Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of Statutory Instruments (a) laid and (b) proposed by his Department in relation to the UK leaving the EU will be debated before 10 September 2019.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with representatives of businesses involved in the (a) production, (b) distribution, (c) marketing, (d) purchase and (e) use of seed potatoes on the implications of Statutory Instruments laid by his Department in preparation for the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by George Eustice
We have communicated on a range of topics with local authorities, including in a conference call on 13 August along with other Government departments. Each local Authority has established a Brexit lead officer to liaise with Government.
Defra has identified areas where our exit preparations impact local authorities. For instance Environmental Health Officers are responsible for issuing Export Health Certificates on fish and we have discussed capacity and the requirements with them.
We regularly contribute to a cross-government working group which coordinates engagement with local authorities.
Information on leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement relevant to a particular local authority can then be accessed by the local authority via shared channels, such as:
Information on a range of Defra’s exit projects if we leave the EU without a withdrawal agreement has been made available to local authorities through these channels. This includes information on:
Local authorities have been invited to attend various meetings, including workshops, training events and roadshows on topics including:
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Sea Fish Licensing (England) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 S.I., 253, what assessment he has made of the preparedness of the appropriate authorities in England to operate licensing procedures for foreign fishing vessels in the event that the UK leaves the EU on 31 October 2019.
Answered by George Eustice
When the UK leaves the EU, access for foreign vessels to fish in UK waters will be a matter for negotiation. Foreign fishing vessels will be prohibited from fishing in UK waters unless they have a licence issued by the UK. In the event of an agreement providing for access to UK waters for foreign vessels, the Marine Management Organisation will act as the UK’s Single Issuing Authority and will licence non-UK vessels to fish in UK waters on behalf of Devolved Fisheries Administrations
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Breeding (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 S.I., No. 117, what assessment he has made of the preparedness of the appropriate authorities defined in that instrument in each constituent part of the UK of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement on 31 October 2019.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra has been working closely with the Devolved Administrations to ensure preparedness in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal. The existing EU regime will continue to apply in the UK, with the Animal Breeding (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations rolling over current EU legislation into UK law. As part of our no deal planning, Defra has applied to the EU Commission for third country listing of our UK animal breeding organisations so that they can continue to participate in zootechnical trade with EU breeding organisations.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce the effect of house building on (a) air and (b) soil pollution.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is responsible for the Government’s planning policies for England and how these should be applied. Defra works with MHCLG to ensure policies relating to air quality management are embedded in their National Planning Policy Framework. We are exploring options to address emissions from construction materials as announced in the Clean Air Strategy.
Defra’s Construction Code of Practice for the Sustainable Use of Soil on Construction Sites is a practical guide to assist anyone involved in the construction industry to protect the soil resources with which they work. The Environment Agency have published a guide Land contamination: risk management that can be used in the in the planning regime to ensure existing land contamination is dealt with appropriately during the development process.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
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 ban disposable barbecues.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
We have not made an assessment of the impact of disposable barbecues on the environment, nor do we have plans to ban them.
The Government is working to raise awareness of the impacts of domestic burning and has produced guidance which also asks people to be considerate towards others when using barbecues. The guidance can be found here: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat09/1901291307_Ready_to_Burn_Web.pdf.