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 her planned timetable is for setting the statutory targets for (a) air and water quality, (b) biodiversity and (c) waste and resource efficiency under the Environment Act 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
As the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs set out in a written statement published on 28 October, we continue to work in order to lay the draft statutory instruments. It is our intention to publish the targets before the end of the year.
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 recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of a reduction in the Environment Agency’s budget on levels of sewage discharge.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government has increased the Environment Agency's overall grant in aid funding by over 40%, and capital funding by 80%, since 2010. We have also boosted funding for the Environment Agency with £2.2 million per year specifically for water company enforcement activity so that robust action is taken against illegal breaches of storm overflow permits.
HM Government has been repeatedly clear to water companies that the levels of sewage pollution at present are completely unacceptable, and they must take significant and urgent action to tackle them.
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 steps her Department is taking to help support and empower local authorities in meeting WHO guidelines on air quality.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
HM Government provides a range of resources and tools to local authorities to enable them to manage air quality in their area. This includes the Air Quality Grant programme, which has provided over £80 million in funding since 1997, new Local Air Quality Management policy and technical guidance, and a strengthened framework including better enforcement of smoke control areas.
We are reviewing our Air Quality Strategy, which supports local authorities to deliver improvements in air quality, and will publish a draft for consultation soon.
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 steps her Department is taking to help improve the monitoring and reporting of air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In 2021/22 we invested £1 million to expand our fine particulate matter (PM2.5) monitoring network, and will have at least doubled the size of the current network by the end of 2025. We are also investing £1.5 million during 2022/23 to establish two new multi-instrument particulate matter (PM) composition measurement sites to monitor PM2.5 mass, particle speciation, particle counting, black carbon and ammonia. While expert advice is that PM2.5 mass is the most effective metric for measuring harm to health from PM, these monitors will provide new data on the composition of PM, helping us to better understand how composition changes across the country and how composition relates to health impacts, which remain a scientific challenge.
Defra, the UK Health Security Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care are also conducting a holistic review of the way we communicate air quality information and advice to the public. The outcomes will ensure the public is provided with timely and relevant information about air pollution: the actions people can take to limit their personal exposure; the impacts of air pollution on their health; and their own influence on air quality. Alongside this review a major overhaul of the UK-Air website and other Air Quality Web services is underway. This will deliver a simplified holistic service for all users. The department’s aim is to complete the whole web system review and have a clear vision for future web service provision by March 2025, with improvements being made in the interim.
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 plans he has to enhance environmental regulation following his Department’s review of existing EU regulation.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The United Kingdom is a world leader in environmental protection and HM Government has clear environmental and climate goals, set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan and the Net Zero Strategy respectively, as well a legally binding obligation to halt nature’s decline by 2030. In reviewing retained EU law, Defra’s aim is to ensure that environmental law is fit for purpose and able to drive improved environmental outcomes, whilst also ensuring regulators can deliver efficiently. Any changes to environmental regulation following the review of REUL will need to support the continued delivery of our environmental and international commitments, including those with the EU.
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 he has made of the potential impact of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022 on food standards.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Defra is in the process of analysing its REUL stock 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 Bill and therefore inform assessments of the Bill's impact, including in relation to food standards.
Maintaining the UK's high food standards remains our priority. HM 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.
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 he will make an assessment of the potential impact of grow lights and other artificial lighting in agriculture on levels of light pollution.
Answered by Steve Double
The Government recognises that light pollution may have an impact on the environment and biodiversity as well as affecting the health and wellbeing of people.
Through the 25 Year Environment Plan, we have committed to reducing all forms of pollution, including light pollution. My department works with colleagues across government whose policy areas affect the use of artificial light, including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure that the National Planning Policy Framework policies include consideration of the impact of light pollution on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation. Defra has also contributed to the development of the DLUHC Planning Policy Guidance on light pollution published in November 2019.
The Government has put in place a range of measures to ensure that light pollution is effectively managed through the statutory nuisance regime. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities have a duty to investigate complaints about light emitted from premises which could constitute a nuisance or be harmful to health and have powers to take action where there is a problem.
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 he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the use of grow lights in sports (a) stadiums and (b) training facilities on levels of light pollution.
Answered by Steve Double
The Government recognises that light pollution may have an impact on the environment and biodiversity as well as affecting the health and wellbeing of people.
Through the 25 Year Environment Plan, we have committed to reducing all forms of pollution, including light pollution. My department works with colleagues across government whose policy areas affect the use of artificial light, including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure that the National Planning Policy Framework policies include consideration of the impact of light pollution on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation. Defra has also contributed to the development of the DLUHC Planning Policy Guidance on light pollution published in November 2019.
The Government has put in place a range of measures to ensure that light pollution is effectively managed through the statutory nuisance regime. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities have a duty to investigate complaints about light emitted from premises which could constitute a nuisance or be harmful to health and have powers to take action where there is a problem.
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 steps his Department is taking to help reduce the impacts of light pollution on (a) biodiversity and (b) human health.
Answered by Steve Double
Defra has funded or co-funded national and international assessments of drivers of change on insects and wider biodiversity such as the global IPBES Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production. This report notes the effects of artificial light on nocturnal insects may be growing.
Defra has worked with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure that the National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution on local amenity, dark landscapes and nature conservation.
Furthermore, Defra has contributed to the development of the DLUHC Planning Policy Guidance on light pollution, published in November 2019, which emphasises the importance of getting the right light in the right place at the right time and sets out the factors that are relevant when considering the ecological impacts of lighting.
A range of measures are in place to ensure that light pollution is effectively managed through controls in the planning system, the statutory nuisance regime and improvements in street lighting.
We continue to work with partners including leading scientists to review the latest studies related to light pollution and ensure we continue to address key threats to biodiversity.
As regards to the effects of light pollution on human health, specific research is limited. In 2018, the European Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks published an opinion on Potential risks to human health of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). It concluded that there is no evidence of direct adverse health effects from LEDs in normal use (lighting and displays) by the general healthy population. Full report can be found here: https://health.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2019-02/scheer_o_011_0.pdf
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 progress his Department has made on introducing mandatory business food waste reporting.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Government plans to consult on mandatory food waste reporting later this year.