Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish its response to the consultation entitled, Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England, which closed on 4 July 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Burton, on 7 June 2023, PQ UIN 188380.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
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 adequacy of the level of sanctions available to the Environmental Agency for water and sewerage companies which they assess as having performance significantly below target in multiple Environmental Performance Assessment metrics.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency (EA) uses a range of enforcement options ranging from warning letters to prosecutions. The EA has brought 44 prosecutions against water companies in the last five years, securing fines of £34 million. £7.9 million has also been donated to environmental and wildlife trusts organisations in the same period through enforcement undertakings. The EA will continue to prosecute water companies which fail to uphold the law or cause serious environmental harm.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timeframe is for his Department to consider the Sussex Near Shore Trawling Byelaw proposal submitted by the Marine Management Organisation.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra is reviewing the full byelaw package including the results of the byelaw consultation and the evidence set out in the impact assessment in accordance with the statutory guidance on Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority byelaws. An update will be provided when the final consideration process is concluded.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
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 merits of the Environment Agency undertaking year-round water testing at English beaches.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency (EA) is required to follow the monitoring requirements set out in the Bathing Water Regulations (2013). These specify a fixed bathing water season between 15 May and 30 September. Monitoring is required to take place within these dates, except for the first sample of the season which is to be taken shortly before the start of the season. This monitoring is used to produce a classification scheme set out within the Regulations.
No systematic assessment has been carried out by the Environment Agency of the impact, or merits of going beyond current statutory monitoring requirements. Changes to these requirements to produce a classification would require the legislation to be changed and the Environment Agency to be appropriately funded to deliver the sampling needed.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
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 increase the number of trees planted in (a) Hove and (b) Brighton and Hove.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government is developing policies to increase tree planting at a national scale and does not target particular constituencies.
The Government is committed to increasing tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by 2025. The challenges we face to achieve net zero require cross-party support, collaboration with stakeholders and collective vision to mitigate and adapt to climate change. To support this we have announced a new Nature for Climate fund, which will support tree planting in England - our plans for this will be announced at the budget.
The Government currently supports tree planting and woodland creation through a range of existing grant schemes. For example, the Urban Tree Challenge Fund, which plants trees in partnership with local authorities and community organisations. We are working hard to increase the uptake of existing schemes and strongly encourage eligible organisations to do so.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
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 support the creation of new recycling infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Through our Resources and Waste Strategy we have set long-term targets to divert more waste from landfill and to drive up recycling. Key ambitions include delivering a 65% municipal waste recycling rate by 2035, a minimum 70% recycling rate for packaging waste by 2030 and implementing a deposit return scheme for drinks containers, subject to consultation. The publication of the Strategy, setting out the long-term policy environment will encourage and support the required investment.
Specific measures taken by the Government that are already supporting the creation of new recycling infrastructure include: