Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what further steps she is taking to help tackle surface water flooding; what steps her Department is taking to prevent new developments being automatically connected to existing sewers instead of developers being required to install improved drainage systems to new developments; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Surface water flooding is localised and complex and is the responsibility of lead local flood authorities (LLFAs) to manage and mitigate. They do this in partnership with highways authorities and water companies. It is for LLFAs to determine the best approach to mitigating the risk.
The Government is also taking action. In July 2021 we restated our commitment to ensuring surface water flood risk is tackled and published a progress update on our Surface Water Management Action Plan and our response to the independent review into surface water and drainage responsibilities. Progress is being made on these, with over 60% of actions already complete.
The Government has reviewed making sustainable systems (SuDS) mandatory in new developments and the review was published on 10 January 2023. The Government accepted the review’s recommendation to mandate SuDS through implementing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. SuDS use features such as ponds, rain gardens and grass to absorb the rain and tanks and pipes to slow the flow to the sewer, reducing the risk of surface water and sewer flooding. Schedule 3 will also make the right to connect surface water to public sewers conditional on the drainage system being approved as meeting the mandatory sustainable drainage standards. This will help limit volumes entering drainage networks which will help ease the pressure on the sewerage system and mitigate flood risk. The Government is now considering how best to implement this in terms of scope, threshold, and process and there will be a public consultation later this year.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans that Chief Resilience Officers will be appointed to each local resilience forum; when she plans to publish details of anti-flooding and drought resilience plans; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government is committed, through its Resilience Framework, to working with the resilience sector to pilot the evolving nature of the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) Chair role. This includes considering a full-time permanent role occupied by an appropriately qualified and experienced individual who will become the Chief Resilience Officer for each LRF area.
With regards to local flood risk strategies and drought plans, these are developed by lead local flood authorities (unitary and county councils) and water companies respectively. Lead local flood authorities are required to have a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy which must include an assessment of local flood risk, objectives for managing local flood risk and measures proposed to meet these objectives. Water companies are required to have a drought plan, and to update it every five years, which states how it will maintain a secure water supply and protect the environment during dry weather and drought. These strategies and plans are developed in consultation with interested stakeholders and local communities. On 12 December 2022 the Environment Agency published online updated Flood Risk Management Plans to cover the period from 2021- 2027. These show how organisations, stakeholders and communities work together to manage flood risk in England.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
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 (a) improve access to the countryside and (b) ensure that footpath and green lanes are properly maintained.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and are working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. We committed in our Environmental Improvement Plan published on 31 January to work across government to help ensure that everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space.
The Government is delivering a number of policies to increase access to nature including:
Local authorities are responsible for the management and maintenance of public rights of way including green lanes. Landowners are responsible for the maintenance of permissive paths. The UK Forestry Standard clearly states that existing rights of access must be respected and not obstructed. In England and Wales, responsible access must be allowed on mapped access land, including woodland dedicated under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, unless a Direction is in place to restrict or exclude access. All government supported planting, such as under our England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) and Countryside Stewardship Scheme, must comply with these requirements.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that the quality of sea water (a) in and around Bridlington south beach and (b) nationally is improved; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Bridlington South Bay is a priority bathing water investigation for The Bathing Water Partnership in Yorkshire, which is a multi-agency group comprising of the Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water and local councils. They are committed to resolving the situation as soon as possible and around £2 million has been invested by Yorkshire Water over the last 3 years to investigate which includes intensive survey work and microbial techniques.
The testing indicates that faecal bacteria from birds is always present and is sometimes present from humans and dogs, and it highlighted a possible risk of bacteria from seaweed and sediments. The Bathing Water Partnership held an open meeting for elected council members last month to explain the findings and discuss the continued investigation.
Substantial improvements have been made to bathing water quality. In the early 1990s, just 28% of bathing waters met the highest standards in force at that time. In 2015, new stricter standards were introduced.
In 2022, 97.1% met the minimum standard of Sufficient, with 92.8% meeting the highest standards of Good and Excellent.
Overall bathing water quality has improved significantly over the last decade, with a continuing upward trend. This is due to robust Environment Agency regulation and working with partners. In most places bathing water is now better than it has been for many years.
The Environment Agency have driven £2.5 billion of investment and facilitated partnerships to bring about the change needed to make our coastal bathing waters a success story.
While progress has been made, there is still much more to be done to ensure cleaner and healthier waters for people to enjoy. This requires a combined effort from water companies, farmers, regulators, councils and local businesses. These groups need to get the basics right or face legal action.
We know that improvements can take time and investment from the water industry, farmers and local communities, but where the investment is made, standards improve. We continue to work with these key stakeholders to identify what action is needed to meet the required standards.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on establishing a new offence of pet abduction; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
A new offence of pet abduction is included in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill. The date for the remaining stages of the Bill will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will require (a) restaurants, (b) shops and (c) takeaways to clearly label the origin of any fish products they sell.
Answered by Mark Spencer
In the UK we maintain high standards on the food information that is provided to consumers, but for practical reasons there are fewer mandatory labelling rules when food is sold loose, such as in a restaurant. Origin labelling is required for fish and most meat sold prepacked to consumers. Specific labelling rules also apply for fish and fishery products more generally under the Common Organisation of Markets Regulation and fisheries Control Regulation. If origin information, or any other information, is provided to consumers in any format including in restaurants and takeaways, it needs to be accurate and not misleading. The Government is committed to optimising the information that is available to consumers, and the Government Food Strategy sets out work that we will be taking forward on consumer information and transparency, including origin labelling.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will require all chicken sold for public consumption that has been injected with water and added salt to be labelled clearly as such.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Under UK regulations on the provision of food information to consumers, it is already the case that for prepacked chicken, and indeed all meat products and preparations, that has the appearance of a cut, joint, slice, portion or carcase of meat, that an indication of the presence of added water, if the added water makes up more than 5% of the weight of the finished product, must accompany the name of the food. The presence of water and salt, if added, will also be included in the ingredients list. As mandatory information, this indication with the name of the food as well as the information in the ingredients list must be marked in a conspicuous place in such a way as to be easily visible, clearly legible and, where appropriate, indelible. It shall not in any way be hidden, obscured, detracted from or interrupted by any other written or pictorial matter or any other intervening material.
Additionally, under the Food Information Regulations 2014 Regulation 7 (applicable in England, similar regulations are in place in the Devolved Administrations) a 'Quantitative Indication', commonly referred to as QUID, of the meat ingredients must be provided which can help the consumer understand what proportion of the whole product is meat.
There is no current intention to add further to these requirements. However, the Government is committed to optimising the information that is available to consumers, and the Government Food Strategy sets out work that we will be taking forward on consumer information and transparency.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding for (a) the Environment Agency and (b) internal drainage boards for (i) maintenance of assets and (ii) maintenance works on rivers and drainage banks; what steps she is taking to ensure that such maintenance work is sufficient to manage flood risk; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
HM Government continues to fund the maintenance of its flood and coastal erosion risk management assets and the maintenance and conveyance of main rivers in England. These are managed and maintained by the Environment Agency. Our programme of investment maximises the economic benefits and number of properties better protected, in terms of avoiding potential damages from flooding or coastal erosion.
The Spending Review 2021 announced an additional £22 million each year from 2022 to 2025 for the Environment Agency to maintain flood defences.
HM Government recognises and supports the important role that internal drainage boards (IDBs) play in managing water levels and reducing flood risk in their drainage districts across parts of England. As independent, locally operated statutory public bodies, IDBs and their management boards develop and agree programmes of work each year, which is funded by local beneficiaries. These work programmes cover all their duties, including flood risk, and are developed in close consultation with other risk management authorities, including the Environment Agency. IDBs and the Environment Agency also work closely together through Public Sector Cooperation Agreements, enabling the Environment Agency to make full use of IDBs' local expertise and knowledge.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what advice his Department (a) has issued and (b) is planning to issue to minimise the risk of future outbreaks of avian flu in England this year; what other steps he is taking to minimise the risk of outbreaks in 2023; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Scott Mann
Defra’s approach to avian influenza disease control is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain together with the Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales. We advise all bird keepers that high standards of biosecurity should be maintained as good practice for the health and welfare of their birds. Good biosecurity is an essential defence against diseases such as avian influenza and is key to limiting the spread of avian influenza in an outbreak. Biosecurity guidance and a biosecurity self-assessment checklist have been published by Defra to assist all bird keepers in instigating and maintaining the highest possible standards of biosecurity. Keepers must also comply with mandatory Avian Influenza Prevention Zone measures where they are in force, which together with further updates on the latest avian influenza situation, can be found via GOV.UK/Bird-flu.
This year’s avian influenza outbreak has been the largest and longest ever on record in the United Kingdom and in many parts of Europe, with infections continuing beyond the normal winter period. We recognise industry and the wider bird keeping sectors concerns about how the outbreak may develop this coming winter. Our approach to tackling this year’s avian influenza outbreak continues to be led by international best practice and latest scientific and ornithological evidence and veterinary advice. Avian influenza disease control and prevention measures are kept under regular review as part of the Government’s work to monitor and manage the risks of avian influenza, and decisions regarding these measures are based on published risk assessments (www.gov.uk/government/publications/avian-influenza-bird-flu-in-europe). In addition, detailed epidemiological assessments are made at each poultry and captive bird infected premises to investigate possible source and spread, and inform any future potential disease prevention and control measures.
Alongside HM Government’s continued investment in the National Reference Laboratory and the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s Weybridge site, earlier this year we launched an eight-strong consortium that received £1.5 million in funding to develop new strategies to tackle avian influenza outbreaks. This research will help build our understanding in a number of key areas, including why the current virus strains have formed larger and longer outbreaks and understanding transmission and infection in different bird populations.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
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 level of risk posed to the UK from the spread of African swine fever; whether he has introduced biosecurity and border checks to minimise such risk; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Managing the threat of African Swine Fever (ASF) remains a key UK priority. Whilst we have never had an outbreak of ASF in the UK, we continue to prepare for the eventuality of an outbreak.
Given the deteriorating epidemiological situation in Europe, DEFRA has commissioned an update to the 2018 risk assessment which looked at the risk of ASF entering Great Britain from the European Union via movement of humans, animals or animal products. The risk assessment has concluded that the risk to GB has remained the same as in 2018. The department is looking at a range of mitigations alongside this, including targeted interventions at the border.