Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
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 reduce air pollution in Southampton.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 19 March 2019, Southampton City Council was directed to implement a plan for
NO2 compliance as part of the UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations 2017.
Under this direction, the local authority was directed to implement a number of measures to ensure compliance with the legal limit value for NO2, in the shortest possible time. These include:
A taxi licensing condition to require a minimum euro 6 diesel/euro 4 petrol for newly licensed vehicles by 2023
An expansion of the low emission taxi incentive for Southampton licensed taxis
Electric vehicle charge points
Ultra Low Emission Vehicle taxis trials for Southampton licenced taxis
A bus lane restriction for non-Southampton vehicles
A city centre euro 6 bus traffic condition
A behavioural change campaign to promote active and sustainable travel
Freight consolidation centre for Heavy Goods Vehicles operators in Southampton
The Government has provided funding to Southampton of over £1.4 million to support the introduction of these measures.
Our officials have ongoing engagement with Southampton to monitor implementation of these measures and their impact.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
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 effect on the level of (a) household and (b) commercial waste taken to household waste recycling centres of local authorities introducing paid permits for vans to access those centres.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
We have not made an assessment of the effect that introducing paid permits for vans to access household waste and recycling centres has had on the level of (a) household and (b) commercial waste. Permit arrangements at household waste and recycling centres are a matter for local authority decision making.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of commercial enterprises using water suppliers that are competing for customers.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Ofwat’s report on the first year of the market, Open for business, set out how customers have engaged with the market, and the extent of switching. The report can be found here: https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-the-market-report-2017-18-FINAL.pdf.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timeframe is for the roll-out of water competition between suppliers for domestic household consumers.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
There has been no decision on whether to roll out water competition between suppliers for domestic household consumers.
The Government is looking to learn lessons from opening the water market for business customers, particularly with regard to the impacts on bills, customer service, innovation and efficiency, before making any decision on whether to roll out water competition between suppliers for domestic household consumers. In particular, we need to ensure the benefits can be delivered and vulnerable customers can be protected.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which region has the (a) greatest and (b) least level of competition in the supply of water for commercial enterprises.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Department does not hold data on this.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of England's water was produced by desalination in each of the last five years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The only major desalination scheme currently operating in the UK is Thames Water’s plant at Beckton. It is capable of producing up to 150 million litres of water per day and has been operational since 2010. However, it is only used intermittently when Thames Water considers it necessary.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many commercial enterprises have chosen a water supplier that was not the regional monopoly supplier in each of the last two years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
According to Market Operator Services Limited, the market operator for the retail market in England, of the approximate 2.8 million supply points in the market, a total of 221,775 supply points have switched water supplier since market opening in April 2017.
Of these, 219,731 (99% of the total) switched to a retailer that did not have a dominant share of supply points, measured as not having more than 80% of regional supply points.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) new services and (b) innovations have been introduced to the water market as a result of competition between water suppliers.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
New services introduced to the water market include, but are not limited to:
consolidated billing;
billing and metering services;
enhanced customer services;
multi-utility offerings;
water efficiency services; and
other consultancy services.
Innovations introduced include the emerging new business model of ‘self-supply’, where five business customers have become self-supply retailers, meaning they procure water services directly from wholesalers and provide their own retail services. Benefits for these customers include financial savings, better oversight of their own usage, and influence over industry developments through participation in market governance.
Ofwat’s report on the first year of the market, Open for business, contains further detail: https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-the-market-report-2017-18-FINAL.pdf.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many water wholesalers operate in the water market.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
According to Market Operator Services Limited, the market operator for the water retail market in England:
There are 26 water wholesalers currently in the market.
Water retail suppliers consist of 15 water and sewerage suppliers, 9 water only suppliers and 2 sewerage only suppliers.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many water retail suppliers operate in the water market.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
According to Market Operator Services Limited, the market operator for the water retail market in England:
There are 26 water wholesalers currently in the market.
Water retail suppliers consist of 15 water and sewerage suppliers, 9 water only suppliers and 2 sewerage only suppliers.