Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
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 improve flood defences in (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
a) In the Bournemouth East constituency, around £22m of Defra Flood Defence Grant in Aid (FDGiA) is planned to be invested between 2021 and 2027 to better protect around 3,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion.
Work is already underway in the Bournemouth Beach Management Programme to reduce the risk of coastal erosion, and to develop Flood Risk Management strategies for the Lower Stour and Christchurch Bay. These strategies will inform future investment needed to both reduce flood risk and adapt to climate change.
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council are developing surface water management plans that will identify high risk locations and measures necessary to reduce the risk of surface water flooding.
b) The Flood and Coastal Risk Management capital programme 2021-27 has planned FDGiA capital investment of around £700m* for the South West region. This investment is forecast to better protect around 21,300 properties from flooding and coastal erosion.
*Please note that allocations are reviewed each year and are subject to change, and numbers for properties better protected are forecasts which are also subject to change. Totals may not include projects that are cross-boundary across multiple regions.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with local authorities on steps to improve air quality.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials have regular discussions with local authorities, including on local air quality management and supporting local action. The Joint Air Quality Unit works closely with local authorities in the NO2 Programme to develop and deliver Clean Air Plans to deliver compliance with legal NO2 limits in the shortest possible time.
The revised Air Quality Strategy published on 28 April 2023, provides a framework for local authorities to make best use of their powers in improving air quality for their communities. Building on the Strategy, in September of this year we held a national event for local authorities across England to promote the powers available to local authorities to improve air quality, raise the profile of air quality within local authorities and strengthen understanding of the impacts of air pollution.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to fulfil the Government's manifesto pledge to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered species.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
HM Government has pledged to ban the imports of hunting trophies from thousands of species. We are committed to a ban that is among the strongest in the world and leads the way in protecting endangered animals. We are supporting the Private Member’s Bill led by the hon. Member for Crawley that will deliver this.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce sewage discharges in Bournemouth East constituency.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No Government has done more to tackle the issue of storm overflow discharges. Last year this Government launched The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan. This will require water companies to deliver their largest infrastructure programme in water company history – a £56 billion capital investment over 25 years.
We are taking action now. Between 2020 and 2025 water companies are investing £3.1 billion in storm overflow improvements. Wessex water are investing in a series of programme (2020-2025) for the Bournemouth East constituency. This includes installations of monitoring at 37 intermittent discharges, investment at sewage treatment works to reduce chemical contamination, alongside schemes to increase storm storage at Sewage Treatment Works and increase the amount of treated flow. There are also investigations to improve quality of surface water overflows and spill reduction schemes – one of which protects bathing waters specifically.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) reduce incineration and (b) promote recycling.
Answered by Steve Double
Through both our Resources & Waste Strategy and landmark Environment Act, we will transform our waste system.
We recently consulted on a statutory target, required under the Environment Act 2021, to cut residual waste (excluding major mineral waste) per person by 50% by 2042. It is proposed that this will be measured as a reduction from 2019 levels, estimated to be approximately 560 kg per capita. To meet this target we will drive down the amount of waste we produce, that sent for disposal and recovery (including incineration), and encourage re-use and recycling
To promote recycling, we are introducing consistent recycling collections across England, creating a deposit return scheme for drinks containers and introducing extended producer responsibility for packaging to ensure that packaging producers cover the cost of recycling and disposing of their packaging.
These reforms will reduce confusion around recycling, provide higher quality recyclate for reprocessors, increase recycling rates and reduce unnecessary and difficult-to-recycle packaging. Through these measures, our ambition is to reach a municipal waste recycling rate of 65% by 2035.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
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 (a) reduce littering offences and (b) protect coastal areas from litter.
Answered by Steve Double
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 25 July 2022 to PQ 38548.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
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 protect coastal areas from litter.
Answered by Steve Double
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 25 July 2022 to PQ 38548.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
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 help protect wildlife and nature reserves from littering in the context of summer tourism.
Answered by Steve Double
Defra published the Litter Strategy for England in April 2017, setting out our aim to deliver a substantial reduction in litter and littering within a generation. The Litter Strategy brings together communities, businesses, charities and schools to bring about real change by focusing on three key themes: education and awareness; improving enforcement; and better cleaning and access to bins.
In response to COVID-19, Defra developed a 'Respect the Outdoors' campaign to encourage people to follow the Countryside Code and to highlight the impacts of littering. We also supported, and provided funding for, Keep Britain Tidy's Love Parks campaign, which encouraged people to treat our parks with respect.
We have also consulted on introducing a deposit return scheme. Our current impact assessment assumes that the scheme can reduce drinks containers being littered by an estimated 85%.
Furthermore, the Chewing Gum Task Force, established by Defra, has recently launched a grant scheme to help local authorities clean gum off pavements in their local areas and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent gum being dropped in the first place. It is the first project of a five-year programme that will see chewing gum producers invest up to £10m to tackle gum staining.
Natural England supports the Countryside Code campaign through a range of communications channels including social media and engaging with commercial partners who help to promote the Code. In addition, Natural England also supports these efforts across its National Nature Reserves through on-site wardens and volunteers who engage with visitors as well as holding community litter pick days.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to mitigate against increases in food prices.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government monitors food prices using the ONS’s inflation figures (Consumer Prices Index including Housing Costs).
Defra is taking action to maintain an efficient food supply chain by mitigating against any potential burdens or friction which could otherwise drive-up consumer food prices. For example, we have introduced labelling flexibility to reduce additional cost burdens resulting from the availability of sunflower oil. Food prices themselves are set by business and it is not for the UK Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies.
The broader affordability of food, and individuals’ access to food, is a key element of the Government’s approach to tackling poverty as we manage the impact of cost-of-living pressures. Defra is holding regular discussions with industry to explore ways in which industry can support low-income households by ensuring affordable food remains available, for example by maintaining value ranges, price matching, price freezing measures and use of loyalty card offers.
The Government recently announced a new £15 billion support package to help families with the cost of living, bringing total support for households this year to £37 billion.
Agricultural commodities are closely linked to global gas prices. Farmers are facing increased input costs for fertiliser, livestock feed, fuel and energy. We have taken steps to assist farmers with the availability of fertiliser ahead of the coming growing season and we have also brought forward 50% of the BPS payment to July to help ease cash flow pressures.