Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to encourage large retailers to reduce excess plastic packaging of products bought (a) in retail stores and (b) online.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Twickenham, Dr Tania Mathias, on 7 December 2016, PQ UIN 55985.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
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 effectiveness of charges for plastic carrier bags; and whether she has plans to increase the number of retailers who are required to levy those charges.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The 5p charge on single use carrier bags was brought in for England in October 2015 and so far it has been highly effective at reducing consumption: early data suggests it will lead to six billion fewer plastic bags being issued in the first year of the charge (over seven billion carrier bags were issued by seven main retailers in 2014). The charge in England has also resulted in donations of more than £29 million from retailers towards good causes including charities and community groups.
Any additional change in policy would require an assessment of cost and efficacy implications. The Single Use Carrier Bags Charges (England) Order 2015 requires the Secretary of State to carry out a review of this Order before 5 October 2020.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with Calderdale Council on improving air quality in Calderdale.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I have recently written to the leaders, chief executives and directors of public health of local authorities with air quality challenges across England, including Calderdale Council, to highlight the need to monitor progress on local improvements in air quality and ensure that the measures they are taking deliver results as soon as possible. I look forward to receiving Calderdale Council’s response.
As part of the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) Review and Assessment process, local authorities are required to submit an Annual Status Report (ASR) to Defra each year. Calderdale Council has consistently met its reporting obligations since 2009.
Calderdale Council’s ASR for 2016 indicates that the Council declared seven Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) between 2007 and 2014 due to exceedances of the annual mean nitrogen dioxide objective. These AQMAs are located throughout the borough covering areas surrounding busy road networks.
Defra’s detailed appraisal of the ASR was sent to the Council in August. It set out recommendations to help improve air quality in its area. This included advice that the Council should aim to: revise its action plan published in 2009 as it only covered three of the seven current AQMAs; produce its first Air Quality Strategy, as well as adopting the West Yorkshire Low Emissions Strategy; and make improvements to its reporting of progress on measures and to its air quality monitoring regime. The Council has subsequently indicated that its action plan is under review.
Between 2011 and 2016, the Defra LAQM Helpdesk has provided technical support to Calderdale Council on a range of issues including pollutant monitoring and source apportionment, biomass screening and AQMA administrative support.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with Calderdale Council on reducing the level of pollutants in the air quality management areas within that council's area.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I have recently written to the leaders, chief executives and directors of public health of local authorities with air quality challenges across England, including Calderdale Council, to highlight the need to monitor progress on local improvements in air quality and ensure that the measures they are taking deliver results as soon as possible. I look forward to receiving Calderdale Council’s response.
As part of the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) Review and Assessment process, local authorities are required to submit an Annual Status Report (ASR) to Defra each year. Calderdale Council has consistently met its reporting obligations since 2009.
Calderdale Council’s ASR for 2016 indicates that the Council declared seven Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) between 2007 and 2014 due to exceedances of the annual mean nitrogen dioxide objective. These AQMAs are located throughout the borough covering areas surrounding busy road networks.
Defra’s detailed appraisal of the ASR was sent to the Council in August. It set out recommendations to help improve air quality in its area. This included advice that the Council should aim to: revise its action plan published in 2009 as it only covered three of the seven current AQMAs; produce its first Air Quality Strategy, as well as adopting the West Yorkshire Low Emissions Strategy; and make improvements to its reporting of progress on measures and to its air quality monitoring regime. The Council has subsequently indicated that its action plan is under review.
Between 2011 and 2016, the Defra LAQM Helpdesk has provided technical support to Calderdale Council on a range of issues including pollutant monitoring and source apportionment, biomass screening and AQMA administrative support.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assistance her Department is providing to support farmers in utilising new technologies to increase productivity.
Answered by George Eustice
Support for farmers in utilising new technologies is provided through the Countryside Productivity scheme which is part of the Rural Development Programme for England.
For example, the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural productivity and sustainability (EIP-Agri) provides grant support to projects which link research and innovation with farming or forestry practices. It also provides capital grant funding to drive best practice, innovation and targeted projects for Government and industry priorities such as animal health, resource management, and arable and horticultural productivity.
Wider government initiatives include the Agri-Tech Strategy launched in 2013. £60 million is being invested in a catalyst to fund agri-tech projects and £80 million is invested in four world class Centres for Agricultural Innovation. This is to develop and support the wide scale adoption of innovation and technology, developing skills and capability in the food and farming supply chain.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assistance her Department is providing to support young people who wish to (a) pursue a career in farming and (b) acquire the rights to a farm.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government is currently providing additional support for young new entrants into the farming sector through the EU Basic Payment Scheme where eligible farmers aged between 18 and 40 can claim a 25% uplift on up to 90 hectares of their Basic Payment Scheme payments for up to 5 years after they have started in business. In addition the EU Rural Development Programme provides support through the Growth Programme to rural entrepreneurs including farmers setting up a new business or expanding an existing business. Whilst the UK is a member of the EU these funding streams will remain in place. Defra will continue to engage with young farmers to help shape our plans for food, farming and the environment outside the EU.
The Government also provides grant support to the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs to provide training opportunities for young farmers and a new industry-led pilot scheme is under way to provide a matching service for older farmers looking to retire or enter into partnerships with younger new entrants looking for opportunities to farm. We are also working with the Food and Drink Federation to treble the number of apprenticeships across the food industry.
The Government is exploring a range of different farm business models that can open up opportunities for new entrants such as share-farming, contract farming, franchise farming and joint ventures. These business models can provide young new farmers with an opportunity to gain experience and build up capital to progress their careers in farming.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to develop export markets for British food products outside the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
The UK Food and Drink International Action Plan 2016-2020 was launched earlier this month. This sets out a Government and industry strategy to grow UK food and drink exports to 2020 and beyond. The Action Plan identifies nine campaigns in 18 target markets. Extending market access across the world is a key pillar of the plan and good progress is being made in negotiations with USA, China and Japan on several commodities.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the burden of regulation on farmers.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government (Defra, the Department for Transport, Food Standards Agency and the Home Office) accepted 137 of more than 200 recommendations made by the Farming Regulation Task Force in 2011.
The Farming Regulation Task Force Implementation Group published a final assessment of our delivery in April 2014 which concluded that we had completed or made progress against the vast majority of the accepted recommendations. The remaining 27 recommendations are currently being reviewed as part of the ‘Cutting Red Tape: Review of the Information Managements in the Agricultural Sector’. A report on the findings of this review will be published in due course.
Leaving the EU creates many opportunities to improve regulation and the way regulation is implemented. The government is currently working on future policy and will consult industry and rural communities.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to work with local authorities to increase the number of successful prosecutions for fly-tipping.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
We are committed to tackling fly-tipping as set out in the Government’s manifesto. In May this year we gave local authorities in England the power to issue fixed penalty notices for small-scale fly-tipping. These new enforcement tools provide local authorities with an alternative to prosecutions and will assist them to take a proportionate enforcement response.
This builds on other actions to tackle fly-tipping, which has included:
Working with the Sentencing Council on its guidelines for sentencing for environmental offences.
Making it easier for vehicles suspected of being involved in waste crime to be stopped, searched and seized.
Working in partnership through the Defra-chaired National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to prevent and tackle illegal dumping. The group has representatives from central and local Government, enforcement authorities, the waste industry and private landowners. The group works to promote and disseminate good practice in the prevention, reporting, investigation and clearance of fly-tipped waste.
Publishing a series of fly-tipping prevention guides for householders, businesses, landowners and local authorities, including Fly-tipping responsibilities: Guide for local authorities and land managers. These documents can be viewed at www.tacklingflytipping.com.
Publishing a revised, waste Duty of Care Code of Practice that provides guidance to local authorities, regulators, the waste industry and all those that produce, keep, import, treat, have control or dispose of controlled waste on how to comply with their Duty of Care obligations.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will take steps to work with local authorities and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to improve air quality in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
We are aware that local authorities have a crucial role to play in improving air quality across the UK. The Government is already taking a number of steps to support them in this role.
The national air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide, published in December 2015, sets out a comprehensive approach for meeting air quality challenges by implementing a new programme of Clean Air Zones in five cities in England, one of which is Leeds. The Plan combines targeted local and national measures, forming part of a wider approach that exploits new and clean technologies, such as electric and ultra-low emission vehicles.
We have allocated funding to help Leeds City Council implement the Clean Air Zone and are working closely with City officials on its development. Delivery of the Clean Air Zone will also take account of the need to work closely with related authorities and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Local authorities additionally have a duty to evaluate local air quality against standards set by the Government. They designate air quality management areas (AQMAs) at locations where these standards are not met and take remedial actions to improve air quality at these locations. Six local authorities in West Yorkshire - Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield and York - have declared AQMAs and are implementing remedial action plans to improve air quality in their areas.
Defra introduced regulatory and guidance changes in 2015 to provide better and clearer guidance to local authorities on local air quality management to enable them to improve air quality in their areas and achieve better health and environmental outcomes.
Defra supports local authorities through the Air Quality Grant Scheme, a competitive fund they can bid into to support local action to improve air quality. Details and criteria for this year’s scheme will be available later in the year.