Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the quality of drinking water.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a very high standard of drinking water quality. In England, in 2021, public water supply compliance with the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016 was 99.97% and private water supply compliance with the Private Water Supplies (England) Regulations 2016 was 96.9%.
Water companies and local authorities (who are the enforcers for private water supplies) are responsible for identifying risks to the quality of the drinking water. They have comprehensive monitoring programmes in place and are required to sample the drinking water supply for any element, organism or substance that they believe may cause the supply not to be wholesome. The Drinking Water Inspectorate and local authorities take enforcement action should any breach of the standards in the regulations occur. More information can be found in the annual reports https://www.dwi.gov.uk/what-we-do/annual-report/.
To continue to protect public health, Defra are working with the Drinking Water Inspectorate to establish an expert advisory board. The board will consider a range of international research to help us ensure our drinking water standards and regulations are based on the latest evidence.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
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 publish a timetabled plan for ensuring that food retailers and producers make as much left-over food produce as possible available to foodbanks and other charities.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses are required to follow the food and drink waste hierarchy. This lays out a prioritised list of options to reduce waste. From preventing surplus and waste arising in the first place, to redistribution to charities and commercial redistributors, followed by sending to animal feed.
Food and drink waste hierarchy: deal with surplus and waste - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Businesses are aided in this through following the Defra supported Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) led Food Waste Reduction Roadmap. This sets out a plan for businesses to reduce their food waste and increase redistribution through a Target, Measure and Act approach. By measuring and acting on waste, businesses can take targeted action and more surplus will be redistributed.
To date, 314 businesses have committed to the Roadmap. Recent data from WRAP stated that in 2021 over 106,000 tonnes was redistributed, worth over £330 million and the equivalent of over 253 million meals. Over 40,000 tonnes from the retail sector alone. Data from businesses implementing Target, Measure, Act revealed that they were collectively responsible for 90% of the increase in surplus redistributed between 2018 and 2020 redistributing almost 26,000 tonnes more food between them in 2020 than in 2018.
A consultation on options to improve the reporting of surplus and waste by large food businesses in England has recently closed. Defra will publish a government response in due course.
WRAP Food waste measurement roadmap 2021 Progress report
In order to bolster the capability and capacity of the redistribution sector to take advantage of the increase in surplus made available by businesses, nearly £13 million has been awarded to over 250 redistribution organisations since 2018 across the country. This funding has provided important infrastructure such as additional warehousing, vehicles, fridges and freezers.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
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 has taken ensure that people on the covid-19 shielded patient list who were not registered for free food parcels by 1 August 2020 can continue to have priority access to supermarket home deliveries.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government has successfully secured the agreement of supermarkets to continue to provide support to the clinically extremely vulnerable.
Supermarkets continue to provide support to their vulnerable customers through offers such as priority access to delivery slots, in-store shopping assistance, and home delivery of food boxes which can be purchased over the phone for customers without internet access.
Additionally, there are a number of options available for individuals who identify as vulnerable and want help accessing food. Vulnerable individuals can contact their local authority, or one of Defra’s charity partners (AgeUK, Scope or RNIB), to be referred for the Priority Food Delivery Scheme. Through this scheme, vulnerable individuals or their carers can shop online with priority access to Tesco or Iceland delivery slots.
Vulnerable individuals can also request help from an NHS volunteer responder in gaining access to food, prescriptions and other essential items by calling the phone line or visiting the Royal Voluntary Service website.