.
Elsewhere, we are working with the Environment Agency on its SEEBEYOND project which is looking at the standardisation of metrics in the food and drink sector.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to bring forward plans to strengthen the legal protection of the hedgehog.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
This Government is committed to halting the decline in species abundance by 2030, through a world-leading legally binding target under the Environment Act. We will shortly be publishing a Green Paper to look at how we can drive the delivery of that target, including through our sites and protections for species, such as the hedgehog. Other actions under the Environment Act are likely to support species like hedgehogs, such as biodiversity net gain for development including nationally significant infrastructure projects. Local Nature Recovery Strategies will also help identify and drive local actions to protect and recover species at a scale that will be beneficial to species such as the hedgehog. Our new environmental land management schemes will pay for sustainable farming practices, creating and preserving habitat such as such as woodland, heathland and species-rich grassland, as well as making landscape-scale environmental changes, all of which could benefit species such as hedgehog.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his policy is on the export of plastic waste from the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Plastic waste is a commodity which is traded on a legitimate global market. The export of plastic waste is subject to strict controls set out in UK legislation. Businesses involved in the export of waste are required to take all necessary steps to ensure that the waste they ship is managed in an environmentally sound manner throughout its shipment and during its recycling. Individuals and businesses found to be exporting waste in contravention of the requirements of the legislation can face a two-year jail term and an unlimited fine.
The Government does, however, want to deal with more of our waste at home and that is why we have committed to banning the export of plastic waste to countries which are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Environment Act contains a power that will enable us to deliver on this commitment and we plan to consult by the end of this year on options to deliver the ban.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
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 help ensure that forest risk products entering the UK come from sustainable sources.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government is committed to a package of measures to tackle deforestation in our supply chains.
In 2019, the Government asked an independent task force, the Global Resource Initiative (GRI), to provide recommendations on how to reduce the UK's global environmental footprint, with a focus on deforestation. The GRI published its report and 14 recommendations in March 2020.
In response, we have introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. Our law will make it illegal for larger businesses in the UK to use key forest risk commodities produced on land illegally occupied or used. We launched a consultation on 3 December 2021 to seek views on the detail of regulations that will implement the Environment Act provisions, to ensure that we design them effectively.
The Government also funds and convenes the UK Roundtables on Sustainable Palm Oil and Soy, which bring together UK businesses and provide technical assistance and support to businesses committed to reducing deforestation in these supply chains.
In addition, the Government will lead by example in the procurement of sustainable forest risk commodities. Our consultation to update the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services, taking place early this year, will propose ambitious new requirements that champion legal and sustainably sourced foods.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
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 total area of undeveloped land in the UK available for agricultural, forestry, moorland or other countryside use.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. The total area in England of non-developed land (agricultural, forest and open land only), which may be available for conversion to agricultural, forestry, moorland or other countryside uses, is 10,910,678 hectares (based on 2018 MHCLG Land Use data, the latest available). A proportion of this land will already comprise species rich or protected habitats or high grades of agricultural land so may not be suitable for conversion to other uses.