Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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 he has made of the potential impact of domestic wood burning on the environment.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) is published annually and contains an assessment of domestic wood burning emissions. The current data was published in February 2023 and shows emissions data for 2021.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 2 November 2022 to Question 63894 on Air Pollution, what progress his Department has made on delivering the Government's commitments made in the Clean Air Strategy 2019.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Delivery of our Clean Air Strategy continues through Defra’s Air Quality and Industrial Emissions Programme and the Environment Improvement Plan Clean Air commitments (published 31 January 2023). Recent achievements include:
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many smoke control areas have been (a) declared and (b) revoked in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
While local authorities are encouraged to inform Defra of any changes to smoke control areas, they are only required to notify us if they are varying or revoking a smoke control area created before 13th November 1980 as such changes must be confirmed by Defra Secretary of State.
Defra is not aware of any smoke control areas being created or revoked in 2022. In 2023 approval was given to revoke 119 smoke control areas. We were notified of the intent to introduce 2 smoke control areas which both consolidated and expand on previous smoke control areas.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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 announce a public consultation on the way in which his Department communicates (a) information and (b) advice on air quality to the public.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is undertaking a comprehensive review of how we communicate air quality information to ensure members of the public, and vulnerable groups in particular, have the information they need to understand their air quality. Recommendations from the steering group established to oversee this work will be published in 2024.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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 implications for his Department's policies of the Stove Industry Alliance report entitled, The Contribution of Domestic Burning to UK Particulate Emissions, published on 31 January 2022.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra will continue to evaluate new evidence on sources of air pollution.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 60902 on Environment Protection: EU Law, whether she plans to replicate regulations (a) nine and (b) 10 in the National Emission Ceilings Regulations 2018 that were removed by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No. Regulations 9 and 10 of the National Emission Ceilings Regulations concern the National Air Pollution Control Programme (NAPCP). The NAPCP was a bureaucratic process that does nothing to improve the air we breathe. Its content is a duplication of material contained, in a more accessible format, in national policy statements including the EIP for England which sets out our actual delivery plan to improve the air we breathe. When we consulted on the NAPCP of those who expressed an opinion, a majority agreed that the format of the NAPCP could be improved, with a consensus that the format was too lengthy and too technical. With this in mind, we are considering how we can simplify the process to reduce administrative burdens and improve transparency.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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 implications for his Department's policies of the work undertaken by the (a) Forum for International Cooperation on Air Pollution and (b) Task Force for International Cooperation on Air Pollution on tacking air quality.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Forum for International Cooperation Air Pollution was set up by the United Kingdom and Sweden under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Convention for Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, which the UK is a founding member. The UK and Sweden agreed to co-chair the Forum under the Strategic Partnership agreement between the UK and Sweden. The forum aims to help all countries reduce and prevent air pollution around the world, utilising expertise and experience of UNECE Member-States and other Partners to provide relevant scientific, technical, and policy information. The workplan for the Forum is agreed under the annual workplans of the UNECE Air Convention, and subject to available resources.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) regulations and (b) requirements his Department has introduced to control domestic burning since 1 January 2020.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An extensive legal framework is in place to reduce emissions from domestic combustion.
The Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 came into force in May 2021 and over two years phased out the sale of traditional house coal for domestic use, prevented the sale of small volumes of wet wood, and placed emissions standards on manufactured solid fuels. In January 2022, new Ecodesign requirements for stoves came into force.
Our Environmental Improvement Plan, published in January 2023, commits us to go even further in driving up stove and fuel standards.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what regulations are in place to control the (a) sale and (b) use of fuels used in domestic heating and burning.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An extensive legal framework is in place to reduce emissions from domestic combustion.
The Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 came into force in May 2021 and over two years phased out the sale of traditional house coal for domestic use, prevented the sale of small volumes of wet wood, and placed emissions standards on manufactured solid fuels. In January 2022, new Ecodesign requirements for stoves came into force.
Our Environmental Improvement Plan, published in January 2023, commits us to go even further in driving up stove and fuel standards.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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 adequacy of the way air quality information is communicated by his Department to the public.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is undertaking a comprehensive review of how we communicate air quality information to ensure members of the public, and vulnerable groups in particular, have the information they need to understand their air quality. Recommendations from the steering group established to oversee this work will be published in 2024.