Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to compensate property owners with septic tanks for the expense of (a) upgrading and (b) replacing existing tanks to make their tanks compliant by 1 January 2020.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
There is no financial help available for upgrading or replacing small sewage discharges, regulated under General Binding Rules (GBRs), including for septic tanks if required. However, where the Environment Agency identifies that improvements are required they will agree a reasonable timescale for the improvements to be made with the owner.
All operators of septic tanks are responsible for maintaining them and making sure they don’t cause pollution. Untreated sewage harms rivers and wildlife. Discharges from septic tanks have been regulated under UK law for many years and discharges from a septic tank to a watercourse without a permit have not been lawful.
Alongside the GBRs coming into effect in January 2015, a policy target date of 1 January 2020 was set to phase out the remaining discharges directly from septic tanks to watercourses.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 financial effect on property owners of changes to septic tank regulations which come into force on 1 January 2020.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
There was a regulatory impact assessment which considered the financial impact of the 2014 regulation changes of the regulatory system for controlling small sewage discharges from sceptic tanks which can be found here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2852/contents
The outcome of this was a beneficial saving to home owners and businesses as operators of small sewage discharges.
The aim of the changes is to protect water quality and were a means of reducing regulatory burden on primarily home owners and households. They removed the need to register a discharge whilst aiming to ensure maintenance of environmental protection and to prevent discharges causing pollution.
Under polluter pays principle it is an owners responsibility to comply with legislative requirements and to prevent pollution. There are no grants available for homeowners to improve or upgrade their discharges.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 reduce plastic waste in fast food outlets.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Resources and Waste Strategy set out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste, including from fast food outlets. We will do this by making producers more responsible for the products they put on the market, starting with reforming the packaging waste regulations. We recently consulted on proposals to reform the packaging producer responsibility system to ensure that packaging producers fund the full net cost of managing the packaging they place on the market once it becomes waste. This will provide a strong financial incentive for packaging producers to make more sustainable decisions at the design stage and during manufacture, and to take greater responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products.
In general, we prefer to help people and companies make the right choice, rather than banning items outright. There may, however, be times when a ban is appropriate as part of a wider strategic approach. Which is why we are introducing measures to restrict the supply of plastic drink stirrers, plastic-stemmed cotton buds and plastic straws, which are commonly provided in fast food outlets, in April 2020. We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic single-use plastic products to take a systematic approach to reducing their use.
In April last year, the Waste and Resources Action Programme and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation launched their world-leading UK Plastics Pact, with support from the Government, and some major fast food corporations such as McDonalds have signed up to it. The Pact brings these organisations together with four key targets for 2025 that aim to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated, including action to eliminate problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging items. Our proposed reforms will support the Pact in achieving those targets.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 reduce plastic waste in fast food outlets.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 financial effect of changes to septic tank regulations due to come into force on 1 January 2020 on property owners.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to compensate property owners with septic tanks for the expense of (a) upgrading and (b) replacing existing tanks in order to make those tanks compliant by 1 January 2020.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 merits of establishing an independent body to consider complaints made against veterinarians.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to bring forward legislative proposals to ban the export of live animals from the UK for fattening and slaughter.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government’s manifesto made it clear that we would take early steps to control the export of live farm animals for slaughter once we leave the European Union.
Last year we launched a Call for Evidence on controlling live exports for slaughter and improving the welfare of all animals during transport. We passed this evidence to the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC), who recently submitted their advice to Defra and the Devolved Administrations including in relation to live exports. We are considering FAWC’s report and aim to publish it, along with a Government response, this summer. We expect to come forward with proposals for public consultation to improve animal welfare in transport in due course.
As we move towards a new relationship with the EU and the rest of the world, we have a unique opportunity to shape future animal welfare policy in the UK to ensure the highest standards in every area.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 tackle anthropogenic climate change and global warming.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The government introduced legislation for a new net-zero emissions target for 2050, which was passed by Parliament last month.
Defra works closely with the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the natural resources sector, including agriculture, forestry, land-use, waste and resources, and fluorinated gases, as set out in the Clean Growth Strategy.
The UK was the first country in the EU to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which will through reducing the use of hydrofluorocarbon greenhouse gases lead to a reduction of emissions by 85% by 2036.
We support nature-based solutions through our international aid programmes on forestry and mangroves/blue forests that act as effective carbon sinks as well as provide for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
We will publish the England Peat Strategy to protect existing carbon stores and as part of this we are establishing a Lowland Agricultural Peat Taskforce to develop a more sustainable future for agriculture on lowland peatland in England. Following on from our Resources and Waste Strategy, we are consulting on food waste collection schemes which will divert food waste from landfill.
As the cornerstone of new agricultural policy, the new Environmental Land Management Scheme will pay public money for the provision of environmental public goods, such as the mitigation of and adaption to climate change. This year, we will start developing a new emissions reduction plan for agriculture, in which we will set out our long-term vision for a more productive, low-carbon farming sector.
The action we are taking will continue our tradition in climate leadership.