Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 tackle fly tipping.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In recent years we have bolstered local authorities’ powers to tackle fly-tipping, introducing fixed penalty notices and strengthening the power to seize the vehicles of offenders. We have also provided £450,000 to help several councils purchase equipment to tackle fly-tipping, such as CCTV, and worked with the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to produce a guide on how councils and others can present robust prosecutions that support tougher sentences.
We have committed to raising fly-tipping penalties in our manifesto and will be conducting research to support policy development in this area. We are also preparing a number of legislative reforms to tackle waste crime more broadly which should also help tackle fly-tipping. This includes reform of the waste carrier, broker, and dealer regime and the introduction of digital waste tracking, both of which we consulted on earlier this year. We believe it is important that local residents are able to dispose of their rubbish in a responsible manner and encouraged to do so. We have consulted on preventing charges for disposing of DIY waste at local tips and provided communication materials to help householders better understand their responsibilities under the household waste duty of care.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 improve the (a) monitoring and (b) reporting of air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are currently over 500 monitoring sites across the UK, made up of 14 networks measuring a range of pollutants, which provide information to the public. These are subject to continuous review to ensure that they remain fit for purpose and deliver on public expenditure at good value
As part of our work to assess progress towards the new PM2.5 targets, we have already invested £1m to expand the PM2.5 monitoring network in 2021/22. By the end of 2025 we will have invested a further £10m to at least double the size of the original PM2.5 network.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 potential merits of a public awareness campaign on the health impacts and causes of air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is currently conducting a holistic review of the way we communicate air quality information to the public. This will ensure the public is provided with timely and relevant information about air pollution, the actions people can take to limit their personal exposure, the impacts of air pollution on their health, and their own influence on air quality. The findings of the review will support the development of future public facing air quality information.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has taken steps to facilitate cross-departmental collaboration on tackling air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State is working across Government to tackle air pollution.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she is taking steps to integrate clean air and Net Zero policy development.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Yes.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on whether it is the Government's negotiating position at COP27 that some commitments made at COP26 which have not yet been met should be withdrawn.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Secretary of State regularly discusses a range of issues with Cabinet colleagues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of rewilding moorland through lack of management on (a) the amount of carbon sequestered in deep peat and (b) populations of ground-nesting bird species.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Wilding or re-wilding is the restoration of ecosystems to the point where they are more regulated by natural processes.
Degrading peatlands release carbon into the atmosphere. It is estimated that peatlands in England emit approximately 10 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent per year. Restoring peat to its natural wet state is likely to save significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. That is why the government has committed to restore 35,000 hectares of peatland – an area roughly the size of the Isle of Wight - by 2025 through our Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme, and a total of 280,000 hectares by 2050.
While no specific assessment has been made, restoration of moorland on peat soils that supports improved habitat function is likely to mitigate effects of climate change and support ground nesting bird populations.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland on the conservation of forests.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Forestry is a devolved area, however Defra and the Devolved Administrations engage regularly at technical and official levels on issues related to the conservation of forests, for example through the UK Forestry Governance Group and the Net Zero UK Working Group, with representatives from all four nations meeting to share data and increase collaboration.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 she has had with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on restoring smooth and frictionless trade for farmers in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
UK Government Ministers meet regularly to discuss the Northern Ireland Protocol, including the impact to Northern Ireland’s agriculture sector. There are serious issues with how the Northern Ireland Protocol is currently operating. We are determined to resolve these issues, preferably through talks and negotiations or, if need be, via legislation. Defra officials also meet frequently with organisations from the whole Northern Ireland agri-food supply chain, including Northern Ireland farmers.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 level of avian flu in the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra's avian influenza disease control measures aim to minimise the economic burden of the outbreak on the food, farming and tourism industries and the wider economy, whilst protecting public health. All decisions regarding the disease and prevention control measures are based on risk assessments containing the latest scientific veterinary and ornithological advice. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) outbreak and risk assessments are published and available on GOV.UK through the 'Animal diseases: international and UK monitoring' collection and include assessments covering the poultry and gamebird sectors in addition to wild birds. In summary, the risk of incursion of highly pathogenic (HPAI) avian influenza H5 in wild birds in Great Britain is currently assessed as very high (i.e. event occurs almost certainly). The risk to poultry with stringent biosecurity is currently assessed as medium (i.e. event occurs regularly) (with high uncertainty). However, the risk to poultry exposure to HPAI H5 in Great Britain with suboptimal biosecurity is assessed as high (i.e. event occurs very often) (with low uncertainty).
In addition, Defra in collaboration with the Devolved Administration host regular avian influenza stakeholder meetings attended by organisations representing the breadth of the bird keeping sector including commercial, small scale, pet and specialist bird keepers, together with ornithological, veterinary, wildlife rehabilitation sector representatives. Expert advice is also sought by the UKs Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) and animal health policy officials through the Ornithology National Experts Group (NEG) and Great Britain Avian Exotic Disease Core Group which include representatives from across the bird keeping sector.