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, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of congestion zone areas in reducing pollution to legally permissible limits.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government assessed the effectiveness of road user charging schemes based on vehicle emissions standards in reducing pollution to legally permissible limits in technical reports accompanying the consultation draft and final UK plans for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations.
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, whether his Department has commissioned research on the costs to local authorities of administering (a) congestion charges and (b) ultra-low emission zone charges for (i) commercial and (ii) domestic vehicles.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government assessed the costs of implementing road user charging schemes based on vehicle emissions standards in the May 2016 Clean Air Zone impact assessment.
The Government has committed £255 million to support implementation costs incurred by those local authorities directed to develop local plans to achieve compliance with statutory air pollution limits within the shortest possible time. In the case of local plans involving road user charging schemes, implementation costs would exclude those costs offset via revenues from charges collected. Local authorities are currently assessing the detailed costs of delivery of their local plans as part of their feasibility studies.
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 effectiveness of the single animal activities licensing regime to regulate online sales.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra is currently in the process of developing a new single animal activities licensing regime. The regulations will be laid in Parliament before they come into force next year. The regulations will be clear that anyone in the business of selling pet animals will need a licence whether this is carried out from a traditional pet shop or online. Commercial pet animal advertisers will also be required to include certain information in their advertisements including details of their licence.
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 information his Department holds on the number of dog breeding premises operating without a licence.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra does not hold official statistics on the number of dog breeders and pet shops operating without a licence. Defra is currently in the process of developing a new single animal activities licensing regime. The regulations will be laid in Parliament before they come into force next year. The new regime will reduce the threshold by which people will need a dog breeding licence from five litters or more per year to three litters or more per year. This should result in more dog breeders requiring a licence. The new regime will make it clear for local authorities which individual activities need to be licensed.
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 plans his Department has to introduce a standardised form of inspection for pet shops and dog breeders.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra is currently in the process of developing a new single animal activities licensing regime. The regulations will be laid in Parliament before they come into force next year. Pet shops and dog breeders will need to meet statutory minimum welfare standards which reflect the welfare requirements of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Local authorities will need to have regard to supporting statutory guidance to help them apply the standards.
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 effectiveness of congestion zone charging in reducing levels of nitrogen oxide.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The effectiveness of both low emission zones and congestion zone charging in reducing levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has been considered in the ‘Evidence review on effectiveness of transport measures in reducing nitrogen dioxide’ (Defra and Ricardo Energy & Environment, 2016), which is available online at: uk-air.defra.gov.uk.
The UK plan for tackling roadside NO2 is clear that a range of measures which improve air quality could also reduce congestion, including improving local bus services and changing road layouts at pinch 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, how many trees have been planted in Southampton in the last seven years.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Neither Defra nor the Forestry Commission records the planting data of projects that are not funded directly by either Defra or FC. Many local authorities fund their own tree planting projects; therefore, they record their own planting data. As the information requested is not collated centrally it could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Statistics on the total new planting in England (in hectares), including planting from all other recorded sources, are available from the Forestry Commission’s Woodland Area, Planting and Publicly Funded Restocking publication: https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-7aqknx
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 trees have been planted in public spaces in the last seven years.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Neither Defra nor the Forestry Commission records the planting data of projects that are not funded directly by either Defra or FC. Many local authorities fund their own tree planting projects; therefore, they record their own planting data. As the information requested is not collated centrally it could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Statistics on the total new planting in England (in hectares), including planting from all other recorded sources, are available from the Forestry Commission’s Woodland Area, Planting and Publicly Funded Restocking publication: https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-7aqknx
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 will he take to prevent the sale of ivory.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
In the UK there are strong rules in place controlling the sale of ivory, backed up by robust enforcement from Border Force and the National Wildlife Crime Unit. Our measures already go further than the requirements of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and EU law; for example, the UK CITES Management Authority’s policy is not to issue certificates for the sale of raw African elephant ivory of any age. Any further action will be announced in the normal way.
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, if she will assess the merits of introducing a deposit return system for plastic bottles.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend, the Member for St Ives, Derek Thomas, on 22 December 2016, PQ 57651.