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 capital dredging programmes are in place for the five principal river systems in the North East of England between from the River Tees to the River Tweed.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Environment Agency’s dredging work is funded through its Revenue Programme and has work planned for the financial period 2016/17 in the wider Rivers Wansbeck and Blyth, Wear, Tees and Tyne catchments. This work will include the removal of localised silts and gravels from maintained structures and channels.
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 she is taking to incentivise the use of hedges, field margins and ditches in farmed uplands in order to facilitate flood water retention.
Answered by George Eustice
The management of hedges, field margins and ditches is already incentivised in England (including the farmed uplands) by payments under agri-environment schemes, such as Environmental Stewardship. The new Countryside Stewardship scheme, launched last year, is targeted to include those areas that can provide joint benefits for biodiversity, water quality and natural flood management.
The retention of hedgerows and field margins is also incentivised through Pillar 1 of the Common Agricultural Policy where they will be eligible as Environmental Focus Areas within the Greening requirements.
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 information her Department holds on the distribution of nitrogen and phosphates in the English river system since recent flooding; and what assessment she has made of the potential effect of that distribution on the natural environment.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Environment Agency records the concentrations of nitrates and phosphates at thousands of locations across England. It monitors on either a monthly or quarterly basis over the course of the year. The January data should soon be ready for compilation. Many of the December samples were taken before the heavy rain so analysis of the data is still being carried out.
Heavy rainfall events, such as those experienced in the recent floods, generally cause an initial flush of nutrients from agricultural land and urban drainage systems to rivers.This causes an increase in river nutrient concentrations which then falls away due to dilution by high river flows.During floods, large amounts of nutrients are washed down rivers into coastal waters. If this occurs in summer it can trigger algal blooms, feeding on the nutrients. In winter, the effects are not generally significant as the reduced sunlight and colder water temperatures mean that algae do not grow.
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 her Department has made of the effect of additional algae in river and pond systems since the recent flooding in England on those systems; and what information her Department holds on levels of toxins produced by algae in those systems and their effect on the marine environment.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Environment Agency assesses the presence of algae in the spring, summer and autumn as this is when algae can become a nuisance to people and nature.
The recent floods will have flushed nutrients from agricultural land and urban drainage systems into rivers and lakes. Much of this increased nutrient loading washes down into estuaries and coastal waters. Since the flooding has occurred in winter months, when algae are not growing, there is unlikely to be an immediate effect. Sunny and hot conditions may lead to a higher number of blooms but this will depend on the weather in the spring and summer months.
The Environment Agency and Cefas will also monitor in response to reports of toxic algal blooms at any time of year. They hold data on the levels of toxins in samples from affected sites, which inform management action. Where toxins pose a risk to the quality of shellfish, to recreational or other users of waters, this can result in closure of shellfisheries or action to warn the public about the hazards.
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 commercial freedoms she proposes to offer to Northumberland National Park.
Answered by Rory Stewart
National Park Authorities are engaging with devolution proposals and we believe that with their current powers, National Park Authorities are already well equipped to be a vital part of devolution deals across the country. The North East Combined Authority has set out proposals for a devolution deal designed to drive economic growth and bring jobs and investment to the North East. As part of considering this, we will be discussing with the National Park Authority what we could do for them that might help them in terms of commercial freedoms.
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 the functions are of the North East Rural Growth Network; and how much financial support it received from her Department in the last financial year.
Answered by George Eustice
Pilot Rural Growth Networks were set up in 2012 to test out approaches to tackling the barriers to economic growth experienced in rural areas.
Defra provided funding of £3,201,290 in the financial year 2012/13 to support the pilot Rural Growth Network in the North East for three years.
The North East Local Enterprise Partnership has provided £1.75 million of Growth Deal funding in 2015/16 to enable the North East Rural Growth Network to continue to provide grants to rural businesses and support economic infrastructure projects.
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 the Government plans to bring forward legislation to ban the sale of ivory in the UK.
Answered by Rory Stewart
I refer the Rt hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood, Cat Smith, on 16 June 2015, PQ UIN1580.
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 advice she has received on the use of clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam and other neonicotinoid pesticides.
Answered by George Eustice
The government believes decisions on pesticides should be based on scientific evidence. Ministers have taken advice from a variety of expert sources on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. This includes the independent UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP), Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser, and experts from the Chemicals Regulation Directorate of the Health and Safety Executive.
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, if she will take steps to require fishermen to record the number of seals they slaughter.
Answered by Rory Stewart
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer that I gave on 15 June 2015, PQ 1799.
Under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has a duty to provide scientific advice to government on matters related to the management of seal populations including seal population trends. The cause or causes of any unanticipated significant population declines would be investigated.
Common and grey seal populations in England have increased over the last ten years. There is no evidence to suggest that the limited local control of seals permitted in England is having an adverse effect on the conservation status of England’s seal populations or the UK seal population as a whole.
The Conservation of Seals Act 1970 strikes a proportionate balance between the conservation and welfare of the seals and the needs of those impacted by individual problem seals. We have no plans to review this legislative protection.