Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the draft bill to increase animal cruelty sentences ahead of the planned consultation.
Answered by George Eustice
We hope to publish draft legislation for consultation around the turn of the year, as announced on 30 September.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in how many years since 2010 (a) Greater London and (b) the UK has been in breach of EU air pollution levels.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra assesses compliance against EU air quality limit values for 43 regional zones and agglomerations across the UK. This monitoring covers five key pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
Monitoring data is available up to 2015. Full compliance details for the UK since 2010 (and as far back as 2003) are available in our online Air Pollution reports. These can be found at: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/.
Specific compliance details for Greater London, in each year since 2010 that data is available for, is set out in the table below:
Zone | Year NO2 hourly and annual limit values were exceeded | Year PM10 daily mean limit value exceeded | Year PM2.5 annual stage 2 (2020) limit value exceeded | SO2, PM10 annual mean, PM2.5 annual stage 1 (2015) and O3 limit values |
Greater London | 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 | 2010 | 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 | No exceedances |
UK | 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 | 2010 | 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 | No exceedances |
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on maintaining the standards set out in EU food standards directives after the UK has left the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
No decisions have yet been taken about the UK’s future relationship with the EU including on matters relating to existing EU law. We will ensure that food standards are maintained in the UK to provide continued high standards for consumers and stability for business.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 review the tariffs imposed on cane sugar imports in the course of negotiations on exiting the EU; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by George Eustice
We are preparing for negotiations to exit the EU. As part of these preparations, we will consider future trading relationships with both the EU and internationally. Tariffs on agricultural commodities, such as the level of sugar tariffs, will be one element of this work.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 effectiveness of measures to stimulate demand for recycled material; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Incentivising recycled content in new products has environmental benefits, and consumers generally have a positive image of products with recycled content.
Working through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), 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. Developing and securing sustainable end markets for recycled materials is key to ensuring the UK meets its statutory recycling targets and supports growth of the waste reprocessing sector. For example, recycled bottle plastic now has a number of end markets, including “back to bottles” and plastic packaging such as trays, as well as its more traditional end market of fibre.
We have significant ongoing work in the area, including the delivery of the Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan. This includes projects on design for recyclability and development of suitable end markets for plastic recyclate; and the coordinated development and delivery of a Food Waste Recycling Action Plan by industry and Local Authorities to disseminate and promote current research and best practice to increase the supply and quality of household and commercial food waste to the food waste recycling industry.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 implications for her policies of the European Commission's Circular Economy Action Plan proposals, published in December 2015; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The European Commission's Circular Economy Action Plan sets out a large number of proposed measures to be delivered between 2015 and 2019 and we are currently considering those in more detail. An Explanatory Memorandum on the Action Plan has been submitted and can be found on the Cabinet Office’s website under European Memoranda:
That document provides further information on the Action Plan and outlines our current views on the policy implications of its proposals.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made in negotiations with the EU on addressing the level of duties imposed on cane sugar imported into Europe; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by George Eustice
During negotiations of the reforms the UK Government argued for a fair and balanced outcome for all parts of the sugar industry. Disappointingly, there was insufficient support from other Member States to secure the necessary changes on imports to allow the cane sector to compete on a level playing field with the beet sector. However, we remain committed to working with the European Commission to address this issue through forthcoming EU trade agreements and other measures as required.
As part of this strategy, Defra Ministers pressed the EU Agriculture Commissioner to prioritise sugar imports as part of the recent EU negotiations with South Africa. Those negotiations have now completed and include enhanced market access for sugar imports which we expect to be available when the trade deal is signed and ratified next year. The UK also supports duty free and quota free (DFQF) imports of sugar from Least Developed Countries (LDC) through the EU’s Everything But Arms scheme and from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries which have signed Economic Partnership Agreements. Continued access to DFQF sugar from Fiji was secured last year through application of their trade deal with the EU. The UK will continue to support ACP and LDC countries to maintain their preferences into the EU market until the sector is fully liberalised.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 prospects of the Government seeking a more advantageous arrangement for cane sugar refiners in its negotiations with the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
During negotiations of the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy last year, which led to the agreement to end sugar beet production quotas in 2017, the UK pushed for the full liberalisation of the sugar regime in order to allow the sugar cane refiners to compete with the beet producers on an equal footing.
Disappointingly, there was insufficient support from other Member States to secure the necessary changes as part of that exercise. However, we remain committed to working with the European Commission to address this issue through forthcoming EU trade agreements.