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 he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals, similar to provisions in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, to improve access to inland waterways.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government currently has no plans to legislate on this issue.
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 his Department supports local authorities to promote recycling by businesses.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Section 45 of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) places a duty on local authorities to collect or arrange for the collection of commercial waste from premises in their area if requested by the occupier and may charge for the services they provide. Local authorities may also promote waste minimisation and recycling within its authority but do not have specific duties to promote business recycling. The Government wants to increase business recycling and will set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy, which will be published shortly, how we will achieve this.
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 local authorities are responsible for monitoring the extent of recycling undertaken by businesses.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
No, they are not.
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 he has made an assessment of the potential merits of banning cash transactions from the waste collection sector to help reduce organised fly-tipping.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Cash is extremely important in the lives of many people and businesses. The vast majority of traders and businesses accepting payments in cash will do so honestly. However, in some cases, the anonymous and untraceable nature of cash transactions is perceived to facilitate illicit waste collection that leads to fly-tipping. The increasing use of digital payments and reduction in the use of cash could help prevent fly-tipping. However, the increase in digital payments may only have a limited impact, if the dishonest minority continue to use cash to hide or suppress their income.
As part of the Resources and Waste Strategy we will set out our plans to review the waste carriers, brokers and dealers regime to ensure that those who are part of that trade fully understand their duties and responsibilities and do not fly-tip waste while acting under the veil of legitimacy. This work will build on lessons learned in other parts of the economy such as the use of cashless payments to purchase scrap metal. This measure was introduced as part of the Scrap Metal Dealers act in 2013 which was reviewed last year by the Home Office.
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban the use of microplastics in products.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Earlier this year we introduced one of the world’s toughest bans on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products. This legislation will prevent these tiny pieces of plastic from ending up in the marine environment.
Later this year we will publish a new Resources and Waste Strategy. It will set out how we will eliminate all avoidable plastic waste as well as make the UK a world leader in resource efficiency.
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 he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of local authorities in reducing incidents of fly-tipping; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government is committed to tackling fly-tipping. We work closely with local authorities and the Local Government Association through the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG). Local authorities annually report to Defra about the number, type and cost of incidents and the enforcement actions taken.
It is the responsibility of local authorities to use the full range of enforcement powers available to them to tackle fly-tipping. We have recently strengthened these powers by introducing fixed penalty notices for small scale fly-tipping and enhancing the ability of local authorities to search and seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers. The NFTPG has published guidance which sets out clearly the powers available to local authorities when tackling fly-tipping.
Earlier this year we consulted on proposals to introduce a new fixed penalty for householders who pass their waste to a fly-tipper. We also intend to provide updated guidance for householders about how to ensure their waste is disposed of correctly. Subject to Parliamentary approval, we will seek to implement the changes later this year. As two-thirds of fly-tipping contains household waste, these additional measures will give local authorities another tool to tackle fly-tipping.
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 he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of local authorities in reducing incidents of noise pollution; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government is committed to ensuring that noise is managed effectively in order to promote good health and quality of life. We have strong protections in place to avoid significant noise impacts in our planning system, our environmental permitting systems, in vehicle and product standards, and noise abatement legislation.
The Government has not made a specific assessment of the effectiveness of local authorities (LA) in reducing incidents of noise pollution. LAs are the main enforcers of the statutory noise nuisance regime, and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health undertakes voluntary surveys of noise complaints and LA enforcement. The results of these surveys form part of the Public Health Outcomes Framework indicator for noise (https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/noise).
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 progress has been made on implementing the 36 tasks in the Litter Strategy for England, published in April 2017.
Answered by David Rutley
We have made good progress in delivering the actions set out in the Litter Strategy, including bringing into force new Regulations to improve local authority enforcement powers, launching the Litter Innovation Fund, and consulting on improved guidance on enforcement.
We have committed to reporting annually to Parliament on our progress with the actions set out in the Strategy: the first report is in preparation and will be published shortly.