Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish their response to the consultation on remote electronic fishing vessels, which ran from 17 July to 9 October 2023.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will be publishing responses soon and they will be available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the size of the global market for recycled rigid plastics; and what steps his Department is taking to develop (a) recycling capabilities of local authorities and (b) the global market for recycled rigid plastics.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In December 2018, the UK Government published its Resources and Waste Strategy. This sets out how we will achieve a circular economy for plastic and achieve our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. Our goal is to maximise resource efficiency and minimise waste (including plastic) - by following the principles of the waste hierarchy: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – to keep plastic in circulation for longer. We will do this by making producers more responsible for the plastic they make with our incoming Collection and Packaging Reforms.
Simpler Recycling will make recycling clearer and more consistent across England. Local authorities will be required to collect the same materials from households in the following core groups: metal; glass; plastic: paper and card; food waste; garden waste by March 2026 (with plastic film collections being introduced by March 2027). This will reduce confusion with recycling to improve recycling rates, ensuring there is more recycled material in the products we buy, and the UK recycling industry will grow. As well as Simpler Recycling, we are introducing Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging and a Deposit Return Scheme.
To tackle the use of virgin plastics, the Government brought in the Plastic Packaging Tax in April 2022, a tax of over £200 per tonne on plastic packaging manufactured in, or imported into the UK, that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic. We have since increased the tax to £217.85 per tonne and will continue to monitor the situation and adjust accordingly.
There is a growing global demand for recycled plastics, including recycled rigid plastics. For example, IMARC estimates the size of the global plastic recycling market in 2023 to be $42bn and projects it to grow to $62bn by 2032.
With 35% plastic content, the Government earlier this year consulted on measures to reduce the 155,000 tonnes of small electricals that are thrown in the bin annually. The government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
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 water companies to help tackle leaks.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Reducing losses through leakage is an important part of maintaining secure supplies of water for customers now and in the future. Government is committed to reducing leakage and has set a statutory water demand target to reduce water demand per person by 20% by 2038. This includes reducing leakage by 37% by 2038, on a trajectory to a 50% reduction in leakage by 2050. Ofwat set out a £51 billion five-year investment package in the Price Review 2019, including requirements for water companies to cut leaks by 16% and reduce mains bursts by 12% between 2020-2025. Ofwat will hold water companies to account for delivering leakage reduction targets, with financial penalties if they fail to meet them.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 has produced guidance for operators of sewage processing plants on the use of Nereda reactors in areas of high population density.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The operation of sewage processing plants is a matter for water companies who must comply with any permit conditions that have been set. The use of Nereda reactors, a particular type of wastewater treatment process, must be in accordance with any relevant permit conditions.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why existing agri-environment schemes such as the Countryside Stewardship scheme are based on the claim deadline of 15 May 2023 while the Rural Payments Agency window runs up until 30 June 2024, resulting in wait times of up to 13 months for farmers and land managers to receive their payments; and whether they have any plans to change this in future.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Within the European Union, policies were set for seven years with limited opportunity to change, however, now that we have left the EU, we are rolling out our new environmental land management schemes and are adopting new approaches, including to our payment frequencies. We have already introduced more frequent payments in our new schemes, to make them work better for farm businesses. For example, SFI offers payments on a quarterly schedule, so that farmers start getting paid in the fourth month of their agreement, and every 3 months after that. Where possible, as we expand the offer, we will offer more frequent payments to more participants.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies prohibits fuel subsidies for fleets and vessels catching depleted fish stocks in UK waters.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies prohibits specific subsidies, including specific fuel subsidies, for fishing or fishing related activities regarding an overfished stock. The UK does not provide specific fuel subsidies to the UK fishing fleet.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
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 ensure customers of Southern Water are able to install water efficiency measures in their meter chambers.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Southern Water is developing its next Water Resources Management Plan and its draft plan included the proposed to update water meters with smart meters across its customers by 2030 through an extensive replacement programme. The company plans to undertake 10,000 household water audits per year. The company is due to reconsult on its plan this summer. It will not be granted permission to finalise its plan until Defra are satisfied that it is appropriate, including assurance that the water efficiency programme is robust, sufficiently ambitious and enables customers to be efficient with the water they use.
Most water efficiency interventions by water companies are directed to water use within properties. Southern Water have not specified measures beyond smart metering that directly involve the meter chamber. Water meters are normally water company property and measures in the meter chamber would not usually be undertaken by customers.
Southern Water reported through its 2022/23 annual review that it had undertaken smart water meter trials in 1500 homes. The average water use across Southern Water households was 128 litres per person per day in 2022/23, in line with its forecasts and below the latest national average of 141. The Environment Agency and Defra track whether water companies are effectively reducing water consumption across household and business customers each year and escalate concerns where applicable.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) discussions and (b) correspondence his Department has had with (i) Lead Local Flood Authorities and (ii) the Local Government Association as part of his response of 13 March 2024 to the National Infrastructure Council report Reducing the risk of surface water flooding.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In considering the National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC) study into surface water flooding, Defra officials met with the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport’s (ADEPT) Flood and Water Group. This group is predominately made up of lead local flood authorities and the Local Government Association. At the meeting there was a discussion about the NIC’s study and nine recommendations, and the different views on them. The ADEPT Flood and Water Group also wrote to Defra after the meeting. Defra took these views into account when producing the Government response and accepting or partially accepting all of the NIC’s recommendations.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his expected timetable is for publishing his Department's roadmap on household water efficiency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We published our ‘Roadmap on water efficiency in new developments and retrofits’ in the Environmental Improvement Plan in 2023. This sets out 10 actions to achieve our statutory target to reduce water demand by 20% by 2038. Within this we committed to implementing a Mandatory Water Efficiency label by 2025, to enable consumers to identify water efficient products. In October 2023, the Government publicly committed to a spring consultation to fulfil the roadmap action to Review the Building Regulations 2010, and the water efficiency, water recycling and drainage standards (regulation 36 and Part G2, H1, H2, H3 of Schedule 1), considering industry competence and skills.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threat to food security and farm productivity of the ongoing flooding on farmland across large parts of the country, and steps they intend to take to secure a steady supply of affordable vegetables and meat from UK sources.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK agricultural sector is highly resilient and adaptable and operates in an open market with the value of commodities established by those in the supply chain.
The recent prolonged period of wet weather has impacted the UK arable and livestock sectors in several ways. These include late/limited planting opportunities for arable and horticulture crops; delayed turn out of grazing animals and the associated risk of diseases in keeping animals housed indoors for longer periods than usual, concerns about the potential scarcity and cost of straw; a build-up of stored slurry and reduced application opportunities; and wider concerns about the impact on mental health of farmers. Yields and productivity will also vary depending on individual farmer decisions, region, area and in the case of the arable sector, crop and soil type amongst other factors.
A number of individual farms have clearly been affected by the wet weather. While the current market assessment is that there may be implications over the coming months for certain commodities, particularly in the expected yield and quality of several arable crops this summer/autumn, it is still too early to predict the full impact on domestic food production, especially if the weather improves in the coming weeks.
We continue to monitor the on-going situation, working closely with the industry and through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG). The UK AMMG held an interim meeting on 16 April to specifically consider the impacts of the weather on each commodity sector.
The Farming Recovery Fund has been opened to provide farmers support to recover from uninsurable damage with grants of between £500 and £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was before exceptional flooding of Storm Henk. The fund was initially opened in nine English local authority areas where the Flood Recovery Framework has been activated to help farms which have experienced the highest levels of flooding. Eligibility for the Fund is actively under review.
This forms part of a package of support available to farmers through the Flood Recovery Framework, including a grant of up to £2,500 through the Business Recovery Grant Scheme.
The UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) sets out an analysis of statistical data relating to food security, fulfilling the duty in the Agriculture Act 2020 to present a report on food security to Parliament at least once every three years. It examines trends relevant to food security to present the best available understanding. The report was last published in December 2021 and will next be published by December 2024.
Starting this year, we are strengthening our food security monitoring by producing the Annual Food Security Index. This will complement the UKFSR with a shorter and more regular report. The first version will be published at the Farm to Fork Summit in the Spring.
The next UKFSR, which will be published later this year, will include analysis on the risk of flooding to food security as part of its assessment of longer-term climate-related trends.