Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
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 Department for International Trade's draft tariff schedule, Temporary rates of custom duty, published on 13 March 2019, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on livestock farmers in the event that the EU matches the tariff on sheep meat proposed in that draft tariff schedule in the event that the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.
Answered by David Rutley
Consistent with World Trade Organisation rules, the EU must apply tariffs equally to imports from all countries where there is not a trade agreement or any other preferential arrangement in place. In the event of no deal, this includes the UK.
We anticipate that the application of EU tariffs on UK exports would have a substantial negative impact across the UK farming sector, particularly for sheepmeat where those tariffs are high and around 30% of production is exported, approximately 95% of which goes to the EU. This is just one reason why delivering a negotiated settlement remains the Government’s top priority.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effect of a four degree rise in global temperatures on (a) the UK's security, (b) the UK's economy, (c) global security and (d) the global economy.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report states with high confidence that a four degree rise in global temperatures would have severe and widespread impacts on unique and threatened systems, cause substantial species extinction, pose large risks to global and regional food security, and the combination of high temperature and humidity would compromise normal human activities.
The Government prepares a UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years, followed by a National Adaptation Programme, which sets out actions to address the risks identified in the CCRA.
The second CCRA was published in 2017.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
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 which will be produced per annum in the event that avoidable plastic waste is reduced to zero by 2050 in accordance with the Government's strategic ambition.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Government has committed to eliminating all avoidable plastic waste throughout the lifetime of the 25 Year Environment Plan. Our working definition of ‘avoidable plastic waste’ is plastic waste that is technically, economically, and environmentally feasible to reuse or recycle, or, where this does not apply, it is (technically, economically, and environmentally) feasible to replace with alternatives that are reusable or recyclable. It is our intention that there will not be any avoidable plastic waste by 2050.
We will be publishing an evaluation plan and indicator framework for the Resources and Waste Strategy later this year. This will set out further details on how we intend to monitor progress to reduce avoidable waste. This will be a living document where we will publish updates as we develop our methodologies to better capture the data and as new evidence comes to light, particularly with the indicator framework. We are confident that we have set out an ambitious programme of reform which will ensure that we meet our strategic goals.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made any assessment of the environmental effect of white goods manufacturers building in obsolescence to their products.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government wants to become a world leader in using resources efficiently and cutting the amount of waste we create. This includes prolonging the lives of the materials and goods that we use, and moving away from the traditional ‘linear’ economic model of ‘take, make, use, and throw’.
For this reason the Government has supported new requirements agreed in the EU for 11 energy related product groups from November 2018 to January 2019.
The products subject to new requirements include white goods such as household refrigerators, dishwashers and washing machines and washer-dryers. Some of the requirements agreed in these new regulations for white goods related to improving the resource efficiency of the product. They include obligations for manufacturers to design products for ease of dismantling/disassembly and reuse; make spare parts available to repairers and/or end users for ease of repair; provide information on the length of commercial guarantees; provide information as to repair; and provide information as to critical raw material content to facilitate material recovery.
In the Resources and Waste Strategy for England, we have also committed to drive more sustainable consumption through providing consumers with better information as to the sustainability of their purchasing decisions. This may include requiring consumer information be provided to support the purchase of products that have been designed, produced and packaged to minimise waste, for example by being more repairable, having longer warranties, produced with recycled material, or remanufactured.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
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 number of race horses that have (a) died during races and (b) died due to racing-related injuries in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley
Defra is keen that the welfare needs of racehorses are well met, both during their racing lives and afterwards and any race horse fatality is one too many.
In their report, Cheltenham Festival Review 2018, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), who are responsible for the safety of racehorses at race tracks, made seventeen recommendations to make horseracing safer. The recommendations included that the industry must support a major research project to develop a predictive model for identifying risk factors for all jump racing and that rules relating to pulling up fatigued runners must be appropriately scrutinised and enforced, to encourage positive and responsible behaviour.
The Government considers that whilst the BHA have made improvements to the welfare of racehorses, there is still more work to be done. That is why I am keeping in regular contact with the BHA to see what further measures can be taken to reduce the number of racehorse fatalities.
Percentage of racehorse fatalities (as provided by the British Horseracing Authority)
Year | Fatal injuries | % of horses as fatalities | Runners | % of runners as fatalities | 5-year average |
2014 | 189 | 0.98% | 86,456 | 0.22% | 0.22% |
2015 | 156 | 0.79% | 88,377 | 0.18% | 0.21% |
2016 | 171 | 0.86% | 89,975 | 0.19% | 0.21% |
2017 | 167 | 0.82% | 91,360 | 0.18% | 0.20% |
2018 | 201 | 0.96% | 94,439 | 0.21% | 0.20% |
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many homes in England have been deemed to be at risk of flooding in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The total number of residential properties at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea, surface water and groundwater over the past 5 years is:
Year | Total number of residential properties at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea, surface water and groundwater (Millions) |
2015 | 4.8 |
2016 | 5.2 |
2017 | 5.2 |
2018 | 5.2 |
2019 | 5.1 |
Total properties at risk of flooding increased between 2015 and 2016 because of better property information from the Ordnance Survey.
The Environment Agency’s programme of investment in Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management will reduce the risk of flooding to 300,000 homes in the six year period to March 2021. However, it does not eliminate the risk of flooding in these areas entirely.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the per annum cost is of the additional staff his Department has recruited since June 2016 to work on projects relating to the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by David Rutley
As at 31 January 2019 Defra group has recruited around 2,200 additional staff to support our comprehensive programme of work to support our departure from the EU. The annual cost of these additional staff is expected to be around £190 million in 2019/20. This assessment includes estimates of pay, pension, and national insurance contributions plus an estimate of overheads.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
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 proportion of brownfield sites that have been contaminated by asbestos.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government has made no assessment of the proportion of brownfield sites that have been contaminated by asbestos. It is the statutory duty of local authorities to identify contaminated land in their areas and to ensure that risks to human health and the environment are removed. Contaminated land is legally defined by Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on external consultants for work relating to the UK leaving the EU in each year since 2016.
Answered by David Rutley
Given over 80% of Defra’s agenda is affected by the UK’s departure from the EU, it is not possible to determine whether contracts relate solely to the UK leaving the EU. Accordingly, we are unable to estimate total expenditure on external consultants for work relating to the UK leaving the EU since 2016.
In September, the National Audit Office reported that Defra has specific contracts with BCG and PWC, up to the values of £9.5 million and £6.7 million respectively, to support the Department’s preparations for leaving the EU.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
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 trends in biodiversity and habitat degradation in the habitat of the natterjack toad in the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government reports on the implementation of the EU Habitats Directive, including the conservation status of a number of key habitats and European Protected Species, of which natterjack toad is one. The latest report was published in 2013 and assessed a number of important factors including range, population trends, habitat and pressures on the species.
In summary, this highlighted that natterjack toad distribution in England is well understood and that long term trends show that sites where they can be found, in England, have improved in habitat quantity and quality due to conservation interventions, particularly management funded by Wildlife Enhancement Schemes and Stewardship Schemes.
The full report can be found at the following link:
http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/Article17Consult_20131010/S1202_ENGLAND.pdf