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Written Question
Blue Planet Fund
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of programmes supported through the Blue Planet Fund were already in operation before the Fund was established.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since 2021, the Blue Planet Fund has invested into 12 programmes. Three programmes were already being supported through Defra’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocation: the Blue Forests Initiative, the Global Plastic Action Partnership and one component of the Championing Inclusivity in Plastic Pollution programme. Two further programmes - the Ocean Country Partnership Programme and Sustainable Blue Economies - are new Blue Planet Fund programmes, but where we incorporated the strongest components of other pre-existing Defra ODA programmes that were then closed prior to the launch of the Blue Planet Fund.


Written Question
Blue Planet Fund
Monday 18th December 2023

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to improve cross-government oversight of the Blue Planet Fund.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Following the recent Independent Commission for Aid Impact rapid review we will issue a full management response in January. Both spending departments will continue to work together under the oversight and strategic direction of the Defra-FCDO Joint Management Board. Aligned Official Development Assistance delivery guidance across Defra and FCDO is applied to existing and new Blue Planet Fund programmes to ensure coherent, effective and relevant delivery.


Written Question
Blue Planet Fund
Thursday 14th December 2023

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

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 make an estimate of the amount and proportion of funding provided to arms length bodies through the Blue Planet Fund that was spent on management fees.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

By the end of March 2024, approximately £5 million will have been spent on Arms-Length Body (ALB) overhead fees under the Blue Planet Fund’s Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP). This represents 22 percent of their allocated budget to deliver OCPP. The percentage of ALB spend that has been attributed to overhead costs has decreased each year of the programme, and we expect this trend to continue as more in-country partners are onboarded to carry out delivery.


Written Question
Cucumbers: Imports
Monday 13th March 2023

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

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 estimate of the number of cucumbers that were imported in February (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Provisional HMRC Overseas Trade Data shows the UK imported 16,600 tonnes of cucumbers in February 2022. Data for February 2023 is not yet available.


Written Question
Tomatoes: Imports
Monday 13th March 2023

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

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 estimate of the number of tomatoes that were imported in February (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Provisional HMRC Overseas Trade Data shows the UK imported 32,300 tonnes of fresh tomatoes in February 2022. Data for February 2023 is not yet available.


Written Question
River Graveney: Sewage
Wednesday 18th January 2023

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times raw sewage has been released into the River Graveney in the last 12 months.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Every April the Environment Agency (EA) publishes a report showing the number and duration of spills over the previous year here:
https://environment.data.gov.uk/dataset/21e15f12-0df8-4bfc-b763-45226c16a8ac.

The EA will publish the data for 2022 in April 2023.


Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Written Questions
Wednesday 18th January 2023

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

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 answer Questions 72403 and 72402 tabled on 26 October.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Both questions UIN 72403 and UIN 72402 have now been answered.


Written Question
River Wandle: Sewage
Friday 2nd December 2022

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times raw sewage has been released into the River Wandle in the past 12 months.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This government has increased monitoring requirements on water companies to ensure greater transparency, requiring them to have event duration monitors on all Combined Sewer Overflows to enable spill counting. An annual report, which includes the number and duration of spills that occurred on the River Wandle in 2021, is available here: Defra Data Services Platform


Written Question
River Graveney: Sewage
Thursday 24th November 2022

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

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 impact of raw sewage discharges on the River Graveney's eco-system.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This is the first government to take such significant steps to tackle sewage overflows, including those on the river Graveney. We have been clear to water companies that they must tackle sewage overflows urgently, and the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan will deliver the largest infrastructure investment in water company history to clean up our rivers. Under the Environment Act we have improved monitoring and the transparency of data related to sewage overflows. Event Duration Monitors will be fully rolled out by 2023. This will help monitor local sewage impacts and hold water companies to account to deliver rapid improvements.


Written Question
River Wandle: Sewage
Monday 14th November 2022

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

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 impact of raw sewage discharges on the River Wandle's eco-system.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency (EA) carries out regular ecological monitoring into the health of river ecosystems focussing on parameters including, aquatic invertebrates and plant communities, fish populations, and habitats. Examination of routine physico-chemical monitoring data for points on the River Wandle from 2010 to present day shows no significant decline in water quality, using the measures most often associated with sewage pollution (ammonia and dissolved oxygen). Data is collected monthly. The River Wandle is assessed as being at moderate ecological status under the Water Framework Directive.

Data obtained from invertebrate monitoring programmes provides the most relevant evidence of any ecological impacts from sewage inputs. The EA currently monitors two sites on the river Wandle. Data from these sites since 2000 has shown no evidence of any deterioration in ecological health.