Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 implications for his policies of Climate Assembly UK's report entitled The path to net zero.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government welcomed and thanked the Climate Assembly UK for their report. The Government has been working closely with the Climate Assembly UK since it was first commissioned. The Climate Assembly UK’s recommendations demonstrate strong public support for the Government’s intention to deliver net zero and build back greener. Initiatives like the Climate Assembly UK play an important role in helping develop policies that are achievable and fair. The Government is looking closely at the Climate Assembly UK report’s findings and departments will consider them in plans to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
The Government will publish a comprehensive Net Zero Strategy ahead of COP26, setting out the vision and policies to reach net zero. This will address many of the themes set out in the Climate Assembly UK report, including those where Defra is responsible.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 redistribute a greater proportion of the UK's fishing quota to under 10 metre vessels and UK-owned sustainable fishing fleets; and what steps he will take to prevent overfishing by large fleets after the transition period.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The allocation of quota to the fishing industry is a devolved matter. In England, our policy is set out in the 2018 White Paper, Sustainable Fisheries for Future Generations. This explains that we will continue to allocate our existing share of quota in the same way. This provides certainty for the fishing industry. However, we also said we would develop and trial new methods for allocating any additional quota we secure after leaving the Common Fisheries Policy. In England, we are working with industry and other stakeholders to do this in a way which benefits the whole fleet, including under 10 metre vessels.
The fisheries objectives set out in the Fisheries Bill, along with the legally binding Joint Fisheries Statement and Fisheries Management Plans, collectively reaffirm our commitment to achieving sustainable fishing and protecting the marine environment. In addition, all foreign vessels granted access to fish in UK waters following the Transition Period will need to abide by UK rules including those on sustainability.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 tackle the effect of ocean acidification; and what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations from the Ocean Acidification Research Programme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate has stated, increasing emissions of carbon dioxide will result in greater levels of ocean acidification. The most effective way to reduce the impacts of climate change and acidification on our ocean is to reduce emissions. The UK Government has therefore set a legally binding target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
From 2010-16, Defra partnered with the Natural Environment Research Council and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to invest £12.4 million in the UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme. This programme provided baseline data on ocean acidification for UK seas and supported the development of long-term monitoring strategies. The outputs from this ground-breaking initiative contributed evidence which has fed into the cross-Government Climate Change Adaptation programme and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 5th Assessment Report. The UK has also supported the inclusion of ocean acidification monitoring in the OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and through other international policy initiatives.
In 2018, building on the UK Ocean Acidification programme, Defra’s Science Advisory Council reviewed the national monitoring and assessment programmes for ocean acidification and provided advice on where the UK could contribute to global monitoring. As a result of this we have now established the North East Atlantic Ocean Acidification Hub in the UK which forms part of the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network. This Defra-funded hub acts as the European regional centre on monitoring and research. An Ocean Acidification Hub workshop was held in London in 2019 to foster collaboration and share information on ocean acidification monitoring and modelling across communities, to encourage and ease the data-submission process via the Global Ocean Acidification Portal, promote best practices and build capacity for further training.
We also recognise the importance of global research collaboration and have joined the Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Group on Ocean Acidification, sharing our knowledge and science with our international partners.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which (a) towns and (b) cities recorded the highest levels of air pollution in the last two years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An annual assessment of air pollution in the UK is published on the UK-AIR website at the following URL: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/index. Assessments for previous years can also be found at this URL.
For the purposes of air quality monitoring and assessment of compliance, the UK is covered on a region-by-region basis within each report. Results are detailed in Section 4 of each annual assessment.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to tackle levels of air pollution in the most affected areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our Clean Air Strategy (CAS) sets out an ambitious programme of action to reduce air pollutant emissions from a wide range of sources. The World Health Organization has recognised the CAS as an example for the rest of the world to follow. We have also put in place a £3.5 billion plan to tackle roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations and are working closely with 61 English local authorities, and have placed legal duties on them, to tackle their nitrogen dioxide exceedances as soon as possible. Our Environment Bill was reintroduced to Parliament on 30 January 2020 and makes a clear commitment to set an ambitious target for fine particulate matter, the pollutant of most concern for human health. It also ensures that local authorities have a clear framework and simple to use powers to tackle air pollution in their areas, and will provide the Government with new powers to enforce environmental standards for vehicles. All this action will improve air quality across the UK, including in the most affected areas
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which towns and cities have the worst levels of air pollution in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An annual assessment of air pollution in the UK is published on the UK-AIR website at the following URL: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/index
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support improvements to air quality in the parts of the country with the worst levels of air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Air quality is a key policy area for this Government and a great deal of work is being done to tackle air pollution. Implementing the commitments set out in the Clean Air Strategy, which was published last year, will help to clean up our air faster and more effectively in towns and cities.
The upcoming Environment Bill, which will shortly be reintroduced to Parliament, will deliver some key commitments in the Strategy. This includes introducing a duty to set a legally binding target for fine particulate matter concentrations, the pollutant of most harm to health. The Bill will also ensure that local authorities have a clear framework for tackling air pollution, and are better able to tackle a key source of fine particulate matter emissions – domestic solid fuel burning. It will also provide the Government with new powers to enforce environmental standards for vehicles and machinery.
The Government’s Joint Air Quality Unit is also working with a number of local authorities to deliver compliance with legal limits for nitrogen dioxide in the shortest possible time. The unit provides these local authorities with guidance and support to develop local plans to identify and implement suitable measures to achieve this objective, supported by £572 million dedicated funding. In some instances local authorities will be implementing charging clean air zones to deliver these reductions, and the Government is working closely with these authorities to ensure the necessary IT systems are in place and ready to use.
Further, Defra’s Air Quality Grant Programme provides funding to local authorities, funding projects in local communities to tackle air pollution and reduce emissions affecting schools, businesses and residents. Defra has awarded over £60 million in funding to local authorities since the grant started in 1997.
These measures will improve air quality across the country, including in inner-city areas.