Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with Birmingham City Council on levels of tree planting in Birmingham.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has had no recent discussions with Birmingham City Council on tree planting rates in Birmingham. Local authorities can take advantage of grant schemes to help increase levels of tree planting in their areas, including:
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 plans to increase the number of Highly Protected Marine Areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The first three Highly Protected Marine Areas in English waters were designated in summer 2023 and we are currently working to put in place management measures.
Defra continues to explore additional sites for potential consideration. Any future sites would be subject to Ministerial agreement and public consultation.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 considered alternative measures to the ban on the XL Bully breed of dog.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We considered the ban on XL Bully type dogs carefully and we firmly believe that it is necessary to reduce the risks to the public by this type. This is why we have taken urgent action to ban XL Bully type dogs by the end of the year.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research his Department has undertaken on the causes of trends in the instances of flooding in cities.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra and the Environment Agency use research to help policy makers and practitioners develop options to better manage flood and coastal erosion risk management.
The Joint Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development Programme undertakes research on flooding. The Programme is overseen by the Environment Agency, Defra, Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Government on behalf of all risk management authorities in England and Wales. The Joint Programme has funded new projections for sea level rise to the year 2300 - which are critical for our long-term planning, including in coastal cities. It has also funded new projections of how climate change will affect river flooding, and in 2020 we published a synthesis of current knowledge on sources of river and coastal flooding in the UK. More information can be found on Gov.uk.
Defra has previously commissioned research to review the causes of flooding events that Lead Local Flood Authorities have assessed under Section 19 of the Floods and Water Management Act 2010. This research provided an understanding of the principal factors contributing to flooding from surface water in England and Wales since 2010.
Finally, the Environment Agency is developing a new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA2) to provide a wide range of more accurate data, covering risk from rivers, the sea and surface water. The new Assessment will be published in 2024 and will provide a refreshed evidence base to better inform our management of risk.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 take steps to help support farmers to redistribute their surplus food to food charities.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports a thriving, productive and efficient farming sector that prevents waste occurring in the first place. For instance, we are supporting investment in productivity-boosting equipment, technology and infrastructure through the Farming Investment Fund. This provides grants to farmers, foresters, and growers (including contractors to these sectors) that will help their businesses to prosper, while improving their productivity and enhancing the environment. At the recent Farm to Fork Summit we announced new reviews into fairness in the horticulture and egg supply chain building on what we have already got underway to improve transparency and contracts in the pork and dairy markets. We launched the review into the egg supply chain on 31 October 2023, and will launch a public consultation on horticulture in the coming weeks.
We acknowledge that more can be done to reduce food waste in the primary production stage. The ‘fair dealings’ powers contained in the Agriculture Act 2020 can be used to prevent these kinds of unfair trading practices where they occur, as we are aware that unreasonably late cancellations or specification changes can sometimes lead to produce being unharvested.
The Government works closely with businesses through our delivery partner the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to overcome any barriers to redistribution. This includes the development of guidance and best practice through a sector wide working group, and support for the Target Measure Act (TMA) approach to understanding and acting on food waste in supply chains, including the redistribution of any surplus should it arise and is supported by the National Farmers Union (NF8). Where the NFU stands on food waste – NFUonline.
Since 2018, Defra funding of nearly £13m has supported both large and small redistribution organisations across the country to increase their capability and capacity.
The total amount of food redistributed in the UK in 2022 was over 170,000 tonnes and a value of around £590 million, an increase of 133% since 2019.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 bring forward the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are determined to deliver our manifesto commitment on live exports. We will bring forward the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill in due course.