Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 introducing stronger penalties for owners involved with dangerous dog incidents.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, any dog that is dangerously out of control can be euthanised and their owners put in prison for up to 14 years and banned from ever owning a dog.
Defra is working with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership. We have reconvened the Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce and look forward to receiving their findings and recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what financial support his Department is providing for people struggling with water bills.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government expects companies to hold themselves accountable for their commitment to end Water Poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to this end.
We expect water companies to put robust support in place for vulnerable customers and keep current support schemes under review to ensure vulnerable customers are supported. These include bill discount schemes such as WaterSure and Social Tariffs as well as financial support measures to assist households to better manage their budgets and provide flexible payments including payment holidays, payment matching, benefit entitlement checks and money/debt advice referral arrangements.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data his Department holds on water quality in (a) lakes and (b) rivers in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) holds historical and current water quality data for the rivers and lakes (water bodies) in the Ashfield Constituency. The EA monitors different aspects of water quality data to classify the overall health of these water bodies. The Catchment Data Explorer system provides data and information on the lakes, rivers and groundwater waterbodies in England, including the physical, chemical and biological, properties of that water. The water body data relevant to the Ashfield constituency can be accessed via the following links; Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Sutton in Ashfield, Hucknall.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 adequacy of air quality levels in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities review and assess air quality in their areas and publish an annual report on their actions to improve local air quality including local monitoring data which is assessed by Defra. In their most recent report, the Council indicated they were monitoring NO2 levels at 25 locations and recorded continued reductions in concentrations in recent years. Ashfield District Council have no declared Air Quality Management Areas due to having recorded no exceedances of the Air Quality Objectives set by Defra.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 improve management of flood risk in high-risk areas of Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ashfield constituency suffered flooding to 58 properties in Storm Babet, October 2023 and to six properties in Storm Henk, January 2024.
Much of the flooding risk in Ashfield is from ‘ordinary watercourses’ or surface water run-off, both of which are the responsibility of Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs). Ashfield LLFA Nottinghamshire County Council can be contacted on flood.team@nottscc.gov.uk.
The LLFA published Section 19 investigation reports following the 2023/24 winter storms. These reports cover areas in Ashfield such as Pleasley, Kirkby in Ashfield, and Sutton in Ashfield, and can be accessed on the council’s website: : The Council's role | Nottinghamshire County Council
The Environment Agency contributed to the Section 19 investigations where relevant, for example in Pleasley, where we have a role in incident response, issuing flood warnings and supporting recovery efforts: 26. Appendix Y. Pleasley S19 Storm Babet Oct 2023
The Environment Agency (EA) is responsible for managing flood risk from the River Meden that flows through Pleasley and a small stretch of the River Erewash headwaters.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have been (a) fined and (b) received criminal records for breaking laws on log burning in each of the last five years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs does not hold a centralised record of fines or criminal records related to burning solid fuels, including wood.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 help tackle graffiti vandalism.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities are primarily responsible for managing graffiti on their land. Existing Defra guidance on managing graffiti and flyposting for local authorities and others outlines the options available for tackling these issues with examples of good practice. The guidance has been informed by a research report which aids further understanding of the issue. The guidance and research report are available here: understanding graffiti and fly-posting management approaches - EV0497.
Local authorities have enforcement powers to help them tackle graffiti, including issuing fixed penalty notices of up to £500. They can also tackle persistent offenders and other unreasonable behaviour that is having a negative effect on a community’s quality of life by issuing Community Protection Notices and Public Space Protection Orders.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 impact of (a) the Family Farm Tax and (b) increased solar panel construction on arable land on national food security.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Government recognises that food security is national security. We need a resilient and healthy food system that works with nature and supports British farmers and food producers.
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses and fixing the public finances. The reforms announced by the Government are expected to result in up to around 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief paying more inheritance tax in 2026-27. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others, and compared to the position before 1992.
On solar panel construction, the Government recognises that there will be questions about the effects of land use change and impacts on the local environment. However, the Government does not believe that the rollout of solar generation poses a risk to food security. Planning guidance makes clear that developers should utilise brownfield land wherever possible. Where agricultural land must be used, lower-quality land should be preferred. In any case, the total area of land used for solar is very small – less than 0.1% of UK land, as of September 2024.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 help tackling potential water shortages relating to population growth in the future.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to a twin track approach to improving water resilience. This involves action to improve water efficiency and reduce water company leaks alongside investing in new supply infrastructure, including new reservoirs and water transfers.
All water companies have a statutory duty to provide a secure supply of water for customers, efficiently and economically and set out how they plan to continue to supply water to their customers through Water Resources Management Plans (WRMPs). These plans are statutory and will set out how each company will continue to meet this duty and manage water supply and demand including leaks, sustainably for at least the next 25 years.
As outlined by Ofwat in their final determinations for PR24, approximately £8 billion will be spent across England between 2025 and 2030 to deliver the company WRMPs and boost our water supply and manage demand. This includes progressing 9 new reservoirs and many water transfer schemes.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to introduce increased (a) sanctions and (b) deterrents to help tackle fly tipping.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. This will build on existing sanctions which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment.
Sentencing is a matter for the courts. The Defra chaired National Fly-tipping Prevention Group has previously produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court. This is available at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.
We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers and are currently taking steps to develop statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement. We are reviewing council powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.
We will move the regulation of waste carriers, brokers and dealers from light-touch registration into environmental permitting. This will enhance the Environment Agency’s ability to take action and make it harder for rogue operators to operate. Under this proposed reform, penalties set out in the Environmental Protection Act 1990, such as prison sentences of up to 5 years, will become applicable to breaches of the new regulations.