Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on growers in the ornamental horticulture sector.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Coronavirus represents a very significant challenge affecting daily life and every part of the economy, including the ornamental horticulture sector. The Government continues to work closely with representatives from the horticulture supply chain, including the Horticultural Trades Association, to understand the short-term and long-term impacts on the sector and we are undertaking work to scope out options should they be required.
In May, Defra worked with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to introduce legislation which would allow garden centres to re-open. On 13 May, the Government announced that all garden centres in England which are able to adhere to social distancing measures were legally able to reopen. This measure has been widely welcomed by growers, garden centre owners and consumers.
The Government has made a wide-ranging package of measures available to ornamental horticulture businesses to support them through this difficult period and we continue to keep the situation under review. Legal powers were included in the Coronavirus Act 2020 enabling us to offer further financial support if we believe it is necessary.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effect of wood burning stoves on air quality.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra assesses air quality in the UK through a combination of monitoring and modelling, as well as through the development and upkeep of a National Atmospheric Emissions inventory (NAEI). The NAEI is compiled annually to report total emissions by pollutant and source sector in a systematic way, and to facilitate compliance with our emissions reduction targets.
Emissions from domestic combustion using wood as fuel have increased by 70 per cent since 2005. As recognised by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, particulate matter is particularly harmful for health and the environment. The most recently published data from the NAEI shows that domestic combustion using wood as fuel accounted for 36 per cent of primary emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in 2017. We will publish the next annual update of the NAEI, with data for 2018, in the coming weeks.
Wood burning stoves and coal fires are now the single largest contributor to our national emissions of particulate matter. We are already taking steps to tackle emissions from domestic burning. The Environment Bill currently before Parliament contains measures to reduce emissions from domestic solid fuel burning, the single largest contributor of fine particulate matter emissions. It will create a simpler mechanism for local authorities seeking to reduce smoke emissions within their areas.
Additionally, in line with the Clean Air Strategy, Defra has consulted on the cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood. We expect to publish the Government response to this consultation in the near future.