Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he expects Ofwat to instruct water companies to expedite the repairing and replacement of their pipe networks.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Through our Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat (SPS), Government has been clear about its expectations for water company action to renew and replace the water network. Our SPS sets out an expectation that Ofwat will promote good asset management and challenge companies to better understand the health of their assets and adopt a strategic and long-term approach.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he will respond to the correspondence of 24 January from the hon. Member for Stockport.
Answered by Jo Churchill
I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Gentleman, his reply will be with him shortly. As we have had to go to a second government department for a full answer it has taken a little longer.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) steps the Government has taken and (b) resources have been committed to support jobs and businesses in Greater Manchester following the introduction of a clean air charge zone.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We have provided a substantial sum of £132 million from the Clean Air Fund to Greater Manchester authorities to help businesses and individuals upgrade to compliant vehicles. This is on top of providing £36 million to enable the implementation of the Clean Air Zone.
The HGV support scheme has recently opened for applications. Schemes for other vehicle types affected are due to launch later in the year. It is for Greater Manchester authorities to administer and distribute the funds according to the agreed business plan.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to (a) mitigate the impact of increasing costs of food for consumers and (b) ensure that suppliers of food are adequately supplied.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including food import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour and manufacturing costs, and Sterling exchange rates, all of which fluctuate over time. Some of these factors are influenced by our trading arrangements with other countries. Most food sectors businesses (retail etc) are accustomed to fluctuations in supply chain costs so they do not necessarily translate into consumer price rises. Food prices are set individually by businesses and it is not for the UK Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies.
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Our high degree of food security is built supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 impact of the Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone on jobs in (a) Stockport and (b) across Greater Manchester.
Answered by Jo Churchill
It is for local authorities to develop local plans that will achieve statutory NO 2 limit values within the shortest possible time. Research from 2012 indicated that the burden associated with a range of pollutants, including NO2, had a total cost of up to £2.7bn nationally through its impact on productivity. High levels of air pollution will continue to have a significant impact on productivity, alongside its significant impact on public health.
Work on developing the underpinning evidence for the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) has been undertaken by Greater Manchester authorities including an assessment of the effects and impacts on local residents and businesses. This takes account of employment factors. The latest publicly available analysis published by Greater Manchester authorities is available at: https://cleanairgm.com/technical-documents. Greater Manchester have identified in their analysis that there were 224 points predicted to remain in exceedance of NO2 levels in 2021 without further action, with a maximum predicted in 2022 of 53 µg/m3 NO2. The Government has provided Greater Manchester authorities with £168 million funding to support delivery of the CAZ.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether additional funding will be made available to areas affected by (a) Storm Barra and (b) Storm Arwen.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Local authorities concerned about the emergency costs of Storm Arwen or Storm Barra should contact the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to discuss.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy was responsible for power being restored, which has now been done.
Following Storm Arwen, the Environment Agency (EA) inspected its assets and found significant damage to an access ramp for the Low Ford Tree Catcher in Morpeth, Northumberland. The asset is one of several that reduce the risk of flooding to almost 1000 homes in Morpeth, Northumberland. The damage was so severe that the EA could no longer safely use the ramp and has temporarily suspended routine works on the site. Temporary repairs (using sheet piling and back filling with inert material) and a rescue of native white clawed crayfish, known to be present in the river and of significant conservation importance, are now being arranged for week commencing 13 December 2021. The EA will plan a long-term permanent repair scheme for the next financial year.
As well as damage to flood assets, numerous fallen trees are also causing issues across the North East. The EA is currently assessing the impacts of these fallen trees to local flood risk, flood assets and telemetry sites. Many of these trees are significant in size and it is estimated that the average cost of safe removal is around £2000 per site.
We are also aware of potentially significant impacts to Forestry Commission and private forestry sites. We will continue to monitor the situation and engage with effected land managers.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 plans to take to support the UK to meet its climate change targets in response to the recent finding by the Climate Change Committee that the UK is not keeping pace with other countries in meeting its climate change targets.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Tackling climate change and delivering our world-leading Net Zero target is a key priority for the Government. As the CCC recognise, we have made huge progress in cutting our emissions while growing the economy and we will continue this work.
Defra are considering a wide range of measures for how to reduce emissions from our sectors and increase the amount of carbon captured by the land. For example, our future Environmental Land Management schemes will play an important role in achieving net zero, including through supporting large scale tree planting, paying for actions that can help to reduce emissions from farming, and by encouraging the adoption of sustainable soil management practices that will enable soils to sequester more carbon.
In addition, on 18th May we launched our England Tree and Peat Action Plans, supported by the £640m Nature for Climate Fund. This fund will expand and enhance woodland cover and ensure that more peatland is restored, protected and better managed.
Further to this, we are seeking to make the UK a world leader in using resources efficiently and reducing the amount of waste we create as a society. We want to prolong the lives of the materials and goods that we use and move society away from the inefficient linear economic model of 'take, make, use, throw' to a more circular one.
A more detailed overview of our departmental plans to help the UK meet its climate targets will be set out in the Net Zero strategy, to be published ahead of COP26.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 potential effect on trade with the EU of the proposal to authorise the use of gene-editing technologies in agriculture and food and drink manufacturing in England.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra’s recent genetic technologies consultation sought information on the implications of not regulating organisms produced by genetic editing and other genetic technologies as GMOs if they could have been produced through traditional breeding methods which included impacts on trade.
The consultation ended on 17 March and we are currently analysing the responses. A full Government response will be published within three months.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of potentially introducing gene editing into the UK's food and agriculture supply chain on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
More than 70 genetically modified (GM) products are authorised for use as food and feed in the UK. Most GM products are used for animal feed. All these products have been authorised after a rigorous risk assessment. There are very few GM food products on the UK market, some as imports. Where GM ingredients have been added to food, existing legislation requires labelling to indicate this.
In addition to possible human health and environmental impacts, Defra’s recent genetic technologies consultation sought views on non-safety issues arising if organisms produced by genetic editing or other genetic technologies, which could have been produced naturally or through traditional breeding methods, were not regulated as GMOs. The consultation ended on 17 March and we are currently analysing the responses. A full Government response will be published within three months.
Owing to the application of Union law to Northern Ireland by virtue of the Northern Ireland Protocol, gene edited organisms will in Northern Ireland continue to be considered as GMOs and regulated as such.