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 steps he is taking to support research into natural defences against unwanted vegetation in public places.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
One of the actions Defra introduced in the recently launched UK Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP) is to gather more data on pest, weed and disease management in the amateur and amenity sectors. This will allow for a better understanding of pesticide use, the sectors’ contribution to overall pesticide load on the environment, and how widespread integrated pest management (IPM) approaches are currently. IPM aims to reduce reliance on pesticides by making use of lower risk alternatives and promoting natural processes.
Last year Defra completed an evidence review to understand better the barriers to IPM uptake in the amenity sector. In the wake of this review, Defra recently funded an update to the Integrated Weed Management guide produced by Parks for London. This will be published this year and will be available online, providing access to key tools to help amenity managers control weeds effectively and sustainably.
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy and has convened a Circular Economy Taskforce to help develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England with a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the Government and others will make on a sector-by-sector basis. The Circular Economy Taskforce will start with five sectors: agrifood, built environment, chemicals, and plastics; textiles and transport.
We recognise that reuse and repair are fundamental tenets of any circular economy and will consider the evidence for appropriate action from right across the economy as we develop our strategy.
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, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of testing water quality under the water framework directive annually instead of every three years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) samples and analyses local water body information continuously throughout the year. Under the Water Framework Directive, the EA must publish the sample results at least every six years as a national classification inform River Basin Management Plans. The EA also publishes an interim updates every three years. This is the best use of resources given the natural environment takes time to respond to changes.
We are making significant improvement to our monitoring to give a fuller, more accurate picture of our water bodies. The flagship Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment programme will provide a statistically robust baseline assessment of the health of waters at a national scale.
The independent commission into the water sector regulatory system was launched by UK and Welsh Governments in October 2024. The commission is reviewing the Water Framework Directive and the associated monitoring system. The Commission will report to the UK and Welsh Governments by the end of June 2025.
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, whether he plans to reduce the timeframe for the authorisation of new electric vehicle battery recycling facilities.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Environmental permits enable Government missions on economic growth, green innovation and net zero. To protect the environment and the public, all environmental permits require appropriate assessment to prevent harm.
All environmental permitting is subject to statutory timeframes. Defra and the Environment Agency are constantly reviewing and improving Environmental Permitting services to make them efficient and reactive to customer needs. The Environment Agency will consider prioritising applications, if they meet specific criteria that include supporting economic growth or are for nationally significant infrastructure projects.
The Environment Agency encourages applicants to contact them as early as possible in any project plans and take up pre application advice (Get advice before you apply for an environmental permit), particularly for complex permits for new and novel technologies such as vehicle battery recycling facilities.
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, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of banning sky lanterns.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An assessment of sky-lanterns was carried out in 2023.
The research examined the risks that sky lanterns, and other items including helium balloons, pose to the environment. The research suggests the risks posed by sky lanterns and helium balloons remain low. It also explored a ban on the sale of sky lanterns and indicated this would result in lost economic activity. The research report is available at: https://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetails?ProjectId=21420. Based on this assessment, we therefore consider existing controls to be sufficient.
Local authorities already have powers to apply local controls to restrict or ban the use of sky lanterns or balloons on council or public land and, according to stakeholders, around 150 councils have already introduced a ban.
We also support voluntary initiatives aimed at minimising the risks associated with sky lanterns. Initiatives include a voluntary Code of Practice for sky lanterns developed by industry with Government support to ensure that they are manufactured to be safe and are sold responsibly.
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, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating guidelines on the level of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Drinking Water Inspectorate’s (DWI) guideline value on individual types of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) of 100 nanograms per litre was agreed with the UK Health Security Agency to be a robust level with an appropriate margin to ensure our drinking water is safe to drink. There is no evidence of PFAS concentrations above this value in drinking water supplies. The DWI has provided further direction to water companies to develop appropriate and focused strategies to protect drinking water supplies and work is continuing across Government to help us assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources and potential risks to inform future policy and regulatory approaches.
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, when his Department plans to respond to Thames Water's s35 application for its Teddington Direct River Abstraction proposal.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Thames Water have requested that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs gives a direction under Section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 for the Teddington Direct River Abstraction. The Secretary of State will respond to Thames Water in line with the statutory timeframe required.
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, when his Department plans to issue a decision on Thames Water’s revised draft Water Resources Management Plan.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We expect to decide the next steps on Thames Water’s draft water resources management plan in the new year.
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 she has made of the effectiveness of airport noise action plans in reducing noise pollution for overflown communities.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government is committed to ensuring that noise is managed effectively to promote good health and minimise disruption to people’s quality of life.
Defra is required to produce, consult on and publish Noise Action Plans for transport noise, under the terms of the Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006, every five years to help manage noise. Under the Regulations airport operators are the competent authority for preparing airport Noise Action Plans.
The latest round of airport Noise Action Plans is currently underway and due to be published in 2024.
It is up to individual airports to determine, including through public consultation, the most effective measures to implement within an action plan.
Defra is working with the Department for Transport which has commissioned the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct a critical review of the efficiency and effectiveness of Noise Action Plans in managing aviation noise around airports.
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, when her Department plans to open its public consultation into banning the use of plastic in wet wipes; and what her provisional timetable is for bringing forward a ban of their use.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The consultation on the proposed ban on wet wipes containing plastic will be launched in due course.