Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timeframe is for the implementation of the recommendations of the Benyon Review into Highly Protected Marine Areas; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government welcomes the publication of the review into Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) on 8 June 2020. It is available at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/highly-protected-marine-areas-hpmas-review-2019.
We will consider Richard Benyon’s report and issue a formal response to him in due course, recognising our immediate priority to support the cross-Government response to Covid-19. From there on, we have an opportunity to develop a programme of work to bring forward HPMAs for the first time in English waters. We would, of course, consult widely with the public and stakeholders before any decision to designate HPMAs.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) solar panels and (b) wind turbines his Department's buildings (a) have in 2020 and (b) had in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra has 83 sites with solar panels and six sites with wind turbines or direct drive wind pumps.
We also have 104 operational solar panels that directly power equipment such as remote cameras and sensors.
We have taken the department to mean those entities covered by our greening Government commitments. However, we are waiting for responses from Kew and the Forestry Commission.
Table 1: Year of installation
Type | Pre 2015-16 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-2020 |
Solar Panels | 68 sites | 0 sites | 0 sites | 9 sites | 5 sites | 1 site |
Wind | 6 sites |
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We do not hold the information on the dates the operational panels for remote equipment were installed.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much energy his departmental buildings have used in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2020 to date.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The amounts of energy used by Defra Group on the estates that it manages in the last five years are included in an attachment.
This data has been taken from our annual report and accounts over the previous four years, with the 2019-20 data to be published shortly. This includes energy use in both the office and the operational estates.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
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 place in the Library a list of the workplace benefits that his Department provides to its staff with caring responsibilities.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
In Defra we follow the Civil Service Carers Charter, which details the support available for employees who have caring responsibilities and helps managers understand how they can support carers in the workplace. This includes support such as flexible working, job sharing, special leave (paid and unpaid), career breaks and parental leave.
Defra has a carer’s passport which is used to help employees discuss caring responsibilities, at present or in the future, with their line manager.
Other support for employees who are carers is available from our Employee Assistance Programme offering independent advice, information and counselling from trained practitioners. Defra is also a member of Employers for Carers, the employers’ membership forum which is part of Carers UK.
Defra has an active employee-led Carers Network providing information, advice and support to all employees.
It is the intention to place the relevant documents in the Library.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in his Department had caring responsibilities in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs
In Defra we follow the Civil Service Carers Charter, which details the support available for employees who have caring responsibilities and helps managers understand how they can support carers in the workplace. This includes support such as flexible working, job sharing, special leave (paid and unpaid), career breaks and parental leave.
We have a carer’s passport which is used to help employees discuss caring responsibilities, at present or in the future, with their line manager.
Other support for employees who are carers is available from our Employee Assistance Programme offering independent advice, information and counselling from trained practitioners, and our membership of Employers for Carers, the Employers Membership forum which is part of Carers UK.
Defra has an active employee-led Carers Network providing information, advice and support to all employees.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, whether art depicting (a) former slave owners and (b) people involved in the slave trade is on display on the Parliamentary Estate.
Answered by Pete Wishart - Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Home Affairs)
The Parliamentary Art Collection has been built up by Members over the past 150 years. It documents the history and work of Parliament up to the present day, and includes portraits, satirical prints and group portraits featuring 17th, 18th and 19th century parliamentarians who, as predominately wealthy landowners and businessmen, were often directly involved in, and profited from, slavery and the slave trade, or came from families who had.
There is no definitive listing of individual MPs with close connections to the trade, but they will be numerous, and some will be included in artworks on display in Parliament. The intention of the artworks is not to venerate people who have supported and committed acts of atrocity, but to truthfully reflect the history of Parliament, our democracy and the people who played a part in it. In 2007 Parliament held a large public exhibition in Westminster Hall ‘Abolition, Parliament and the People’ to reflect on its own role in significantly shaping the progress and development of the transatlantic slave system through legislation, before responding to one of the first and most successful public campaigns which called for the abolition of the trade and then slavery itself. The 1807 Act of Parliament to abolish the British slave trade was followed in 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act.
The Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art and the Lord Speaker’s Advisory Panel on Works of Art supported by the curatorial team are actively working to improve the diversity of the art collection, both in terms of the people portrayed and the artists commissioned, to ensure that the Collection reflects and celebrates the diversity of all who contribute to Parliament. The most recent example is the bust of Olaudah Equiano, a former enslaved African and abolitionist, which is currently on display in Portcullis House.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department has issued to the Marine Management Organisation on removal of unexploded ordnance from the seabed using low order disposal technology; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra recognises the significant impact underwater noise from ordnance clearance and other activities can have on vulnerable marine species. We are working closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), other Government departments including the Ministry of Defence, statutory nature conservation bodies and marine industries to manage and reduce underwater noise.
The underwater noise impact of using low order deflagration techniques for unexploded ordnance detonations is currently being researched by Hartley Anderson on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The MMO is an active member of the Steering Group which is helping to progress this research. Closed water trials took place in 2019 and sea trials of the technology are planned for 2020. Defra does not expect to issue formal guidance on the use of low-order deflagration techniques until this research has been completed.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
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 effect of (a) high and (b) low order unexploded ordnance disposal on marine wildlife; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra recognises the significant impact underwater noise from ordnance clearance and other activities can have on vulnerable marine species. We are working closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), other Government departments including the Ministry of Defence, statutory nature conservation bodies and marine industries to manage and reduce underwater noise.
The underwater noise impact of using low order deflagration techniques for unexploded ordnance detonations is currently being researched by Hartley Anderson on behalf of the Defra Group. The MMO is an active member of the Steering Group which is helping to progress this research. Closed water trials took place in 2019 and sea trials of the technology are planned for 2020. Defra does not expect to issue formal guidance on the use of low-order deflagration techniques until this research has been completed.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
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 has taken in response to the recommendations of the SRUC Wildlife Unit's report of the Investigation into long-finned pilot whale mass stranding event, Kyle of Durness, 22 July 2011, published in 2015, on unexploded ordnance disposal; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra recognises the significant impact underwater noise from ordnance clearance and other activities can have on vulnerable marine species. We are working closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), other Government departments including the Ministry of Defence, statutory nature conservation bodies and marine industries to manage and reduce underwater noise.
The underwater noise impact of using low order deflagration techniques for unexploded ordnance detonations is currently being researched by Hartley Anderson on behalf of the Defra Group. The MMO is an active member of the Steering Group which is helping to progress this research. Closed water trials took place in 2019 and sea trials of the technology are planned for 2020. Defra does not expect to issue formal guidance on the use of low-order deflagration techniques until this research has been completed.