Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vaping products were registered with the Environment Agency; how much was received by Government in UK WEEE Regulations Compliance Fees for vaping products; and if he will make an estimate of how many vaping products were (a) recycled and (b) incorrectly disposed of in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Vape producers need to register with the Environment Agency under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations and report the tonnage of vapes that they place on the market each year. Prior to 2022, vapes were not reported at a product specific level; they were reported as Category 7 EEE, which encompasses all Toys, Leisure, and Sports Equipment. Therefore, within the data the Environment Agency received from registered producers, it is not possible to identify the types of products that a company handles and thus it is not possible to determine how many vaping products were reported as being placed on the market.
For 2022 and 2023, the Environment Agency requested Compliance Schemes in England to submit data on the tonnage of vapes that their producer members placed on the market. For 2022, the total is 1,637 tonnes. The 2023 data is pending. Producers that register directly with the Environment Agency rather than with Compliance Schemes still include vapes within their Category 7 data, meaning the Environment Agency does not collect or hold vape specific data for direct registrants.
The Government does not hold detailed data on compliance fee payments under the UK WEEE Regulations, as this is managed independently of government. Compliance fee payments are broken down by categories, laid down in the WEEE Regulations and not by individual product level.
Treatment sites that recycle WEEE submit recycling data to the Environment Agency. This data is also not product specific and thus it is not possible to determine how many vaping products have been recycled. The Environment Agency does not collect or hold data on incorrect disposal of vapes.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support disabled people who own assistance dogs which are (a) XL Bullies or (b) dogs which may be misidentified as XL Bullies.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have engaged with stakeholders on this issue and we are not aware of any assistance dogs that are XL Bully type dogs. All XL Bully owners will be able to keep their dogs as long as they have applied for a Certificate of Exemption since 31 January 2024 and adhere to strict rules such as the dog being microchipped and kept on a lead and muzzled when in public.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
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 help support large local authorities to introduce food waste collections by 2026.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Any new financial burdens introduced through new statutory duties on local authorities will be assessed in accordance with the New Burdens Doctrine and the net reasonable cost covered by the Government. Given the additional costs involved in separate food waste collection, the Government will ensure that local authorities are resourced to meet any reasonable new burdens arising from this policy. We will work with the Waste and Resources Action Programme and other partners to provide guidance on best practice, and work with local authorities to help them to deliver services to all householders.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the proposed ban on the sale of horticultural peat in England will apply to imported peat from non-UK countries.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We intend to apply the same restrictions, and exemptions, to imports and domestically produced products containing peat.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to prevent unlicensed waste disposal companies using social media to advertise their services.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recently consulted on reform of the waste carrier, broker, dealer regime in which we asked whether permit numbers should be required to be shown in advertising and also on vehicles that collect and transport waste. The government response to the consultation will be published soon. In addition to this, between April 2022 and March 2023 the Environment Agency via the Governments joint unit for waste crime, undertook a project to look at the use of social media and other digital platforms by individuals or companies operating illegal waste businesses over the internet. This project is now being adopted longer term and a specific officer to target this is being recruited.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to help tackle waste crime in Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to tackling waste crime, which is a blight on our local communities and the environment and damages legitimate businesses. We have strengthened regulators' powers, are tightening the law and have increased the Environment Agency's budget by £10 million per year to make it harder for rogue operators to find work in the sector and easier for regulators to take action against criminals. We are also providing grants to councils across the country to help them purchase equipment to tackle fly-tipping. Recipients include Birmingham City Council.
Between 2013 and 2023 the Environment Agency stopped 52 illegal sites within the Birmingham area. From April 2022 to March 2023 the Environment Agency dealt with 384 incidents relating to suspected illegal waste sites/activities across the West Midlands. Around 84% of these reports which were substantiated were closed down within 90 days.
In the same year, the Environment Agency closed down 15 illegal waste sites classified as high risk. This protected 20,582 properties (located within 1km of the site) and removed of 148,982 tonnes of waste. Four of these sites were in the Birmingham area.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many new waste handler licence applications were refused in Birmingham in the last twelve months.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency National Permitting Service refused no new waste or installations permit applications in Birmingham from the period of June 2022 to June 2023.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she made of the potential impact of the UK's use of grain as biofuel on global food security.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK represents a very small proportion, roughly 0.5%, of global crop-based biofuel consumption and our use of crop-based feed stocks therefore has a relatively small impact on global food prices and security. The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, the main mechanism incentivising renewable transport fuels in the UK, includes a cap on the proportion of crop derived biofuel that can be supplied each year and provides a double reward for fuels produced from wastes and residues. Because of this, 76% of renewable fuel supplied in the UK was derived from wastes in 2021 – one of the highest proportions in Europe.
The cap on crop derived fuels reduces each year as part of a continual transition to waste-based fuels. This ambition is supported by the forthcoming sustainable aviation fuel mandate, which will not allow the use of crop-based biofuels.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support he is providing to international efforts to improve transparency on the reporting of national grain reserves.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We continue to actively engage with international partners in the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS). AMIS aims to improve market information and transparency by encouraging major players on the agri-food markets to share data and by enhancing existing information systems.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a requirement for power companies with powers to carry out resilience cutting without a tree-felling license to replace or minimise adverse impacts to adjacent residencies or businesses.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to increasing tree cover, which is why we have committed to raise planting rates to 30,000 hectares per year across the UK by the end of this parliament. Individual trees can provide important environmental benefits, but these benefits need to be balanced against people’s safety as well as security of electricity supply. For this reason, electricity operators may carry out or request felling without a licence where a tree is or will be in such close proximity to an electric line or electrical plant that it may impact on power distribution. Electricity operators may wish to consider compensatory planting if this does not have a negative impact on future operations.