Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of climate change on flooding in the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s long-term flood and coastal erosion risk management Policy Statement, published in 2020, sets out our ambition to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk.
The Policy Statement recognises that climate change will lead to sea level rise and more extreme rainfall, with an increase in the number of people at risk from flooding and coastal erosion.
It includes five ambitious policies and a number of actions which will accelerate progress to better protect and better prepare the country against these risks.
For example, the government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment over 6 years in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England.
The government published the National Adaptation Programme 3 (NAP3) in July 2023. The NAP sets the actions that government and others will take to adapt to the impacts of climate change in the UK between 2023 to 2028. This forms part of the 5-yearly cycle of requirements laid down in the Climate Change Act 2008.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made recent representations to his Ugandan counterpart on the (a) detention and (b) treatment of climate protesters in that country.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Through our High Commission in Kampala, we have previously raised concerns around detentions of climate protesters in Uganda; both I and the High Commission regularly engage with the Ugandan government on human rights, both bilaterally and with likeminded countries.
The UK continues to work with Ugandans to advocate for democratic freedoms and respect for human rights. We are also committed to working with partners in Uganda to address the effects of climate change.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2024 to Question 19719 on INEOS: Belgium, whether her Department made an assessment of the potential impact of that guarantee on existing and competitor refineries in the UK.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK Export Finance conducted its customary due diligence in line with its policies and obligations to inform its decision-making about supporting Project One. This included consideration of environmental, social and climate change risks and impacts, but did not include an assessment of the type specified in the question.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
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 Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on forests and land use. what steps he has taken to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At COP26 in Glasgow, over 140 world leaders committed to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. This commitment was reiterated at COP28, marked by the conclusion of the first Global Stocktake of the world’s efforts to address climate change under the Paris Agreement. The UK Government committed to tackling illegal deforestation in UK supply chains through the Environment Act in 2021 and announced further details of the secondary legislation at COP28 in December 2023.
This law will make it illegal for organisations with a global annual turnover of more than £50m to use key forest risk commodities produced on land illegally occupied or used. Initial secondary legislation will focus on four commodities identified as key drivers of deforestation: cattle products (excluding dairy), cocoa, palm oil and soy. Organisations in scope will also be required to undertake a due diligence exercise on their supply chains and to report on this exercise annually. Organisations using 500 tonnes or less of each regulated commodity in the reporting period will be able to submit an exemption. Businesses in scope that do not comply with these requirements may be subject to fines and other civil sanctions.
The secondary legislation, which is part of a wider package of measures, will be laid in the near future.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
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 that smallholder cocoa farmers will not be faced with additional costs when the deforestation requirements of the Environment Bill 2021 come into force.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK recognises the importance of promoting sustainable trade and development alongside action to prevent deforestation. We will continue working with producer countries to ensure that their views inform the Government’s delivery of the forthcoming Forest Risk Commodities scheme, including in respect of smallholder farmers of cocoa and other commodities. The UK will also provide support to help countries to adapt to the new requirements, and benefit from the opportunities which this presents to increase trade in legally-produced commodities. This includes funding a new ten-year £500m phase of the UK’s Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use programme, which work with the private sector to mobilise investment into legal and sustainable commodity production; and provide support to smallholder farmers and poor rural communities who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The UK is committed to scaling up this work in future.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (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 impact of flooded and saturated farmland on farming and food production, following recent data from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, which show that soil moisture levels at most of the sites it monitors were at high or above capacity in December 2023 and January 2024.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the impact flooded and saturated farmland has on farming and food production and sympathises with those affected.
On 6 January, we announced we would set up the Farming Recovery Fund to support farmers affected by exceptional flooding. The focus of the Fund is in those local authority areas where the Flood Recovery Framework has been activated. Farmers who have been impacted by flooding in these areas will be written to by the Rural Payments Agency inviting them to apply for a grant of up to £25,000 to support them in restoring agricultural land to the conditions it was in before the flooding.
The Government has recently announced £75 million funding for Internal Drainage Boards to protect agricultural land and rural communities from flooding, helping areas recover from recent flooding events and modernising infrastructure to lower costs for farmers and increase their resilience to climate change.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 (a) support and (b) promote sustainable and regenerative wheat farming practices.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We understand the increasing importance of farmers having access to crop varieties that are resistant to climate change and variable weather conditions, to maintain crop quality and yields.
The recent Precision Breeding Act is a major step in unlocking growth and innovation in technologies like gene editing and supports Defra’s efforts to reinforce food security in the face of climate change. Through the Act we want to encourage researchers and commercial breeders to be at the forefront of capturing the potential benefits of precision breeding for British farmers and consumers. For instance, research into wheat that is resilient to climate change is currently underway at the John Innes Centre. Gene editing techniques have been used to identify a key gene in wheat that can be used to introduce traits such as heat resilience whilst maintaining high yield. This could help to increase food production from a crop that 2.5 billion people are dependent on globally.
Our Genetic Improvement Networks also provide a platform for knowledge exchange for breeders, producers, end users and the research base, and a means for the delivery of scientific knowledge, resources and results to add value to UK crops.
The £270 million Farming Innovation Programme supports industry-led research and development in agriculture and horticulture. All projects support productivity and environmental outcomes that will benefit farmers and growers in England. In our latest ‘climate smart’ farming themed competition, we awarded over £11 million to projects investigating novel approaches to growing and managing crops. Previous competitions have also supported crop-related research.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of political instability in Vietnam.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We closely monitor political developments in Vietnam, including the recent resignation of President Vo Van Thuong. The UK continues to work with Vietnam and other partners across the Indo-Pacific on long-term strategic priorities such as energy transition and adaptation to climate change, maritime security in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, illegal immigration, deepening trade, technology and investment co-operation, and on education and research partnerships.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of risk of damage to public highways from subsidence caused by global warming; what is the current budget for repairs following subsidence; and what grants are available to private landowners for such repairs.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Chapter 4 of the Third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Technical Report assesses the climate-related risks and opportunities to infrastructure in the UK. Part 4.8 of that document considers the risks to subterranean and surface infrastructure from subsidence.
National Highways is responsible for the operation, maintenance, renewal and enhancement of the Strategic Road Network, funded by the Government in 5-year roads periods with objectives set out in Road Investment Strategies. The second Road Investment Strategy (2020-2025) includes action to enhance all-weather resilience of the strategic road network, to minimise the risk of incidents and their impact for road users. National Highways also reports under the adaptation reporting power of the Climate Change Act 2008 on what it is doing to check climate resilience against the latest Met Office Climate Projections and undertake actions to improve resilience across its network. The next round of adaptation reporting closes at the end of 2024.
In respect of local roads, the Department is providing over £5.5 billion of highways maintenance funding between 2020/21 – 2024/25 for eligible highway authorities outside London and those receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS). This funding is not ring-fenced, and authorities may choose to use it to maintain their network, including repairs to the highway following subsidence and actions to make networks more resilient to changing weather patterns. The Government has also announced that it will provide an additional £8.3 billion of reallocated HS2 funds over this year and the next decade to help authorities to transform their highway networks.
The Department for Transport does not provide grants to private landowners for repairing subsidence damage.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase potential opportunities for planting in National Planning Policy Framework street design.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that trees have an important role to play in the design of new development, not only to improve the character and quality of our urban environment but also to help address the challenges of climate change. The Framework therefore encourages that tree planting is incorporated in new developments, including as part of street design, and that their long-term maintenance is secured.