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 estimate his Department has made of the proportion of the world's oceans that are in marine protected areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Joining the Global Ocean Alliance indicates that countries will support a new global target of protecting at least 30% of the global ocean within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by 2030 at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of Parties (COP15) in Kunming, China in October 2020 (30by30). This target would replace the current 10% target agreed in Aichi in 2010.
The UK-led Global Ocean Alliance is currently made up of Belgium, Belize, Costa Rica, Finland, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, Palau, Portugal, Seychelles, Sweden and Vanuatu. Many other countries have also expressed their support for the 30by30 target.
English waters have 177 MPAs covering 40% of English seas. The UK has 357 MPAs protecting 25% of UK waters spanning almost 220,000 km2. Furthermore, the Overseas Territories Blue Belt Programme is on track to deliver 4 million km2 marine protection around the UK Overseas Territories by 2020.
Globally, the World Database on MPAs, a joint project of the UN Environment Programme and the International Union for Nature Conservation, shows the percentage of the ocean covered by protected areas at 7.91%.
To increase the proportion of the global ocean that is in MPAs, the Government is working with supportive countries and NGOs to encourage other countries to join the Global Ocean Alliance and thereby increase the possibility that the 30by30 target will be adopted later this year in Kunming.
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 level of PM2.5 emissions in Birmingham.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
National statistics on emissions of air pollutants in the UK are published annually at the following URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/emissions-of-air-pollutants.
An interactive map of emissions of PM2.5 and other pollutants is available to the public at a 1 km2 resolution and is updated annually. The map for 2017 can be found at the following URL: https://naei.beis.gov.uk/emissionsapp/. It is possible to summarise the emissions map by local authority using the functions on the map webpage.
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 trends in NO2 emissions in Birmingham.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
National statistics on emissions of air pollutants and trends in the UK, including nitrogen oxides, are published annually at the following URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/emissions-of-air-pollutants.
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 he has taken to tackle plastic pollution in British waters.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government is making great strides in tackling marine plastic pollution, and we have made some good progress. In 2018, our ban on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products helped to stop billions of tiny pieces of plastic entering the ocean. Our charge for single-use carrier bags has also led to a 90% reduction in plastic bag usage and a reduction of plastic bags surveyed on the seabed.
Our 25 Year Environment Plan establishes our target of reducing all forms of marine plastic pollution where possible, and our Resources and Waste Strategy sets out how we will achieve this. We have committed to introducing a deposit return scheme to encourage the reuse of items prevalent in marine litter, and we will explore the use of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes to incentivise innovation for items such as plastic packaging and fishing gear.
We collaborate closely with our neighbouring countries through the OSPAR Convention to reduce the flow of waste into the North-east Atlantic. We are delivering on our commitments in the Marine Litter Regional Action Plan and leading on efforts to tackle the issue of abandoned, lost and otherwise discarded fishing gear.
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 has made of the potential merits of (a) changing (i) subsidies and (ii) grant support and (b) other steps to encourage the transition of UK agriculture towards a more sustainable plant-based system.
Answered by George Eustice
The Agriculture Bill will allow us to replace the restrictive EU Common Agricultural Policy with an ambitious new Environmental Land Management scheme. This scheme is based on the principle of ‘public money for public goods’ and will deliver financial support for farmers who protect our environment and deliver high animal welfare and food quality standards in a sustainable way. As such, this scheme will significantly contribute to the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and others such as net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Defra has commissioned its lead Non-Executive Director, Henry Dimbleby, to lead an Independent Review to develop a series of recommendations that will help shape a National Food Strategy, considering the entire food system from field to fork. The terms of reference of the review include seeking to ensure that our food system restores and enhances the natural environment for the next generation in this country, and is built upon a resilient, sustainable and humane agriculture sector. The Independent Review, launched on 25 June 2019, will publish its interim report in spring 2020 and its final report the following winter. The Government has committed to publishing a White Paper in response within six months of the review being published.
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 she plans to take to ensure the provision of a nutritionally balanced plant-based meal on each public sector menu.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra mandates certain food and catering standards to encourage the provision of higher quality and nutritious foods, accounting for dietary advice from Public Health England (PHE). Defra continues to support other departments and institutions, such as NHS trusts and schools, in their efforts to provide the relevant information and mechanisms to inform appropriate arrangements regarding dietary choices.
Whilst Defra offer advice on food procurement standards, we do not stipulate the content of public sector organisation menus; we believe that food procurers and caterers are best placed to make decisions about their menus.
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 she is taking to reduce the number of horses dying as a result of horse racing.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to same question from the Hon. Member for Luton South on 10th June 2019 (PQ 257574). The Government’s position remains the same.
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 his Department has taken to help reduce plastic packaging in supermarkets.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government is currently working with retailers and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to encourage their efforts to reduce waste and to explore the introduction of plastic-free supermarket initiatives in which fresh food is sold loose, giving consumers the choice.
The government recently consulted on reforms to the packaging producer responsibility system to ensure that packaging producers meet the full cost of managing and recycling packaging waste. This provides a strong incentive to producers to reduce the amount of packaging they use and to make packaging that is more easily collected and recycled. Plastic food packaging serves important purposes such as protecting food, providing important storage information, extending the shelf life and decreasing food waste.
However there are opportunities where offering food loose may help to reduce plastic waste whilst not impacting on shelf life. WRAP have published a technical report on the evidence for providing fresh produce loose and this will inform future guidance. And industry is already taking action. In April last year, WRAP and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation launched their world-leading UK Plastics Pact, with support from the Government, and all the major supermarkets have signed up to it. The Pact brings these organisations together with four key targets for 2025 that aim to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated. Which include action to eliminate problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging items. Our proposed reforms will support supermarkets in achieving those targets.