Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 UK-Australia trade deal on the demand for pork products dependent on the use of sow stalls.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The UK-Australia trade deal is the first we have negotiated from scratch since leaving the EU. Our goal is a long-term sustainable future for British farming, based on high standards, competitiveness and productivity, which meets the growing demand for our world-class produce.
The Australian Pork Industry has announced it would “commit to pursuing the voluntary phasing out of the use of sow stalls”. The UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement will contain a commitment to an Animal Welfare Working Group to provide a forum for ongoing cooperation and initiatives in areas of mutual interest, to review animal welfare developments and to promote high animal welfare practices.
The UK tariff treatment for pork products from Australia is not yet determined.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 is taking to reduce the level of plastic pollution in Newcastle.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government's 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. We are making great strides to tackle plastic pollution across the country, including in Newcastle. In December 2018 we published the Resources and Waste Strategy, which sets out how we want to achieve this and move towards a circular economy and keep resources in the system for as long as possible. In October 2020, we introduced measures to restrict the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds. The single-use carrier bag charge, which has led to a 95% reduction in the use of single-use carrier bags by the main supermarkets, has been increased to 10p and extended to all retailers to further encourage customers to bring their own bags to carry shopping and reduce the volumes of single-use plastic being used.
Our Environment Bill will enable us to significantly change the way that we manage our waste and take forward a number of the proposals from the Resources and Waste Strategy. The Bill will include powers to create Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes; introduce Deposit Return Schemes (DRS); establish greater consistency in the recycling system; better control the export of plastic waste; and give us the power to set new charges for other single-use plastic items. Our consultations on an EPR scheme for packaging and a DRS for drinks containers closed on 4 June and our consultation on our proposals for consistency in the recycling system in England is open for responses until 4 July. More details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/environment/waste-and-recycling
Local councils, such as Newcastle City Council, are responsible for keeping their public land clear of litter and refuse. For any local litter issue, we recommend contacting the council to make sure it is aware of the problem. It is up to councils to decide how best to meet their statutory duty to keep their relevant land clear of litter and refuse.
The Government has put together a package of over £100 million for research and innovation to tackle the issues that arise from plastic waste. £38 million has been set aside through the Plastics Research and Innovation Fund and the Resource Action Fund including £10 million specifically to pioneer innovative approaches to boosting recycling and reducing litter. The Government has also announced £60 million of funding through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, alongside a £150 million investment from industry, towards the development of smart, sustainable plastic packaging, which will aim to make the UK a world leader in sustainable packaging for consumer products.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 level of plastic pollution in waterways in Newcastle.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency has not conducted an assessment on the level of plastic pollution in waterways in Newcastle.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 is taking to reduce air pollution in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We are continuing to deliver our ambitious plans to improve air quality. To tackle local nitrogen dioxide exceedances, we are providing £880 million to help local authorities develop and implement local air quality plans and to support those impacted by these plans.
The Joint Air Quality Unit has provided funding and support to, and continues to work closely with, Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council as they develop plans to tackle their nitrogen dioxide exceedances.
There are two monitoring stations on the national Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) that are located within the Newcastle City Council area. Both the Newcastle Centre and Newcastle Cradlewell Roadside stations measure concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and PM10. The Newcastle Centre station also measures concentrations of PM2.5 and ozone.
Measurements from the Newcastle Centre station are published on the UK-AIR website at the following URL: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/flat_files?site_id=NEWC
Measurements from the Newcastle Cradlewell Roadside station are published on the UK-AIR website at the following URL:
https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/flat_files?site_id=NCA3
Local authorities are additionally required to review and assess local air quality and to publish monitoring data in their Annual Status Reports along with the measures they are taking to improve air quality in their areas. Newcastle City Council’s Annual Status Reports can be viewed on the council’s website:
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the average level of air pollution in Newcastle upon Tyne; and if he will publish those figures for each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We are continuing to deliver our ambitious plans to improve air quality. To tackle local nitrogen dioxide exceedances, we are providing £880 million to help local authorities develop and implement local air quality plans and to support those impacted by these plans.
The Joint Air Quality Unit has provided funding and support to, and continues to work closely with, Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council as they develop plans to tackle their nitrogen dioxide exceedances.
There are two monitoring stations on the national Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) that are located within the Newcastle City Council area. Both the Newcastle Centre and Newcastle Cradlewell Roadside stations measure concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and PM10. The Newcastle Centre station also measures concentrations of PM2.5 and ozone.
Measurements from the Newcastle Centre station are published on the UK-AIR website at the following URL: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/flat_files?site_id=NEWC
Measurements from the Newcastle Cradlewell Roadside station are published on the UK-AIR website at the following URL:
https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/flat_files?site_id=NCA3
Local authorities are additionally required to review and assess local air quality and to publish monitoring data in their Annual Status Reports along with the measures they are taking to improve air quality in their areas. Newcastle City Council’s Annual Status Reports can be viewed on the council’s website:
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her Department's policies of the findings of the University of Dundee study on the use of clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam neonicotinoid pesticides, published on 28 April 2016.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government recognises the importance of effective pesticides and believes that they should be authorised if the scientific evidence shows they have no harmful effects on human health and no unacceptable effects on the environment. Good science is therefore essential for good decisions.
The Government will keep evidence on neonicotinoids under close scrutiny. The EU Commission has also initiated a review of the science, which will include evidence to address data gaps identified when restrictions on neonicotinoids were implemented in 2013.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 meet the UN target of reducing food wastage by 50 per cent by 2030.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Food waste is an issue requiring urgent action throughout the world and the UN target of halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels is an important objective. Working through WRAP, we are taking concerted action and are leading the way in the EU and Internationally.
We have made significant progress to reduce food waste through the Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement with retailers and food manufacturers, and WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign which gives consumers advice and tips on reducing food waste at home. Courtauld Commitment signatories reported a reduction of 7.4% in supply chain waste between 2009 and 2012 under Courtauld 2. Interim results for Courtauld 3 show signatories reported a further 3.2% reduction by 2014.
We also made progress through a voluntary agreement with the hospitality and food service sector. Hospitality Agreement signatories achieved a reduction in CO2e emissions of 3.6% by preventing food waste and the food and packaging recycling rate rose from 45% to 57% between 2012 and 2014.
We want to go further. WRAP is currently brokering a new agreement, Courtauld 2025, which will build on this progress. Courtauld 2025 is expected to be launched in March 2016.