Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he take steps with representatives of the animal welfare sector to help prevent increases in demand for animal rescue services as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra is in regular contact with the companion animal rescue and rehoming sector. The Minister for Animal Welfare, Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park, has met the CEOs of the main companion animal welfare charities to discuss the effects of Covid-19 on the sector.
Defra has worked closely with stakeholders to ensure that there has been helpful and effective guidance available to enable animal rescue and rehoming and charitable activities to continue operating as far as possible, during the various phases of Coronavirus restrictions. As we ease the restrictions, we are conscious that this may have an impact on animal rescue and rehoming. We will continue to work closely with the sector to understand their needs.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many native trees have been planted in each of the last three years; how much his Department has spent on supporting native tree planting in each of those years as part of climate mitigation efforts; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Trees have an important role to play for climate mitigation as we work towards net zero emissions. The Government has made major commitments to enable more tree planting in recent years, including through creation of a £640 million Nature for Climate Fund.
Over 4,000 hectares of woodland have been planted with Government support in England over the last three years at a cost of approximately £17 million.
While complying with the United Kingdom Forestry Standard, land managers and owners decide which species of tree to plant on their land. Woodland planted will be a mix of native and exotic species, all of which contribute towards climate mitigation.
As we deploy new funding we will look to ensure the trees we plant not only capture carbon, but deliver a wide range of ecosystems services.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 plan for a review of the ban on the sale of animal fur after the end of the transition period.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Totnes on 30 June 2020, PQ UIN 62631.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how people shielding due to the covid-19 outbreak will be allocated supermarkets for priority deliveries; and whether those people will be offered a choice of supermarket where they are not an existing customer.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra is working closely with supermarkets to ensure that people who have registered with the Government as extremely clinically vulnerable and have indicated that they need help to access food are supported, by offering them emergency food parcels provided by the Government or by sharing data to facilitate priority access to online supermarket delivery slots. People can register with supermarkets where they were not previously customers in order to ensure that they can access the food and essential goods that they need.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether people identified as clinically extremely vulnerable can access priority slots at (a) one or (b) any supermarket.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
People who register as clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) either online or via the helpline, and indicate that they need help to access food, will have their details shared with supermarkets. The participating supermarkets are: Asda, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose.
Supermarkets will check these details against their own customer databases and flag anyone who matches. They will then contact the CEV individual and offer them priority access to online delivery slots. The individual should be matched with any supermarket that they are already registered with, and they may choose which they wish to use. Work is in hand to address the needs of people who do not have a pre-existing relationship with any supermarket.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 respond to the letter from West Lancashire Borough Council sent on 11 March 2019 on flooding in West Lancashire.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I can confirm that Defra received the letter from West Lancashire Borough Council on 15 March 2019. A response was not issued due to administrative error.
A reply is now being drafted and will be sent to the council in due course.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) funding and (b) other resources are available to local authorities to enable the provision of recycling at schools.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to increasing recycling rates. The Queen’s Speech committed the Government to bring forward our ambitious Environment Bill which introduces legislation so that a core set of materials (metal, plastic, paper and card, glass, food and garden waste) will be collected from all households, businesses and other organisations such as schools, in England, from 2023.
Waste collection and recycling arrangements for schools are controlled and financed by schools themselves. One of Defra’s delivery partners, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), provides curriculum linked resources for schools and teachers to help teach pupils about recycling.
https://partners.wrap.org.uk/campaigns/recycle-now/schools/
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 economic effect of air pollution on (a) vulnerable groups and (b) children who (i) live, (ii) learn and (iii) play in affected areas.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government assesses economic impacts based on advice from the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP), a committee to the Department of Health and Social Care. The latest advice from COMEAP (a report published in August 2018), does not attribute specific morbidity to schools or children, rather to the whole population, including all vulnerable groups.
However, we recently published updated air quality appraisal values. These damage costs incorporate the latest evidence from Public Health England to reflect the impacts of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide on asthma cases relating to children.
The Government has committed £3.5 billion overall to deliver actions across all sectors and achieve cleaner air for people of all ages, including all vulnerable groups; published our Clean Air Strategy in May 2018; and is also shortly bringing forward a new Environment Bill, which will include strong commitments to improve the air we all breathe.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 need (a) for more and (b) to use more existing Grade 1 agricultural land for agricultural purposes in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by George Eustice
The Best and Most Versatile (BMV) agricultural land is classed as grade 3b and above. Most arable and vegetable crops can be grown on grade 3 soils and above. Top fruit crops tend to require grade 1 or grade 2 land. Most grade 1 land in the UK is already under agricultural production.
The UK gets its food from different sources including strong domestic production and imports from the EU and beyond. We will still have a high level of food security whether we leave the EU with or without a deal and our future agriculture policy will allow farmers to continue providing a supply of healthy, home-grown produce made to high environmental and animal welfare standards.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 reduce the amount of waste that the UK exports.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Waste must be properly managed whether processed at home or abroad. We work closely with the waste industry, Environment Agency and local authorities to achieve this. The Government outlines in the Resources and Waste Strategy its commitment to prevent waste from occurring in the first place, and managing it better when it does.
The UK is recycling more than ever and the Government is committed to recycling more at home. Our approach in the Resources and Waste Strategy, from production through consumption to end of life, is focused on increasing supply and demand for secondary materials to be recycled in the UK. This will grow the UK recycling industry and reduce the need to export recyclable waste. Waste is a commodity and these secondary materials will always have a global market and exports from the UK will form an ongoing part of our resource management where there is demand.
We also want to ensure, however, that any waste which we do send abroad is fit for recycling, and that it is recycled to equivalent standards as required in the UK. Increased monitoring and enforcement of exports should create a more level playing field for domestic recyclers.