Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to publish the clean air targets requested under the Environment Act 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Act sets out a legal duty to publish two air quality targets. These were published on 16 December.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 potential merits of guaranteeing funding for the Canal and River Trust for the next five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government currently provides an annual grant of £52.6 million to the Canal and River Trust. The grant was agreed, and guaranteed until 2027, when the Trust was established as a private sector charity in 2012 to replace the publicly owned British Waterways.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of setting the proposed air quality targets to 2030 instead of 2040.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have followed an evidence-based process working closely with internationally recognised experts to set air quality targets that are stretching but achievable. We have proposed targets for 2040 because this is when our evidence shows that, although challenging, they can be achieved everywhere. The measures required to meet 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2030, would include action on solid fuel burning and reduction of traffic, which would have a disproportionate effect on individuals and small local businesses.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of strengthening the Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan by (a) accelerating the targets for water companies to reduce harm by 2030 and (b) adding targets for the Government on tackling the root causes of excess storm overflows.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have committed to review the targets in the plan in 2027. This will occur ahead of the 2029-2034 water company planning cycle (PR29) once new information, including from companies' business plans, is available. This will allow us to establish if companies can go further and faster to achieve the storm overflow targets in the Plan without having a disproportionate impact on consumers bills.
Tackling the root cause of storm overflows is a priority in the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, which sets out how better rainwater management is key to achieving reduction in sewage discharges from storm overflows. This is the most ambitious plan to address storm sewage discharges in water company history and new strict targets will see the toughest ever crack down on sewage spills.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to introduce measures to minimise destruction caused by urban foxes.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government has no current plans to introduce measures to combat problems that may be caused by urban foxes. There is no statutory duty on local authorities, or anyone else, to control foxes in their areas and the decision about whether or not to do so lies with the owner or occupier of the property where the problem occurs, providing they do so in compliance with legislation to protect animal welfare.
The availability of food is likely to be a key factor in determining the size of urban fox populations and the most effective strategies for resolving problems with foxes rely mainly on preventative and deterrent strategies, such as removing or proofing food and shelter sources, using fencing to exclude or repellents to deter.
Advice on the management of foxes can be obtained from Natural England's Wildlife Management Unit.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 she has made of (a) staff shortages and (b) real terms pay in the Environmental Agency.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency’s (EA’s) staff are vital to its work to protect the environment, people and wildlife from harm.
The EA aims to achieve the best possible settlement for all its employees within the constraints of the Government pay guidance and in negotiation with Trade Unions.
The EA is at the beginning of a planned recruitment campaign into roles identified and funded through the most recent spending review, which comprise the majority of its vacancies, in order to deliver on the goals of its corporate report: EA2025.
The EA is covered by the annually published Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance, which sets out headline ranges for average pay awards. It is recognised that these headlines ranges are not currently in line with inflation.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen animal welfare protections in (a) the UK and (b) abroad.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
HM Government outlined our ambitious programme of legislative and non-legislative animal welfare reforms in our Action Plan for Animal Welfare, published in May 2021.
Animal welfare is a devolved matter and we continue to work closely with the devolved administrations to raise our already high standards of animal welfare across the United Kingdom.
The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, which extends to Scotland as well as England and Wales, was reintroduced in May 2022 and will continue its passage through the Commons when parliamentary time allows. The Bill delivers key manifesto commitments to end the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter, crack down on illegal puppy smuggling, and ban the keeping of primates as pets. It will also update the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, introduce a new pet abduction offence following the work of the Pet Theft Taskforce and reform legislation to tackle livestock worrying which goes back to the 1950s.
Also on the domestic front, the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 became law in the last Session and we are in the process of setting up the Animal Sentience Committee to advise HM Government on policies that impact on the welfare of animals. We have also introduced new powers for police and courts to tackle the illegal and cruel sport of hare coursing through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, and we also backed bills to increase the maximum penalties for animal cruelty offences from six months to five years imprisonment, introduce penalty notices for animal welfare offences and to ban glue traps, all of which have received Royal Assent.
For animals overseas, the Ivory Act 2018 came into force in June 2022 to ensure protection for elephants and we are backing private member bills to ban the trade in shark fins and the import of hunting trophies. We have also continued to explore options in order to prohibit the advertising and offering for sale, here, of unacceptably low welfare activities involving wild animals.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 on introducing a specific target for 2025 to reduce single use plastic by 50 per cent under the Environment Act.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have not assessed the merits of introducing a specific plastic reduction target under the Environment Act 2021. We consulted earlier this year on a target for reducing all residual waste excluding major mineral waste which we consider will lead to a more holistic and balanced environmental outcome. Our consultation sets out the rationale for the Government’s proposed choice.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 implementing a mandatory corporate reporting on plastic reduction to assist in working towards eliminating single-use plastics.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No formal assessment has been made of the potential merits of implementing a mandatory corporate reporting on plastic reduction to assist in working towards eliminating single-use plastics.
However, members of the UK Plastics Pact (UKPP), run by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and supported by HM Government, have already voluntarily committed to reducing plastic waste, which the UKPP reports on annually. UKPP members are responsible for the majority of plastic packaging sold through UK supermarkets and approximately two thirds of all plastic packaging placed on the UK market. This reporting includes UKPP member progress towards eliminating a number of single-use plastic applications. Their most recent progress report can be found here: The UK Plastics Pact Annual Report 2020-21.pdf (wrap.org.uk)
Under packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR), packaging producers will also be required to report the weight of materials they have supplied each year, which will include how much plastic they have used in their packaging. This will form part of the evidence trail used to determine each producer’s recycling obligation and help track the weight of materials, including plastic, used and recycled each year. pEPR will place fees on packaging producers based on the amount and type of packaging they produce each year, thereby discouraging them from using excessive packaging and benefiting those who use reusable packaging.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to maintain the protections species and habitats have through Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Nature is in need of our help, so HM Government has set a legally binding target to halt its decline by 2030.
In March this year, we published the Nature Recovery Green Paper setting out our proposals to reform our system of protections to better support this ambitious work, including the Habitats Regulations. The Green Paper is available here. Our proposals seek to create a system that better reflects the latest science and impending impacts of climate change, our domestic species and habitats, and helps us to achieve our significant goals to recover nature.
The Nature Recovery Green Paper consultation closed on 11th May and we are now in the process of analysing responses. The Government will publish a formal response on conclusion of this exercise.