Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to incorporate animal sentience principles outlined in Article 13 of the Lisbon Treaty into UK law after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
The Secretary of State set out the Government’s plans to recognise animal sentience in domestic law in a Written Ministerial Statement on 12 December:
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 potential merits of developing an air quality strategy to improve the capacity of the Government to meet its air quality targets.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Cleaning up the UK’s air quality and cutting harmful emissions is a priority for this Government.
In July the Government launched the UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations. This will require local authorities to produce local air quality plans which reduce NO2 levels in the shortest possible time.
In addition to our work on NO2 we will deliver an updated Clean Air Strategy in 2018. This will set out how we will work towards our international commitments to significantly reduce damaging emissions of five major air pollutants by 2030.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what role the Environment Agency has in the Government's assessment of whether expansion of Heathrow Airport would be compatible with air quality legislation.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Along with other Statutory Environmental Bodies, the Environment Agency is a member of the Department for Transport’s Appraisal of Sustainability Steering Group which is considering the range of environmental, social and economic impacts associated with the short-listed options for airport capacity in the south east. This is part of the work that the Secretary of State for Transport outlined in his oral statement in December last year, which confirmed that the Government would be starting work on preparing the building blocks for an Airports National Policy Statement.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 bring forward measures to incentivise businesses to use recyclable materials in their packaging; and if she will give consideration to whether businesses which choose to use non-recyclable materials when a recyclable alternative is viable should be subject to financial penalties.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Developing and securing sustainable end markets for recycled materials is key to delivering a circular economy.
Working through the Waste and Resources Action Programme we have developed and delivered a number of activities in support of both the use of recycled materials in new products, and on activities to stimulate its demand.
For example, the Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan has identified key actions that need to take place across the whole supply chain to ensure that recycling plastics packaging can be done sustainably. This includes design for recyclability, collections and sorting, reprocessing and development of sustainable end markets.
Another example is the Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement aimed at improving resource efficiency and reducing the carbon and wider environmental impact of the grocery sector. Phase 3 ran from 2013 until 2015. Specifically on packaging, it looked to improve packaging design through the supply chain to maximise recycled content as appropriate, improve recyclability and deliver product protection to reduce food waste, while ensuring there was no increase in the carbon impact of packaging by 2015, from a 2012 baseline. The interim results released in January 2015, showed an approximate 4.5% reduction in carbon impacts of packaging – well ahead of the 2015 target of zero increase.
However, while we can encourage design for recyclability, it is ultimately the decision of the business that make the product to decide what packaging materials they use based on a number of functionality requirements. We are making it easier for businesses to adopt eco-design principles by ensuring access to a range of free advice and guidance on packaging design and issues which should be considered when designing packaging.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support the Government (a) has provided and (b) plans to provide to governments in Africa for eradicating the killing of animals for the ivory trade.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The UK Government works closely with African and other countries to promote the conservation of the world's wildlife, including through galvanising action to end the illegal trade in ivory.
We hosted the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014, and supported the Government of Botswana in its hosting of a follow-up Conference in March 2015.
The UK actively supports the African-led Elephant Protection Initiative, launched in the margins of the London Conference, which now has eleven African countries as members. We have committed over £1 million to this initiative over the last two years.
Defra’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund has made grants to 19 projects in its first round, including eight projects in Africa, worth £2.1 million, tackling the ivory trade. Projects to be funded under a second round will be announced shortly.
The UK is also providing training in counter-poaching activity in Gabon, through the Ministry of Defence, and has provided support for judicial capacity building in skills related to tackling the illegal trade in wildlife products in Kenya and Tanzania.