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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 27 Oct 2022
Dog Daycare: Urban Areas

"It gives me great pleasure to rise to raise the important issue of daycare for dogs, particularly in the inner city. I appreciate the Minister having a quick word with me ahead of the debate. I hope that in the spirit of collaboration, despite differences in recent weeks that have …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 27 Oct 2022
Dog Daycare: Urban Areas

"One of the anomalies in the system is the fact that some local authorities use a licensing scheme while others use planning permission. There are other parts of the regulations, which I did not go into in detail this evening, which is a further reason why it would be helpful …..."
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 12 Oct 2022
Sewage Discharges

"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Elliott. I am proud to represent the River Lea as part of my constituency, but in 2021 there were 27 instances of sewage discharge into the Lea—184 hours in total. That is not new: in 2019 overall the River Lea …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 06 Sep 2022
Sewage Pollution

"In 2019, the River Lea suffered a discharge for 1,000 hours. That was three years ago, and the ripple effect of it will be longer than just this summer. But the Environment Agency, in response to my questions, says—as the Minister said—“Well, it is okay, we are monitoring more.” But …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 19 Mar 2020
Oral Answers to Questions

"The challenges of the last few days and weeks have thrown up why we need to modernise this place and why we need to get on with restoration and renewal. I understand that the Commission is meeting on Monday to discuss next steps. Is it not time that we gave …..."
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Written Question
Air Pollution: Schools
Monday 10th June 2019

Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve air quality around schools in Hackney.

Answered by Baroness Coffey

The Mayor of London is responsible for air quality in the capital and has reserve powers under the 1995 Environment Act to enable this.

Local authorities have discretionary powers to restrict car access to schools and enforce anti-idling laws outside schools.

Local authorities are best placed to target action to improve local air quality. The Government’s Air Quality Grant Programme provides funding to local authorities for projects in local communities to tackle air pollution and reduce emissions which may include action targeting schools. The Government has awarded over £60 million in funding since the air quality grant started in 1997, including £3 million in 2018/19. Hackney Council has benefited from this fund.

The Government has put in place a £3.5 billion plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful nitrogen dioxide emissions. Our Clean Air Strategy sets out measures we are taking to improve air quality and reduce emissions of pollution, improving public health.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 10 Jan 2019
European Union (Withdrawal) Act

"Earlier, the Secretary of State said that the deal laid out by the Prime Minister was a good deal for everybody in the UK. Can he seriously stand at that Dispatch Box and say that our friends in Northern Ireland are getting a good deal out of this deal?..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 10 Jan 2019
European Union (Withdrawal) Act

"It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon).

Is it not depressing that we are here again having moved on no further in the past five weeks? The Public Accounts Committee has produced nine reports on Government preparedness. Every day we go on indecisively, …..."
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Written Question
Rivers: Sewage
Friday 26th October 2018

Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many litres of sewage is discharged into rivers in (a) London and (b) the rest of the South-East because of misconnected pipes; and what steps he is taking to bring the matter to the attention of the public.

Answered by Baroness Coffey

It is difficult to quantify how much sewage is discharged in London and the South East through misconnections, due to the complex nature of urban drainage and the masking provided by other polluting sources.

The Environment Agency (EA) collects data on reported incidents of polluted surface water outfalls, including those attributed to misconnections. However this data cannot be considered comprehensive due to difficulties in identifying and recording incident sources and might exclude a significant number of incidents reported direct to water companies.

In 2013 a UK Water Industry Research project estimated the potential number of misconnections in each of the water company catchments and included the following estimates for water companies in London and the South East. It provides an estimate of the potential overall scale of the problem for water companies although the figures might be regarded as a conservative estimate: Anglian Water circa 24,000 misconnections, Southern Water circa 16,000 misconnections and Thames Water circa 48,000 misconnections.

The water companies, EA and local authorities are working to address misconnections and raise awareness with householders, the building trade and other professionals. This is being targeted by the ConnectRight campaign and the trade accreditation scheme, WaterSafe.

This work is being co-ordinated by the National Misconnections Strategy Group which in addition to the organisations named above includes Defra and the Consumer Council for Water. The group has also developed good practice for the industry, as well as looking at measures to limit misconnections being made in the first place.

Further work to limit and reduce misconnections is also being planned as part of the planning for the next water company investment round in the period 2020 to 2025 to maintain a resilient wastewater and drainage system.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 18 Oct 2018
Oral Answers to Questions

"At the Public Accounts Committee on Monday, we heard from DEFRA officials about preparedness for Brexit, and we are very concerned. One of the biggest concerns is that many businesses do not know what they will have to do to comply with the rules around Brexit. What is the Minister …..."
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