Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Category A trees with Heritage Tree status there are throughout the UK.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
‘Category A Heritage Tree’ is an industry standard for undertaking arboricultural assessments, as set out in British Standard (BS) 5837 of 2012 on ‘Trees in relation to design, demolition and construction’ policy.
As this is an industry standard rather than an official Government one, central Government does not keep records of how many such trees there are.
The Government is currently consulting on a ‘Duty to Report’ on tree planting and felling for local government. The consultation closes on 28 February.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government is making on its strategy to tackle the spread of Japanese knotweed.
Answered by George Eustice
The government recognises the threats posed by invasive non-native species including Japanese knotweed and has a comprehensive Great Britain Non-native Species Strategy designed to tackle these threats, the first of its kind in Europe.
Defra continues to fund a biocontrol programme through the release of a psyllid insect to tackle Japanese knotweed. If successful, the psyllid will reduce the invasive capacity of Japanese knotweed as well as the effort and cost of managing it.
Local Action Groups, with support from government, are actively involved in reducing and eradicating Japanese knotweed. A new EU co-funded project, totalling €1.1 million, will develop a regional approach to tackling invasive non-native species, supporting Local Action Groups in a co-ordinated approach.
Natural England and the Environment Agency also undertake action nationally to remove Japanese knotweed where it is affecting protected sites, water quality or adds to the risk of flooding.
Japanese knotweed is listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to allow the plant to escape or cause it to grow in the wild. Whilst landowners are under no statutory obligation to remove Japanese knotweed from their property, where they are acting unreasonably and allowing Japanese knotweed to cause a nuisance to the local community, local authorities and the police can now issue a Community Protection Notice against them to ensure that appropriate action is taken.
The government has developed guidance on how to prevent the spread of Japanese knotweed, which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prevent-japanese-knotweed-from-spreading
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to encourage the sale of food closer to its source of production.
Answered by George Eustice
In October 2017, the Government launched a new web market that food producers can use to promote their products to public sector bodies to increase public procurement of nutritious local food. We have also set out our intention to publish a consultation paper on the future of domestic agriculture policy later this spring.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 he has had with his counterparts in the Governments of UK Overseas Territories on creating fully enforced Marine Protected Areas in their waters.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is the lead department for discussions with the UK Overseas Territories on these issues.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2017 to Question 107602, on packaging, how many local authorities provide roadside collection of plastic wrap; how many tonnes of plastic wrap has been recycled in each of the last five years; and what proportion of plastic wrap used in the UK was recycled in each year since 2010.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Seventy nine local authorities in the UK provide kerbside collection of mixed plastic film; 70 of these are in England.
Information is not held on the proportion of plastic film recycled. From information reported to Defra on local authority collected waste in England in 2015/16, a total of around 7,100 tonnes of low density polyethylene (LDPE) was recycled. LDPE includes plastic film as well as carrier bags and bin liners. We are not able to readily extract the totals for previous years.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 support apple growers as part of any post-Common Agricultural Policy arrangements after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
Leaving the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) will give us the opportunity to design a new system of agricultural support. Over the next few months the Secretary of State will continue to visit the British countryside and working farms to hear industry and the public’s views first hand to continue to inform post-CAP arrangements. This Government has pledged to continue to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support for the duration of this Parliament, providing certainty to farmers.
The Government currently supports horticulture though the LEADER scheme within the Rural Development Programme for England. It expects shortly to open an additional new funding offer for farmers and horticulturalists to invest in a range of innovative equipment to help improve their productivity. This funding will be open to apple growers and could support production for both the domestic and export markets. Also, Defra funds the National Fruit Collection which includes about 3,000 apple varieties. Material from the collection is available to propagators and growers, providing an opportunity to produce heritage varieties for specialist markets and a genetic resource for breeding new varieties. The government also offers financial support to EMR, which runs a breeding programme.
The Government recognises that in order to stimulate innovative practices and increase productivity of sectors like top fruit, a strong research base is needed. Research can develop new innovative practices such as the 2013 agri-tech project looking into extending the availability and flavour-life of UK apples using innovative photonics. As part of the agri-tech strategy, £160 million has been committed to be co-invested with industry to address challenges in the agri-tech sector.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) Royal Gala and (b) other types of apples were exported to non-EU countries in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Eustice
HMRC trade data is unable to identify Royal Gala apples by name. The following table shows the volume of apples exported from the UK to EU member states, at the greatest level of detail available, in the last 5 years for which full data is available:
tonnes | |||||
Apple type | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Cider | 123 | 27 | 1,658 | 1,328 | 1,456 |
Other | 20,608 | 21,113 | 15,886 | 19,745 | 16,277 |
Total | 20,731 | 21,140 | 17,544 | 21,074 | 17,733 |
Table Source: HMRC
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) Royal Gala and (b) other types of apples were imported to the UK from EU member states in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Eustice
HMRC trade data is unable to identify Royal Gala apples by name. The following table shows the volume of apples exported from the UK to EU member states, at the greatest level of detail available, in the last 5 years for which full data is available:
tonnes | |||||
Apple type | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Cider | 123 | 27 | 1,658 | 1,328 | 1,456 |
Other | 20,608 | 21,113 | 15,886 | 19,745 | 16,277 |
Total | 20,731 | 21,140 | 17,544 | 21,074 | 17,733 |
Table Source: HMRC
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 has taken to encourage farmers to increase the production of apples for (a) home markets, (b) export to the EU and (c) export to non-EU countries.
Answered by George Eustice
HMRC trade data is unable to identify Royal Gala apples by name. The following table shows the volume of apples exported from the UK to EU member states, at the greatest level of detail available, in the last 5 years for which full data is available:
tonnes | |||||
Apple type | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Cider | 123 | 27 | 1,658 | 1,328 | 1,456 |
Other | 20,608 | 21,113 | 15,886 | 19,745 | 16,277 |
Total | 20,731 | 21,140 | 17,544 | 21,074 | 17,733 |
Table Source: HMRC
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) Royal Gala and (b) other types of apples that were imported to the UK from non-EU countries in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Eustice
HMRC trade data is unable to identify Royal Gala apples by name. The following table shows the volume of apples exported from the UK to EU member states, at the greatest level of detail available, in the last 5 years for which full data is available:
tonnes | |||||
Apple type | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Cider | 123 | 27 | 1,658 | 1,328 | 1,456 |
Other | 20,608 | 21,113 | 15,886 | 19,745 | 16,277 |
Total | 20,731 | 21,140 | 17,544 | 21,074 | 17,733 |
Table Source: HMRC