Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help protect hedgerows.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 set legal protections for hedgerows in England and Wales. These existing regulations prohibit the removal of most countryside hedgerows (or parts of them) without first seeking approval from the local planning authority.
In June 2023, the Government launched a consultation on how hedgerows should be further protected in England. The responses to the consultation supported bringing hedgerow management rules into regulation and this is what the Government will do as soon as parliamentary time allows. The regulations will require a 2-metre buffer strip, measured from the centre of the hedge, where no cultivation or application of pesticides or fertilisers must take place, and will ban the cutting of hedges between 1 March and 31 August. The regulations will support other Government actions and incentives, including over 90,000 km of hedgerows being managed through 16,000 agreements in the Government’s Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes.
Defra is also working with stakeholders and other Government departments to understand how to support the creation and maintenance of hedgerows in non-agricultural contexts, to maximise the benefits they provide.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help ensure access (a) into Gaza and (b) across the Strip.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
An immediate humanitarian pause is the most effective way of increasing the flow of much-needed aid into Gaza and securing the safe release of hostages. Crucially, it would also allow for progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.
We have been clear about the steps which are needed to get more aid into Gaza. All parties must take immediate action to ensure unhindered humanitarian access, ease restrictions on humanitarian supplies and ensure the UN and aid agencies can reach civilians in need throughout Gaza. We are focussed on five key humanitarian needs in our engagements with Israel:
1. An effective de-confliction mechanism to enable safe distribution of aid through that extended humanitarian pause.
2. Increased capacity inside of Gaza, enabling the humanitarian system and private sector to scale up the provision of goods.
3. Increased access for aid through land and sea routes.
4. An expansion of humanitarian assistance for Gaza, including fuel, shelter and public health items, as well as items critical for infrastructure repair.
5. The provision of electricity, water and telecommunications.
We have trebled our aid commitment this financial year and we are doing everything we can to get more aid in and open more crossings. The Foreign Secretary has appointed his Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mark Bryson-Richardson. He is based in the region and is working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.