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 his oral statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, columns 41-43, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposals announced in that Statement on the food supply chain.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain. Alongside strong domestic production, our high degree of food security is built from imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 73% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.
The recent changes announced by the Home Secretary will encourage businesses to look to British talent first and invest in their workforce, helping us to deter employers from over-relying on migration. To support this, the government has committed over £123 million of funding to industry-led research and development for agricultural and horticulture. And on 30 November the government announced a further £45 million of funding for the latest rounds of competitions and grants. This includes £30 million to help farmers invest in robotics and automation to make processes like harvesting and milking more efficient, and near £9m for the next two competitions as part of the Farming Innovation Programme. The Farming Innovation Programme has so far supported 156 Research & Development projects across all agricultural and horticultural sectors. This includes a dedicated funding round of £12.5 million in early 2023 focused on automation and robotics, with 17 such projects worth £20 million funded to date.
Alongside this, the Seasonal Worker visa route will allocate 45,000 visas for the horticulture sector in 2024, with a further 2000 for seasonal poultry workers, ensuring these sectors can plan ahead for 2024 with confidence. Defra will continue to work closely with our food and farming sectors and across government, to make sure that the workforce requirements for the food supply chain are understood.
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, whether his Department missed any statutory deadlines to respond to information requests submitted under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Yes, in 2022 and 2023 to date, 4 out of 956 requests that were handled under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 missed the statutory deadline to respond to the information request.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to reduce emissions from construction vehicles.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government has made available funding to support the development of low and zero carbon technologies with relevance to construction vehicles, including through the Advanced Propulsion Centre and the Red Diesel Replacement Competition. The use of renewable fuels in construction vehicles is also encouraged through the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation. Government has committed to publishing a decarbonisation strategy for Non-Road Mobile Machinery which includes construction vehicles intended for use on site, with a Call for Evidence on decarbonisation options to be issued shortly.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of domestic wood burning on public health.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Air pollution has been highlighted as the largest environmental risk to public health in the United Kingdom. Burning combustion of wood accounted for 17% of fine particulate matter emissions in 2020.
The UK Health Security Agency has, as part of the Cleaner Air Programme, undertaken a systematic review of the epidemiological studies on the association between outdoor and indoor solid fuel exposure, including biomass and coal and respiratory diseases in children and adults. The evidence suggests that burning solid fuels such as coal and wood indoors could contribute to the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer in adults, but further work is needed to confirm this. There is less evidence for effects in children. Introducing measures to reduce solid fuel burning can improve air quality, leading to some reductions of adverse respiratory effects.
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 progress his Department has made on the Air Quality Information System Review.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Air Quality Information System Review is ongoing and recommendations from the steering group 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, with reference to the Answer of 30 November 2021 to Question 81865 on Air Pollution, whether he plans to update the Daily Air Quality Index.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Reviewing the Daily Air Quality Index is one component of the broader Air Quality Information System review scope. We are in the process of awarding a contract to a supplier to complete an evaluation assessing the appropriateness and effectiveness of the index.
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.