Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 is taking to ensure that his Department is using the most up to date data available to inform its new life cycle assessment of disposable and washable absorbent hygiene products.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The environmental assessment of disposable and reusable absorbent hygiene products is being undertaken by independent analysts. They have taken into consideration information including a recent survey using YouGov Parents Omnibus to establish current ages for potty training, and are using the most recent and best available international lifecycle inventory databases and secondary data in the public domain, supported by primary data provided by industry where this has been forthcoming. The analysts are in the final stages of completing the work which will be published later this year, following peer review. The sources of the information used will be included in the final report.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 accuracy of the data being collated with reference to the age at which children potty train that is informing his Department's new life cycle assessment of disposable and washable absorbent hygiene products.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The environmental assessment of disposable and reusable absorbent hygiene products is being undertaken by independent analysts. They have taken into consideration information including a recent survey using YouGov Parents Omnibus to establish current ages for potty training, and are using the most recent and best available international lifecycle inventory databases and secondary data in the public domain, supported by primary data provided by industry where this has been forthcoming. The analysts are in the final stages of completing the work which will be published later this year, following peer review. The sources of the information used will be included in the final report.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees were planted under The Big Tree Plant scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The £4 million Big Tree Plant planted one million trees across England from 2010-2015. Defra and the Forestry Commission funded the costs of establishing trees (weeding, mulching, watering, replacing lost trees etc), and local authorities and communities have been responsible since for ensuring these trees are kept in good condition.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of trees planted under The Big Tree Plant scheme are still viable.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The £4 million Big Tree Plant planted one million trees across England from 2010-2015. Defra and the Forestry Commission funded the costs of establishing trees (weeding, mulching, watering, replacing lost trees etc), and local authorities and communities have been responsible since for ensuring these trees are kept in good condition.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the amount of plastic waste (a) exported to non-OECD countries by the UK in each year since 2016 and (b) that will be exported to non-OECD countries by the UK in 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The UK Government has pledged to ban the export of all plastic waste to non-OECD countries and to introduce tougher controls on waste exports, including mandatory electronic waste tracking which will make it harder for criminals to obtain and export waste illegally.
Defra has commissioned research to determine the environmental, economic and social impacts of the ban on exports of plastic waste to non-OECD countries and analyse policy options around implementation of the ban. This research project will commence shortly and will examine plastic waste recycling capacity in the UK and OECD, it will also assess future UK plastic waste arisings and the impact of national, regional and international policies on UK plastic waste shipments.
The UK exports of plastic waste to non-OECD countries from 2016 onwards are illustrated in the table below:
(Source: HMRC)
| 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
Quantity Exported (tonnes) | 52,080 | 171,480 | 356,412 | 479,748 | 635,908 |
Information on exports of all wastes are gathered and published by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and can be accessed here:
https://www.uktradeinfo.com/trade-data/ots-custom-table/
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the Government has opted not to adopt EU regulations banning the export of plastic waste to non-OECD countries; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that matter on the Government’s wider commitment not to regress on environmental standards after the UK left the EU.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal agreed in May 2019 to introduce tighter controls on the shipment of plastic waste following the submission of a reform proposal by the Norwegian government.
In implementing the amendments made to the Convention the European Union has prohibited the export of one category of plastic waste, consisting of highly mixed plastics, to countries that are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The UK Government's manifesto commitment to ban plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries goes further than this as it is not limited to one category of plastic waste. Defra will consult on going beyond the Basel Convention requirements, and the approach adopted by the EU, and work is underway to make this happen. The UK is not regressing on environmental standards in this area. We were a strong supporter of the changes made to the Basel Convention to make shipments of plastic waste more transparent and better regulated and we worked closely with the Norwegian government in developing the original proposals.
The UK government has implemented the amendments made to the Basel Convention. These amendments came into force in Great Britain on 1 January 2021 and will ensure that shipments of highly mixed plastic wastes can only take place if permission is obtained from the regulators in the country of dispatch and destination. Furthermore, the Government is currently engaged in contacting all non-OECD countries to enquire about the local controls that should be adhered to by British exporters when they propose to export sorted plastic waste for recycling. The results of this consultation will be implemented in our legislation shortly.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and (b) local government leaders on supporting local authorities to tackle air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Air pollution poses the biggest environmental threat to public health and improving air quality remains a top priority for the Government. In delivering against our ambitious air quality commitments, we regularly hold discussions with Ministers and officials across Government departments, including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The Joint Air Quality Unit has close, ongoing engagement with those local authorities implementing plans to tackle exceedances of NO 2 limits. I meet with leaders of these authorities and other local representatives when necessary to help progress these plans.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 is taking to increase rates of tree-planting and urban greening in metropolitan areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We are committed to increasing tree planting and will set out policies to achieve this in the England Tree Strategy, including planting and protecting trees in and around urban areas, which are vital to creating healthy places to live. We are already delivering on this through:
This complements wider support for urban greening through:
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 Total Allowable Catches set at the Agrifish Council in December 2019.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra has assessed the outcomes of the 2019 December EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council concerning the setting of Total Allowable Catches for 2020 for fish stock of interest to the UK. This assessment considers the direct monetary value of the negotiated outcome and sustainability in terms of the number of stocks being fished at or below their Maximum Sustainable Yield.
I provided this assessment to both the Chair of the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee and the Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union on 1 April 2020.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 adequacy of the level set for the Total Allowable Catch for fish stocks of interest to the UK.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra has assessed the outcomes of the 2019 December EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council concerning the setting of Total Allowable Catches for 2020 for fish stock of interest to the UK. This assessment considers the direct monetary value of the negotiated outcome and sustainability in terms of the number of stocks being fished at or below their Maximum Sustainable Yield.
I provided this assessment to both the Chair of the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee and the Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union on 1 April 2020.