Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 a timeline to bring forward legislative measures to end trail hunting.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter with regard to Scotland and NI; hunting with dogs is a reserved matter with respect to Wales and therefore, the information provided relates to England and Wales.
The Government is committed to enacting a ban on Trail Hunting, and work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the new customer panels to hold water companies to account will be selected; and what powers these panels will have.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This government expects companies to provide high levels of service, both for customers and the environment and believes that customers should be at heart of challenging companies on their performance, which is why we have immediately announced that powerful new customer panels will be established. These panels will have the remit to do things like summon members of the executive and hold them to account.
Further detail will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to monitor Ofwat's (a) monitoring and (b) enforcement of the ring-fencing of funds for vital infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
After writing to Ofwat, the Secretary of State has secured agreement that funding for vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment. Ofwat will also ensure that when money for investment is not spent, companies refund customers, with money never allowed to be diverted for bonuses, dividends or salary increases.
As part of PR24, Ofwat have introduced increased consumer protections through Price Control Deliverables which act to pull back funding from companies when they fail to deliver, helping to ensure customers are protected and money is returned if outputs are not being met.
Ofwat propose to require companies to report on progress against their price control deliverable outputs on a six-monthly basis and forecast performance for the 2025-2030 period. Where Ofwat consider a company is sufficiently off-track, they will consider what additional steps that they should take.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 he has had with Ofwat about water companies at risk of bankruptcy.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government and Ofwat take the financial resilience of the water sector very seriously.
Ofwat continues to monitor the financial position of all water and wastewater companies. It sets out its assessment of the financial resilience of each company in its annual Monitoring Financial Resilience report. The Government is prepared for a range of scenarios across our regulated industries - including water - as any responsible government would be.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 consultation on Improved food waste reporting by large food businesses in England, published on 13 June 2023, how many large businesses responded to the consultation; and how many (a) supported and (b) rejected its proposals.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
46 organisations responded to the consultation on improved food waste reporting as large businesses. 30 supported a mandatory approach while 13 supported an enhancement of the voluntary approach. The remainder were unsure or did not have an opinion.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 make it her policy to introduce mandatory food waste reporting for large businesses.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Food and drink businesses should report their food waste through the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap. There are no plans at this time to extend this voluntary scheme to a mandatory one.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which of the substances targeted for a restriction in EU REACH that are not considered a priority in the UK REACH work programme 2022-23 have been assessed as either (a) not used or rarely used in the UK or (b) well controlled in Great Britain; and how existing controls provide an equivalent level of protection to the proposed restriction at EU level for those substances assessed as well controlled in Great Britain.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra and the Scottish and Welsh Governments work closely with the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency and external stakeholders to identify priorities under UK REACH.
We have published our rationale for the priorities identified for the current UK REACH work programme in 2022 to 2023: The Rationale for UK REACH Priorities 2022 to 2023. This explains why particular proposals were not adopted as priorities at this time, for example setting out where substances are already controlled in GB under other regulations and/or not widely used within the UK.
We will continue to review the substances not identified as priorities this year and consider any evidence of risk within GB in developing the REACH work programme for future years.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 adopt EU risk management decisions on hazardous substances during the transitional period given for substances registered under EU REACH and transferred into UK REACH.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
As an independent jurisdiction, the UK must make its own assessments of chemical risks and policy options to address them.
We continue to closely monitor international developments, and work with a wide range of stakeholders to establish priorities for further monitoring, evidence-gathering and regulatory action.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that new additions to the EU’s Substances of Very High Concern Candidate List are assessed promptly UK REACH once added to the EU list.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra, together with the technical specialists at the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency, monitor the European Chemicals Agency's (ECHA's) work to introduce new substances of very high concern to the EU REACH Candidate List. Where this work is relevant for Great Britain, we will assess the scientific evidence and ECHA's rationale for taking this regulatory step. If inclusion on the UK REACH Authorisation List would be an effective risk management measure for the substance, we will take action to recommend it for inclusion on the UK Candidate List of substances of very high concern.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to put mechanisms in place to resolve concerns raised by the European Chemicals Agency about hazardous substances registered in the EU that are grandfathered in the UK and subject to transitional data requirements.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
When identifying UK priorities for action under UK REACH, we will look at evidence from the European Chemicals Agency, along with other countries. If the EU is taking action on a substance, this does not mean that there has been a clear demonstration of risk within Great Britain. Where a risk has been identified within Great Britain, we might decide to address the issue in other ways, such as initiating actions under the occupational health and safety regulations or the classification, labelling and packaging regulations. The first two UK REACH Work Programmes have set out work in similar areas to the EU.
Under UK REACH, all chemical substances that are manufactured in, or imported into, Great Britain in quantities of over 1 tonne a year must be notified and registered with the Health and Safety Executive. In addition, manufacturers, importers and downstream users have the ongoing duty to identify appropriate risk management measures, pass them down the supply chain, and apply them when they use a substance.