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, with reference to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office's oral contribution of 13 July 2020, Official Report, column 1276, what additional procedures pet owners will have to follow beyond those that currently exist; and what estimate he has made of the potential additional cost to pet owners of those procedures.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government is working with the European Commission to ensure that pet travel between the UK and EU continues smoothly after January 2021. The UK and Crown Dependencies has submitted its application to become a Part 1 listed third country under Annex II of the EU Pet Travel Regulations to the European Commission, and this is our preferred position. It is now for the Commission to consider our application for listed status.
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 catch limits for fish stocks of interest to the UK complied with the scientific advice provided by the International Council for Exploration of the Seas.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra does not hold figures on the proportion of total allowable catches (TACs) set in line with the full suite of advice provided by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. However, looking at those stocks that have assessments advising on their maximum sustainable yield (MSY), of those which the UK has an interest in, 36 (67%) TACS were set at MSY out of a total of 54 TACs with MSY assessments in 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 plans his Department has to provide support to care homes that are facing difficulties accessing deliveries of fresh produce.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra has been working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education to ensure that care homes can access the food they need, through wholesalers, retailers and other local suppliers.
The Federation of Wholesale Distributors has set up a new online portal (www.Food2Care.co.uk) to enable care homes to find local wholesalers, based on a postcode search. The website is also highlighted on the Care Providers Association website. This portal will help those care homes struggling to get supplies during the COVID-19 outbreak. More than 90 national and regional wholesalers have signed up to the scheme so far.
Defra has also been working closely with retailers on their online provision services. Retailers have worked hard to increase their online capacity of both click and collect and delivery slots available to customers, including care homes. Many have now lifted or significantly relaxed their item limits on home delivery orders which should aid the ability of care homes to get the supplies they need in sufficient quantities.
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 local authorities’ ability to implement the biodiversity net gain system in respect of their (a) resourcing and (b) technical staffing levels; and what plans his Department has to allocate additional funding to support local authorities to implement the biodiversity net gain system.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government’s impact assessment of our biodiversity net gain policy indicates a total cost to Local Government during the two year transition period of £8.4 million and an annual cost of £8.4 million per year thereafter. Our impact assessment draws on the Government’s 2018 consultation on mandating net gain for biodiversity and subsequent engagement with individual local planning authorities and sector bodies. Based on this, we estimate that an average of 1.3 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) hours (between 1-4FTE) of specialist ecologist advice will be required in any given year per upper tier local authority to implement a mandatory biodiversity net gain system.
The Government has committed to fully fund all new burdens on local authorities arising from the Environment Bill. The Government has also committed to work in partnership with Local Government on the implementation of the measures in the Bill to identify and secure the capacity and skills needed.
A full impact assessment of the biodiversity net gain policy, which includes our assessment of new burdens on local authorities, has been published alongside the Bill:
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 contribution of the application of the biodiversity net gain system to the UK’s (a) climate, (b) tree-planting and (c) nature recovery targets.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra officials have completed an analysis of the quantified impacts of biodiversity net gain, which can be found in the regulatory impact assessment published alongside the Environment Bill.
This assessment includes an estimate that mandatory biodiversity net gain will result in the creation of between 1,500 and 17,000 hectares of habitat per year. The breadth of this range is due to uncertainty over how much habitat loss will avoided altogether through the policy, and the extent of residual losses that will be compensated for by creating new habitat.
Together with the provisions in the Environment Bill for Local Nature Recovery Strategies, net gain will provide new habitats where they offer the greatest benefit for wildlife and the wider environment. Because habitat creation through net gain will be steered by local strategies and the development impacts for which it is compensating, it is impossible to know exactly what types of habitat will be created through biodiversity net gain. It is therefore also impossible to determine the exact contributions that net gain will make towards climate, tree-planting and nature recovery targets. Biodiversity net gain will, however, complement other Government policies such as our Nature for Climate Fund and future farming policy in order to meet our commitments on these vital issues.
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 whether local planning authorities have sufficient resources to implement the proposed requirements of the Environment Bill.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government wants to see better planning for nature, in a way that’s more efficient as well as effective. The Environment Bill will provide greater certainty through the planning system on how to plan effectively for the local environment.
We consulted local authorities during the policy making stage, and continue to be committed to working in partnership with local government on the implementation of these measures.
The Government will cover any additional costs these measures place on local authorities.
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 potential effect of the proposed 10 per cent biodiversity net gain in new developments on the effectiveness of the nature recovery network.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We published an impact assessment which quantifies the potential benefits of a mandatory biodiversity net gain requirement. This analysis estimates that net gain is likely to deliver several thousands of hectares of habitat creation and enhancement per year, and we anticipate this will make an important contribution to the Nature Recovery Network (NRN).
Beyond the contribution of biodiversity net gain, the NRN requires clear spatial strategies to direct investment, strong partnerships to support its delivery, and a clear set of incentives and land management actions to drive improvements.
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 her Department has made of the findings in the IPCC’s Special Report entitled the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We welcome the IPCC Special Report, which provides the best available science on the wide range of impacts of climate change on the ocean and the cryosphere and potential measures for building resilience to those impacts. Climate change has already caused significant impacts on the ocean and cryosphere, including warming, acidification and deoxygenation of the ocean, melting of glaciers, ice sheets and permafrost, and sea level rise, with detrimental consequences for ecosystems and people.
As this report and the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5◦C find, the severity of future impacts depends heavily on the levels of future greenhouse gas emissions. Higher emissions will result in more severe impacts, which is why the UK government set a legally binding target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions from across the UK economy by 2050.
To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees we should explore every available avenue. In the marine environment, Nature Based Solutions such as the conservation and restoration of coastal habitats, protection of coral reefs and designation of Marine Protected Areas can provide climate mitigation as well as climate adaptation and resilience benefits for biodiversity, fish nursery habitats, storm protection and contributions to coastal communities. To that end, the UK is encouraging countries to join the Global Ocean Alliance - our call to protect at least 30% of the global ocean within Marine Protected Areas by 2030.
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 plans her Department has to improve flood defences in (a) rural, (b) coastal and (c) urban areas in response to rising sea levels.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Government is investing £2.6 billion from 2015-2021 to better protect the country from flooding and this will attract more than £600 million of additional investment. This is funding over 1,000 flood defence schemes, which will better protect 300,000 homes by 2021. The Environment Agency regularly reviews the programme: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/programme-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-management-schemes
On September 10, the Government announced a £62 million boost for thirteen flooding defence schemes across the country, and we are also making up to £2 million available to support farmers North Yorkshire and Wainfleet, with uninsurable damages resulting from the summer flooding. The Farm Recovery Fund was opened on Friday 20 September and farmers can apply for grants between £500 and £25,000 to cover a number of repair costs.
By the end of 2019 the Government will set out its policies to better prepare the country for flooding and coastal erosion in a Government policy statement on flooding and coastal erosion. The Government will also set out plans for broader infrastructure investment through the publication of a National Infrastructure Strategy later in the autumn. Informed by this Government policy, the Environment Agency will update its national strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management. These documents will ensure the country is on the right footing to better manage and adapt to the risks of flooding and coastal erosion. Improving our resilience to these risks will have benefits for our economy, environment, communities and our wellbeing.
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 his timescale is for responding to his Department's consultation on Single use plastic: banning the distribution and/or sale of plastic straws, stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds in England.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Policy officials are currently developing proposals regarding the ban on the sale and/or distribution of plastic straws, stirrers and plastic stemmed-cotton buds. The analysis, responses and Government response will be published shortly.