Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 merits of bringing forward legislative proposals on the use of propane gas in the place of more environmentally damaging fluorinated gasses for refrigeration purposes.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Defra is reviewing the F-gas Regulation with a view to identifying potential further action to address the use and emissions of fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases). This will support the Government’s net zero objective. The review will consider the various alternative gases with low global warming potential that could be used instead of F-gases, depending on the circumstances of each application. Such alternatives include propane.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 Bycatch Mitigation Initiative referenced as a policy to meet the Fisheries Act objectives under the Joint Fisheries Statement.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra officials are working closely with the Devolved Administrations to finalise the UK Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI).
The BMI will identify policy objectives and potential actions to achieve part of the Fisheries Act’s ecosystem objective to minimise and, where possible, eliminate incidental catch of sensitive marine species. This initiative will set out a joint vision for bycatch across the UK. Each administration will be responsible for developing solutions that are tailored to local needs.
Once finalised, we will publish the document in the first half of the year.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 support sustainable farming.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Sustainable Farming Incentive is one of three new Environmental Land Management schemes that reward farmers and land managers for producing public goods. It will pay farmers for actions they take (going beyond regulatory requirements) to manage their land in an environmentally sustainable way. The aim is to make the Sustainable Farming Incentive attractive and accessible to a wide range of farmers, to help them maintain or introduce sustainable practices as a foundation for more advanced improvements available through other components of Environmental Land Management. We are working with English farmers, in partnership, to design our new systems and support the choices that they make for their own holdings.
This year we will start to roll out core elements of the scheme, before gradually expanding the scheme until all elements are available from 2024/25 onwards. The core elements of the Sustainable Farming Incentive that will be available in 2022 are: arable and horticultural soils standard; improved grassland soils standard; moorland and rough grazing standard; and Annual Health and Welfare Review.
We plan to open the Countryside Stewardship 2023 offer in February 2022 with offers for Higher tier, Mid-tier, Wildlife offers, and Capital grants, for agreements starting on 1 January 2023. The scheme will also be open to new applicants in 2023 (for agreements starting in 2024). We will help farmers in Countryside Stewardship make the transition to our new schemes from 2024. We have also increased payment rates under Countryside Stewardship, which saw a 40% increase in applications this year.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps in response to the Food and Agriculture Organisation's recommendation that the agricultural sector switch to EN 17033 biodegradable thin mulch films to reduce plastic contamination in soil.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In April 2021 we published our response to the call for evidence on the need for standards for bio-based, biodegradable, and compostable plastics. Concerns were raised regarding the extent to which plastics marketed as biodegradable actually biodegrade, as such our focus is on increasing reuse and recycling of plastics.
Defra has commissioned an external expert organisation to look into plastic within digestate and compost. This short project, ending early this year, includes searching existing literature on the potential risks of compostable and non-compostable plastic fragments added to agricultural soil from digestate or compost, and will highlight further evidence gaps. We will carefully consider the findings of this project, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recommendations in considering next steps and any potential actions in this area.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 plans to take in response to the failure by water companies to significantly reduce storm overflows.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The current failure of water companies to adequately reduce sewage discharges is unacceptable and we have made clear that much more must be done to protect our rivers and tackle this issue. We will not hesitate to take further action if needed to deliver our commitments in this area.
We're the first Government to take steps to address this by setting an expectation on water companies to significantly reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows through the draft Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat. We have enshrined this expectation in legislation as a new duty in the Environment Act.
This world-leading Act includes a raft of measures to protect and restore our water environment. The following key duties have been made law:
More information on ambition and timescales will be provided during the upcoming price review period - the Government, Ofwat and the Environment Agency all have roles to play in clarifying this detail. We expect to issue guidance to water companies early in 2022. We have also been clear the statutory plan legislated for in the Environment Act is the right place to set our guiding principles to reduce harm from storm overflows and this will be consulted on in Spring 2022.
The recently published Storm Overflows Evidence Project considers a wide range of policies and scenarios to reduce storm overflows. It is right that we consider the findings carefully to achieve the maximum benefits for the environment and human health whilst minimising the impact on the public's water bills.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will set targets for the (a) limiting and (b) ending of sewage overflow into rivers and coasts.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The current failure of water companies to adequately reduce sewage discharges is unacceptable and we have made clear that much more must be done to protect our rivers and tackle this issue. We will not hesitate to take further action if needed to deliver our commitments in this area.
We're the first Government to take steps to address this by setting an expectation on water companies to significantly reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows through the draft Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat. We have enshrined this expectation in legislation as a new duty in the Environment Act.
This world-leading Act includes a raft of measures to protect and restore our water environment. The following key duties have been made law:
More information on ambition and timescales will be provided during the upcoming price review period - the Government, Ofwat and the Environment Agency all have roles to play in clarifying this detail. We expect to issue guidance to water companies early in 2022. We have also been clear the statutory plan legislated for in the Environment Act is the right place to set our guiding principles to reduce harm from storm overflows and this will be consulted on in Spring 2022.
The recently published Storm Overflows Evidence Project considers a wide range of policies and scenarios to reduce storm overflows. It is right that we consider the findings carefully to achieve the maximum benefits for the environment and human health whilst minimising the impact on the public's water bills.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to set species recovery targets for (a) the Manx Shearwater and (b) other birds of conservation concern.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As a core part of our commitment to leave the environment in a better state than we found it, the Environment Act now requires a new legally binding target to be set to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. This will drive actions to deliver wide-ranging improvements to biodiversity, including for UK birds. The Act also includes provisions to set other, long-term legally binding environmental targets, including for biodiversity.
We are taking a strategic look at how we can support species recovery to help achieve our targets, and will set out our approach to meet our Environment Act targets in our update of the Environmental Improvement Plan in 2023. The UK's seabirds, including the Manx Shearwater, are an important part of our natural heritage, and their protection is a high priority for this Government. We are working with Natural England to develop a comprehensive English Seabird Conservation Strategy. This strategy will aim to assess the vulnerability of each seabird species in light of the pressures they are facing and propose actions to address them.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 effect of designating a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on local landowners; and what support he provides to landowners affected by lower property values as a result of the designation of an SSSI.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A Natural England commissioned report of March 2011 examined the impact that Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status has on land values in England. The report concluded that impacts are variable, with valuers reporting positive, negligible and negative impacts depending on the context and land use of individual cases. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.
Notification of SSSIs falls to Natural England. It must notify all owners and occupiers where it considers an area to be of special interest. This will usually follow informal discussion with the owners and occupiers of the land, including discussion about management.
Consensus between regulators, land managers, users and other stakeholders is generally required in order to deliver positive conservation outcomes for SSSIs. Agri-environment schemes like Countryside Stewardship provide the principal funding mechanism to help land managers meet the cost of positive management to restore SSSIs to, or maintain them in, favourable condition.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on the threat of invasive non-native species; and what steps his Department is taking to mitigate those effects.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Invasive Non-Native Species (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (2019 No 233), which will come into force on exit day, will make the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation operable. It will ensure that the strict protections that are in place for these species are maintained when we leave the EU. The Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order (2019 No 527) ensures that this retained EU Regulation is effectively enforced.
As required by the EU Regulation, we have carried out a comprehensive analysis of the pathways of introduction and spread of invasive alien species and prioritised ten potential pathways.
We will also be carrying out a comprehensive horizon scanning exercise later this year to identify invasive species that pose a risk of invading the UK and causing significant harm. This will take into account possible changes to trade resulting from the UK leaving the EU.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he will (a) extend the remit of the GB Non-Native Species Secretariat to support the expanded functions of the Non-Native Programme Board and Risk Analysis Panel once the UK has left the EU and (b) provide additional resources and funding to the Secretariat to support that purpose.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
When we leave the EU the existing Great Britain Programme Board on non-native species and the Non-native Risk Analysis Panel will take over the role of the EU Committee on Invasive Alien Species and the EU Invasive Alien Species Scientific Forum respectively and be expanded to include Northern Ireland. The Non-native Species Secretariat will continue to support the Programme Board.
The UK has significant expertise in invasive non-native species, including in the area of risk analysis. In Great Britain we have had a comprehensive framework for assessing risks posed by these species since 2007 and this framework strongly influenced the EU’s approach, including its risk methodology, when the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation came into force in 2015.
After we leave the EU this long-standing approach to risk analysis and independent scientific scrutiny will continue to ensure that decisions have robust scientific justification. We do not therefore anticipate a need for additional resources for these bodies in fulfilling their remit in the UK.
International co-operation is essential to control the spread of these species. The UK is committed to ongoing co-operation on invasive non-native species with the EU, Member States and other countries after we leave the EU.