Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
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 implications for his policies of the recent extreme weather; and whether his Department is taking steps to provide advice to the horticulture industry on urban (a) greening and (b) cooling.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We have extensive plans in place and underway to adapt to and mitigate the risks of a warming climate. This includes our work being delivered through our landmark Environment Act to protect and increase biodiversity, protect and restore our peatlands, wetlands and natural environment, and improve air quality. We are working closely with responsible departments to ensure they are addressing the risks posed by extreme weather and will respond to the Climate Change Committee's assessment of climate risks in our next National Adaptation Programme, due to be published in 2023.
We have engaged with a number of initiatives to better understand and respond to the effects of climate change on food production. We provide advice to farmers via the Farming Advisory Service, which includes advice for water abstraction and consumption in the drier extremes of the year which are likely to become more common.
Our climate risk assessments and adaptation policies are underpinned by research from the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services. This includes efforts to better align our crop breeding work with pressures identified in climate projections.
Whilst no specific assessment of Government policy or its implication for the horticulture industry has been made at this time, we are aware that the recent extreme weather has had an impact on the industry, effecting yield, growth and quality of crops, and that this continues to be of concern to growers in many parts of the country. We are fortunate in this country to have a highly resilient food supply chain and are able to meet much of our domestic needs supplementing this supply with imports from overseas to meet consumer demand. Any disruption from risks such as adverse weather is unlikely to affect the overall security of the UK’s supply chain. We will continue to keep the situation and any impact on the domestic sector under close review and have increased engagement with the industry to supplement HM Government analysis with real-time intelligence.
We recognise the contribution urban greening can make to climate adaptation. New guidance is being developed by Natural England as part of the Green Infrastructure Framework on how to deliver cooling and other benefits.
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 his Department has taken to (a) protect and (b) increase the UK’s natural biodiversity.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
In the United Kingdom domestic biodiversity policy is devolved. The four nations work together to develop a collective response to United Kingdom wide goals and targets, such as the post-2020 global framework expected to be agreed at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Fifteenth Conference of the Parties, COP15 in Montreal in December.
We have taken unprecedented steps to protect and restore biodiversity in England, not least through our world leading Environment Act, which requires a new, legally binding target to be set in England to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030, and introduces Biodiversity Net Gain, Local Nature Recovery Strategies and a strengthened biodiversity duty on public authorities to work together to protect our native species.
We have also committed to protecting 30% of our land and sea by 2030 to better support and recover biodiversity, and have announced a landmark designation programme to help realise this.
We published a Nature Recovery Green Paper earlier this year that sets out our initial thoughts on reforming protected sites and species protections to better drive nature’s recovery in England, including expanding and improving wider protected areas.
In the last year in England, we have also created a new Somerset Wetlands super National Nature Reserve that will protect 6,140 hectares of precious habitats, launched the 21,000 hectare G7 Nature Recovery Legacy Project in Cornwall, in addition to 5 more landscape-scale projects that will help nature recover across an estimated 99,000 hectares and completed the Back from the Brink programme with 96 priority species moving towards recovery.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made in protecting against biodiversity loss; and what steps he plans to take to encourage global partners to take steps to reverse biodiversity loss.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Alongside our world-leading Environment act, which introduces ambitious measures to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age, the 25 Year Environment Plan set out clear goals for habitats and species in England. To help meet these ambitions, in the last year we have created a new Somerset Wetlands super National Nature Reserve that will protect 6,140 hectares of precious habitats, completed the Back from the Brink programme with 96 priority species moving towards recovery and launched 5 more landscape-scale nature recovery projects, including the G7 Nature Recovery Legacy Project in Cornwall.
The United Kingdom works across a number of geographies and partners to support global ambition. For instance, the United Kingdom is committed to playing a leading role in developing an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be adopted at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal during December this year.
The United Kingdom will be advocating for ambitious global targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss globally by 2030. This includes targets to ensure at least 30% of the land and of the ocean is protected, ecosystems are restored, species population sizes are recovering, and extinctions are halted by 2050. The United Kingdom is calling for this ambitious set of targets to be supported by increased finance for nature from all sources (public and private) and at all levels (domestic and international), and for strengthened reporting and review mechanisms to facilitate the achievement of targets and hold Parties to account to their commitments.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking through (1) international diplomacy, (2) Official Development Assistance, or (3) other means, to protect the Sudd swamp in South Sudan.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK Government continuously monitors political, economic and environmental developments in South Sudan, including the possibility of dredging in the Sudd wetlands. UK Government officials have raised the Sudd wetlands with the Government of South Sudan where appropriate, most recently at a meeting between the UK's Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan and the South Sudanese Ambassador to the UK on 22 June.
More broadly, tackling climate change and biodiversity loss is a UK Government international priority, as identified in our Integrated Review and International Development Strategy. We are committed to using our leadership to support the protection of natural wealth in South Sudan, including through funding projects for wildlife conservation, poverty reduction and building community resilience to the impacts of 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 recent assessment he has made of the environmental contribution of urban wetlands.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the benefits of urban wetlands and has various policies and funding available to support them. This includes our current review of the implementation of Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act (2010) which, if implemented, will introduce standards for new sustainable drainage systems. They use features such as wetlands to absorb rainwater, reducing the risk of surface water flooding, improving water quality, biodiversity, and amenity benefits.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in response to the UK’s Third Climate Change Risk Assessment, if he will ensure that the upcoming National Adaptation Programme will (a) contain a coherent vision for a 2 degrees Celsius world for England and (b) adequately prepare for the adaptation needs and opportunities beyond the next National Adaptation Programme five-year period.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our ambition for NAP3 is to have a clear set of objectives for adaptation, and a systematic and robust set of policies, programmes and investments to meet those objectives. We aim to have measurable metrics, timelines and progress indicators, all linked to the 61 risks set out in our risk assessment.
We have extensive plans underway to adapt to and mitigate the risks of a warming climate, including our work to restore biodiversity, protecting and restoring our peatlands, wetlands and natural environment, and cleaning up our air, which we are delivering through our landmark Environment Act, and will look to integrate into NAP3.
We know there is more to do to prepare for a warmer world and will base our approach on the latest evidence, and advice from the Climate Change Committee. I’d be happy to meet with my Honourable Friend to discuss this programme of work further.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol 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 assessment he has made of the impact of use of lead shot on conservation of birds of prey.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Evidence published by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust suggests that tens of thousands of wildfowl die from lead poisoning each year and many more birds, including scavengers and predators such as birds of prey, suffer and die through secondary poisoning.
Further research from the University of Cambridge, published earlier this year, reaffirms that birds of prey such as red kites which scavenge carcasses or eat injured animals with fragments of toxic lead from gun ammunition embedded in their bodies can become poisoned, suffering slow and painful deaths.
The Government supports the principle of further regulation to address the impact of lead ammunition. That is why in spring 2021 Defra asked the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA) to prepare a UK REACH restriction dossier for lead ammunition. The HSE and the EA are considering the evidence of risk posed by lead in ammunition on human health and the environment and, therefore, the case for introducing a UK REACH restriction on lead in ammunition. This process will take approximately two years (from spring 2021), after which the Secretary of State, with the consent of the Scottish and Welsh Ministers, will make a decision on the basis of this review.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 identified any endangered animals in the London Borough of Havering; and what steps his Department is taking to protect endangered species in (a) that borough and (b) other urban areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has not carried out an assessment of biodiversity specific to the London Borough of Havering.
Natural England (NE) is working with partners and private landowners across Greater London to promote nature recovery. This includes, for example, work with the London Borough of Havering and RSPB, to ensure there is positive management of biodiversity across the Borough including the six main Nature Reserves: Cranham Brickfields; Cranham Marsh; Ingrebourne Valley; Rainham Marsh Nature Reserve; The Chase; and The Manor nature reserve. NE also continues to work with partners across Havering to recover biodiversity through five agri-environment schemes which will support the protection and management of woodland, fen, wetlands, ditch networks and grassland in the Borough, as well as the management of the three Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
This Government is committed to halting the decline in species abundance by 2030, through a world-leading legally binding target under the Environment Act. We will shortly be publishing a Green Paper to look at how we can drive the delivery of that target, including through our sites and species protections. Other actions under the Environment Act are likely to support species recovery, such as biodiversity net gain for development including Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and the development of Local Nature Recovery Strategies, which will help to identify and drive local actions to protect and recover species.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in support of voluntary efforts to phase out the use of lead shot by game hunters in England; and what plans they have, if any, to introduce a requirement to replace the use of lead shot with other materials which do not harm the countryside.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Nine high-profile shooting organisations released a joint statement in 2020 calling for an end to lead in ammunition used for taking live quarry with shotguns within five years. We welcomed this move away from lead and are committed to ensuring a sustainable, mutually beneficial relationship between shooting and conservation. By 2020, the use of lead ammunition in England had already been restricted in specific circumstances by existing legislation– including being prohibited in or over sites of special scientific interest including wetlands.
In spring 2021, Defra asked the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA) to prepare a UK REACH restriction dossier for lead ammunition. The HSE and the EA are considering the evidence of risk posed by lead in ammunition on human health and the environment and, therefore, the case for introducing a UK REACH restriction on lead in ammunition. This process will take approximately two years (from spring 2021), after which the Secretary of State, with the consent of the Scottish and Welsh Ministers, will make a decision on the basis of this review. Further information can be found at:
Asked by: Jesse Norman (Conservative - Hereford and South Herefordshire)
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 the Nutrient Taskforce on phosphate pollution in the river Wye.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Wye catchment area is internationally important for biodiversity, principally due to the wide range of rare river wildlife. It is vitally important that we achieve the right balance to allow sustainable development to continue and protect our most important natural habitats.
A cross border taskforce focussing on the Wye Catchment was convened by Herefordshire Council in September. The taskforce further supports the ongoing work of the Nutrient Management Board and its associated Technical Advisory Group to find effective solutions.
The board meets quarterly to identify and review actions that achieve the phosphorus conservation target of the River Wye Special Area of Conservation. The primary mechanism for achieving this will be through the delivery of the Nutrient Management Plan, the first draft of which has been published.
In the short term, and alongside the work of the Nutrient Pollution Taskforce, Natural England has been working with Herefordshire Council to enable housing projects that can demonstrate nutrient neutrality to be able to proceed. This has included funding put in place by the Council for both a wetlands scheme, which will have a series of eight interconnected wetlands to support approx. 1500 houses, and the commissioning of the 'Interim Delivery Plan' which includes a Phosphate Calculator, thus enabling small scale developments to be unlocked.
I also attended a productive roundtable meeting on 13 July with Minister Pincher of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and local staff from the Environment Agency, Natural England and Herefordshire County Council to discuss this issue.