Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 plans to take steps to ringfence funding for local authorities to help manage climate-related incidents in summer 2023.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23.
The majority of the funding is un-ringfenced in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities.
To assess the amount of funding required for local government ahead of fiscal events, we estimate the additional resource required to fund the expenditure needs of local authorities. Government uses a range of forecasts and indices to estimate demographic and unit cost pressures facing local government. We ensure the assumptions underlying our modelling are robust by holding in-depth financial conversations with local authorities and regular conversations with treasurer societies.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether any organisations completed air quality modelling to help inform the air quality targets in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023, published on 31 January 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Both the interim and long term targets published within the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 were informed by extensive modelling undertaken by internationally recognised experts. The modelling to inform the long term PM2.5 targets is set out on the UK Air website.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 an assessment of the adequacy of the level of funding provided to local authorities for meeting the targets set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023, published on 31 January 2023.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The delivery of the Environment Act 2021 statutory targets does not place a specific burden on local authorities but will require a shared endeavour from government, local authorities, business and the individual decisions we all make. Through the Environment Act 2021 we have ensured a robust legal framework to hold current and future governments to account, protecting nature for generations to come.
We continue to engage with local authorities on specific targets and to assess any support they need in their delivery.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she last met with the Local Adaptation Advisory Panel for England Steering Group.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Local Adaptation Advisory Panel is an official-level forum in which Defra senior and working-level officials are actively engaged. Defra Ministers do not participate in the group.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 adequacy of the eligibility criteria for the WaterSure scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
WaterSure is the only national tariff for which Government sets the criteria, it is intended to help customers on low incomes with unavoidably high water usage who may otherwise struggle to pay their water bill. To be eligible for WaterSure, customers must be in receipt of means tested benefits, which provides an appropriate measure for assessing income, and have either three or more children under 19 or a medical condition requiring the extra use of water.
A post implementation review of The Water Industry (Charges) (Vulnerable Groups) (Consolidation) Regulations 2015, carried out in 2020 concluded that no changes to the Regulations were required. The Consumer Council for Water’s Independent Review of Water Affordability, published in 2021, did not recommend any changes to WaterSure’s eligibility criteria, rather changes to how companies administer the scheme.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to increase the air quality grant for local authorities in the forthcoming Spring budget.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra remains committed to providing support for local authorities to tackle air pollution through the air quality grant. Since 2018 we have awarded over £35 million to a range of projects. This includes £10.7 million in funding awarded to 44 local authorities this year that will benefit schools, businesses and communities, and reduce the impact of polluted air on people’s health.
The value of funding committed to the grant is reviewed annually. The budget available for the next round of funding will be announced in summer 2023.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 February 2023 to Question 135431, on Food: Standards, if he will make it his policy to bring forward legislative proposals to create a statutory requirement that food standards will be maintained or enhanced following the passage of the Retained EU Law Bill.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains committed to promoting robust food standards nationally and internationally, to protect consumer interests, facilitate international trade, and ensure that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy
The Government is in the process of analysing and assessing retained EU law to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Re-tained EU Law (REUL) (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing funding for agroecology on levels of food insecurity.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our food system is dependent on maintaining a healthy and sustainable natural environment, providing us with the inputs we need to continue to grow, rear and produce food domestically. This is complemented by international trade to provide our high level of food security.
Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector, meeting our commitment to broadly maintain current levels of food production, alongside environmental improvements that benefit us all. Our schemes will ensure our long-term food security by investing in the foundations of food production: healthy soil, water, and biodiverse ecosystems.
UK food supply comprises domestic production excluding exports, plus imported food, and the production to supply ratio has remained stable over the last two decades. Production to supply ratios are regularly kept under review as part of our wider ongoing work on food security. The UK Food Security Review is a review of the evidence landscape for all aspects of food security, and the 2024 edition will take account of any new data sources produced since 2021.
We are currently undertaking research to examine future land use and agricultural strategies to balance environmental and food production outcomes. This work is helping to inform the development of the Land Use Framework.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 February 2023 to Question 136800 on Sugar Beet: Neonicotinoids, if he will publish the conditions attached to the authorisation.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The conditions attached to the 2023 emergency authorisation of Cruiser SB are published and available here: Statement of reasons for the decision on the application for emergency authorisation for the use of Cruiser SB on sugar beet crops in 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 an assessment of the potential merits of implementing higher air quality targets on the concentration of PM2.5.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The air quality targets Statutory Instrument was made on 31st January 2023 (available here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/96/contents/made).
We have taken an evidence-led approach to set targets which are stretching, achievable and appropriate for our national circumstances.