Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department’s targets are for levels of household waste recycling after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government is committed to publishing a new Resources and Waste Strategy in 2018 aimed at making the UK a world leader in resource efficiency. It will ensure resources are used more efficiently and kept in use for longer, and set out how we will work towards eliminating all avoidable waste by 2050. This is consistent with the EU’s Circular Economy Package and in some respects goes beyond it.
As we develop the Resource and Waste Strategy we will explore whether new, more innovative targets can be developed that deliver clear benefits over those proposed by the EU. Should they be preferable, the UK Government will present proposals to the UK Parliament following withdrawal from the EU. Until that point the UK will continue to meet its obligations under law, including any new EU targets should they be implemented as part of a transitional agreement when we leave the EU.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many schools are in areas that to not meet the legal limits for air quality.
Answered by David Rutley
This department does not hold this information. Local authorities are key to achieving improvements in air quality and we have issued ministerial directions to 61 local authorities with persistent NO2 exceedances. In addition local authorities have statutory duties to review and assess local air quality, declare Air Quality Management Areas and put in place action plans to improve air quality locally.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 his Cabinet colleagues on improving air quality around schools.
Answered by David Rutley
Defra ministers and officials engage closely with other relevant departments on the issue of air quality across the UK including around schools.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many schools are in areas that to not meet the legal limits for air quality.
Answered by David Rutley
This department does not hold this information. Local authorities are key to achieving improvements in air quality and we have issued ministerial directions to 61 local authorities with persistent NO2 exceedances. In addition local authorities have statutory duties to review and assess local air quality, declare Air Quality Management Areas and put in place action plans to improve air quality locally.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 his Cabinet colleagues on improving air quality around schools.
Answered by David Rutley
Defra ministers and officials engage closely with other relevant departments on the issue of air quality across the UK including around schools.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 support small vineyards in the UK.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra does not distinguish between small or large vineyards, but has been working hard to support the growth and development of our flourishing domestic wine production sector as a whole.
Under the current Rural Development Programme we have provided £2.736m in direct support for vineyard projects against total project costs amounting to £7.086m. This funding has been used to support various initiatives including infrastructure projects such as helping build or develop wineries or tourist facilities, to purchase winery equipment, and even the development of a smartphone app that will amongst other features, show users where their nearest vineyard is located.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to open new bridalways in (a) Colne Valley constituency, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England.
Answered by David Rutley
Public rights of way are a local matter and are handled by individual local highway authorities.
Local authorities are required to keep a Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) to plan improvements to their network, which is usually available on the authority’s website. The expectation is for local authorities, whenever possible, to look at the needs of all users, including walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to eliminate the use of single-use plastic cutlery.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
In our 25 Year Environment Plan the Government outlined a range of measures on how we will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation through reducing demand for single-use plastic. This included a commitment to removing all consumer single-use plastics from the central Government estate offices.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 volume of recyclable waste that has been incinerated in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
It is not possible to estimate the proportion of waste used in incineration plants that is recyclable because large tonnages of incinerated waste are reported as “mixed” waste categories, for which we do not have estimates of recyclable content. Additionally, there are no established definitions for waste that would be deemed to be “recyclable” based on the European Waste Catalogue waste code classifications that underpin waste reporting.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many individual properties have taken out Flood Re Insurance in the Colne Valley constituency in the last two years.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Flood Re scheme began in April 2016 and has now been running for just under two years. As of 30 September 2017 there were 199 policies taken up with Flood Re in the Colne Valley. The annual year-end figures will be available after 30 March 2018.