Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what emissions reductions his Department’s existing and proposed policies deliver in the 4th, 5th and 6th carbon budget periods.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport on 18 October 2021, PQ UIN 57322.
Note: NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) is the midpoint of CB5.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the projected emissions are for Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use over the period of the 4th, 5th and 6th carbon budget periods.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Ludlow on 18 October 2021, PQ UIN 56291.
Note: NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) is the midpoint of CB5.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
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 set an emissions reductions plan.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Ludlow on 18 October 2021, PQ UIN 56296.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the projected emissions are from waste over the period of the 4th, 5th and 6th budget periods.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport on 18 October 2021, PQ UIN 57324.
Note: NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) is the midpoint of CB5.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to implement Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 to require the mandatory implementation of sustainable drainage systems for new developments to help achieve biodiversity net gain targets.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In August 2021 the Government announced a review of the case for implementing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, which started this autumn. This review will look at the benefits and impacts of implementation as well as alternative methods for ensuring that sustainable drainage systems, or SuDS, are incorporated in future developments and maintained after construction.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2021 to Question 54035 on Environment Protection: Finance, what proportion of the 130 funded projects were nature-based defence projects; and what proportion of the total number of applications received by his Department were nature-based defence projects.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Between 2015 and 2021, government funding enabled the completion of over 700 projects to better protect 300,000 homes from flooding. Of these, 130 projects included nature-based solutions to reduce flood and coastal erosion risk.
The Environment Agency allocate money based on where there is the greatest need for a scheme to help manage flood risk to communities. A variety of solutions from hard defences to more natural measures are assessed once funding has been allocated. Information on the number of ‘applications’ for nature-based defence projects is therefore not available.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
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 potential effectiveness of Lincolnshire County Council’s Homeowner Property Flood Resilience assistance scheme trial; and what plans his Department has to introduce similar schemes across the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Property level resilience measures can play a key role in reducing flood risk and helping people get back into their homes quicker following a flood. We welcome the initiative shown by Lincolnshire County Council in developing a local Property Flood Resilience (PFR) scheme and are keen to hear about the lessons learned.
On 1 February 2021, the Government published a call for evidence on local factors in managing flood and coastal erosion risk. Part 2 sought evidence about the key PFR enablers to help inform policy development and the action required to drive the uptake of PFR. It looked at a range of enablers including the role of funding and incentives. The Government will publish a roadmap by the end of 2022 setting out how we can further accelerate take-up of property flood resilience measures. This will ensure all relevant bodies are playing their part and that consumers can have assurance about the quality of products and their installation.
The Government invested £2.9 million from the 2018 budget to support regional PFR pathfinder projects in Yorkshire, the South West and Oxford-Cambridge Arc. These projects developed interventions to promote use and understanding of PFR. This scheme has just concluded and is being evaluated.
Our 2015-21 floods capital investment programme provided grant in aid to reduce flood risk to 3,000 homes through PFR measures. The current six-year FCERM programme looks to double the number of homes better protected by PFR.
We are also making changes to the Flood Re scheme, including changes to promote the uptake of PFR by permitting Flood Re to offer additional money above the cost of a claim so properties can be repaired in a more resilient way. The Government aims for the changes to take effect in April 2022, subject to Parliamentary time and final preparations by the industry.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
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 (a) develop and (b) publish a climate-smart fisheries strategy ahead of COP26.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK fisheries administrations will include legally binding policies, which will contribute to the achievement of the climate change objective in the Fisheries Act 2020, in the Joint Fisheries Statement available for public consultation this winter.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will publish a public register of the heather burning licences it has granted.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have received no applications and therefore granted no licences to burn specified vegetation in accordance with The Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021.
Where the Secretary of State considers it necessary to issue such a licence, we will add relevant details to a public register which will be available online. Once a year we will publish a summary of all the applications we have received, including the number of applications that were unsuccessful.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many licences to burn heather on grouse moors have been (a) received and (b) granted; and on which such estates those licences have been granted.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have received no applications and therefore granted no licences to burn specified vegetation in accordance with The Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021.
Where the Secretary of State considers it necessary to issue such a licence, we will add relevant details to a public register which will be available online. Once a year we will publish a summary of all the applications we have received, including the number of applications that were unsuccessful.