Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
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 make an assessment of the effects of a potential ban on house coal on former coalfield communities as part of the consultation on the cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
As we said when we consulted on our proposals, we want to ensure that our measures achieve environmental benefits but do not have an adverse impact on vulnerable groups. Our response to the consultation will reflect this approach, and we intend to publish this in the near future.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the outcome of the consultation on Cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood that closed on 12 October 2018; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Following the required pause for the 2019 General Election, we are working at pace to publish our response to the consultation on the cleaner burning of solid fuels and wood as soon as possible.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to mark International Men's Day on 19 November 2019.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the results of the consultation on the cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood, which closed on 12 October 2018; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We intend to publish our response to the consultation on the cleaner burning of solid fuels and wood later this year.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the heat output tests on various solid fuels were commenced as part of the consultation on the cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The heat output tests of solid fuels began in March this year.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
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 9 September 2019 to Question 281681, how much his Department has spent on schemes to encourage his staff to cycle to work since 2015; and how much his Department has spent on (a) installing bicycle racks and (b) bonus schemes for bicycle use in that time period.
Answered by George Eustice
Since 2015, Defra has not incurred spend on schemes to promote cycle to work, installation of bicycle racks or bonus schemes for bicycle use.
However, we will shortly embark on a small works project to provide 30 cycle racks at Foss House in York, due for completion in September 2019, at a cost of £2,660.48
Defra promotes cycling to work and the associated environmental and wellbeing benefits. All Defra employees have access to the Government Cycle 2 Work scheme and have had opportunities to attend Bike Dr events and roadshows at over 60 Defra locations across the UK. Defra has seen an increase in take up of the scheme by 25% since 2015. Both the scheme and events are provided at no cost to Defra.
Defra does not have any bonus schemes for bicycle use.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on schemes to encourage staff of his Department to cycle to work since 2015; and how much his Department has spent on (a) installing bicycle racks and (b) bonus schemes for bicycle use in that time period.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood in England, if he will place in the Library copies of reports and datasets on the gluing agents used in the manufacture of smokeless briquettes and the toxic pollutants these gluing agents release when burnt on open domestic fires being considered in that consultation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
I refer my Hon Friend to the reply previously given on 8 April 2019 to PQ 238630.
Our assessments of emissions of pollutants from domestic combustion sources use a range of data but are based on established international reporting. The range of fuels and appliances used in the UK is large and emissions from each combination vary greatly depending on how the appliance is operated.
Any publicly available resources we have used to inform our analysis of the proposals in the consultation will be made available with the Government response.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
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 publish the results of the consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood in England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
I refer my Hon Friend to the reply previously given on 8 April 2019 to PQ 238630.
Our assessments of emissions of pollutants from domestic combustion sources use a range of data but are based on established international reporting. The range of fuels and appliances used in the UK is large and emissions from each combination vary greatly depending on how the appliance is operated.
Any publicly available resources we have used to inform our analysis of the proposals in the consultation will be made available with the Government response.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood in England, if he will deposit in the Library copies of all reports and datasets his Department is aware of on non PM2.5 toxic pollutants released when burning (a) smokeless briquettes, (b) wet wood, (c) dried wood and (d) house coal on open domestic fires; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Any publicly available resources we have used to inform our analysis of the proposals in the consultation will be made available with the Government response.
Various respondents to the consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood sent in their own price analyses of fuels. These note that there are price differentials associated with volumes purchased, and seasonality as well as between differing locations across England. Research has been undertaken based on these responses along with further analysis of advertised retail prices to assess the effect of the proposals in the consultation.