Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to receive the annual report by HS2 Ltd on the scheme's impact on ancient woodland, due on 11 February, as required by the High Speed Rail (West Midlands–Crewe) Act 2021.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The annual report on HS2’s impact on ancient woodland was published on 23 February 2022. This report has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to lift the embargo on sharing local COVID-19 vaccination uptake data (1) by priority group, and (2) by ethnic group, with primary care networks and clinical commissioning groups; and what assessment they have made of whether sharing this data would increase the effectiveness of local vaccination efforts.
Answered by Lord Bethell
There is no embargo on sharing local COVID-19 vaccination data. This data is published weekly online by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
We are also collecting and monitoring uptake data to drive and improve the national deployment plan, as well as sharing data to support local uptake action and decision-making.
Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide as much detail as possible on (1) those who have refused COVID-19 vaccination, and (2) those who have not responded to invitations for COVID-19 vaccination, (a) to local public health directors and their staff, and (b) to local primary care networks and clinical commissioning groups; if they plan to provide such information, when they will do so; and what assessment they have made of the potential to use such information to undertake local COVID-19 tracing and vaccine promotion with these groups.
Answered by Lord Bethell
There are currently no specific plans to collect data on vaccination refusal or non-respondence. NHS England and NHS Improvement publish daily, weekly and monthly data on the progress of the vaccination programme across England.
At a local level, local authority directors of public health receive daily updates on vaccine uptake in their areas, by Middle Layer Super Output Area and key subgroups including by gender and ethnicity. Directors of Public Health are provided with this information to support local delivery approaches and improve uptake across all communities.
Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide denominator information (1) by priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination, and (2) by ethnic group, to local public health directors and their staff; if they plan to provide such information, when they will do so; and what assessment they have made of the potential for such information to enable local conversations about how to improve uptake between local public health directors and those communities with poorer uptake of COVID-19 vaccination.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are committed to ensuring that local authorities and Directors of Public Health have the data they need to understand uptake in their local areas and tailor efforts to reach those who have not yet taken up the offer of a vaccine appointment.
Data on number of COVID-19 vaccinations given is being shared with Directors of Public Health at both a Middle Layer Super Output Area level and a lower tier local authority level. This includes both data by age cohort and ethnic group. Directors of Public Health also receive vaccination uptake and denominator information for age cohorts and priority groups, by ethnicity and deprivation index at sustainability transformation partnership and Lower Layer Super Output Area level. This provides information on vaccine uptake that enables local conversations about designing and improving operational delivery locally.
Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist on 15 September 2020 (HL Deb, col 1187), when they plan to open the “intensive consultation” on a new regulatory framework for farming.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Our future regulatory system will be developed with a focus on the environment and animal health and welfare, on developing trust between industry and government. We want to deliver an effective transition from the existing regulatory model, mostly delivered through cross compliance, to the new approach based on established good practice and developed in partnership with the sector. We are committed to working with industry to design a system that supports a more resilient sector producing high quality food in a more sustainable way.
Co-designing and establishing a new regulatory model for the long term, will take time and we want to work with the sector and others impacted by regulation to get it right. We will always ensure that we have a robust system of inspection and enforcement in place to maintain regulatory protections.
Involving users (e.g. farmers, land managers, users of the environment) through co-design is key to developing a modern regulatory approach that works, both for users and regulators. These participatory approaches are intended to work alongside and compliment more traditional engagement with citizens and industry, such as consultation. Consultation is still an important engagement method and we will, of course, consult widely on future proposals at the appropriate time.
Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to use public funding in the new Environmental Land Management scheme for England to fund measures required by the cross-compliance rules for claiming rural payments.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Cross compliance and the rules they enforce are still in place and will continue to operate for the time being. Whilst farmers continue to receive a basic payment scheme payment or are part of most agri-environment schemes they will be subject to the cross-compliance rules.
The rules within cross compliance are mostly in domestic legislation and will continue to apply as we move away from CAP schemes.
We are working with stakeholders and end users to determine the specific land management actions that will be paid for under our new schemes that will pay farmers to improve the environment, improve animal health and welfare, and reduce carbon emissions. The Agricultural Transition Plan set out examples of the types of actions that we envisage paying for under the schemes. We have also recently published more details on the first phase of piloting the Sustainable Farming Incentive, including the actions we will pay farmers to take to manage their land in an environmentally sustainable way.
Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to maintain the requirements of (1) Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions 1: Establishment of buffer strips along watercourses, (2) Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions 4: Providing minimum soil cover, and (3) Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions 5: Minimising soil erosion, as set out in The guide to cross compliance in England 2021, published on 18 December 2020, as legal requirements for all farmers and land managers (a) during, and (b) following the end of, their proposed plans set out in The Path to Sustainable Farming: An Agricultural Transition Plan 2021 to 2024, published on 30 November 2020.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
We currently have regulations which protect water courses under the farming rules for water. Farming rules for water require land managers to leave unfertilised zones adjacent to watercourses and boreholes and to assess the pollution risk of fertilisers and manures they apply.
The farming rules for water require land managers to take action to prevent soil loss caused by agricultural or horticultural activity. This does not require land managers to take the same specific action as in cross compliance but provide a generalised provision that has the same policy aim as GAECs 4 and 5. Additionally, the farming rules for water require farmers to manage livestock so as to prevent pollution.
We are committed to maintaining standards and have domestic legislation which protects the environment, animal health and welfare, and plant health. We will continue to review this as necessary. We will look to use the most effective mechanism to deliver against environmental goals. It may be that another, non-regulatory mechanism is the most effective means to ensure that standards currently in cross compliance are maintained.
Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to maintain the requirements of Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions 7a: Boundaries, as set out in The guide to cross compliance in England 2021, published on 18 December 2020, as a legal requirement for all farmers and land managers (1) during, and (2) after the end of, their proposed plans set out in the The Path to Sustainable Farming: An Agricultural Transition Plan 2021 to 2024, published on 30 November 2020.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Hedgerows and field boundaries are the very essence of our British countryside. They provide vital resources for mammals, birds and inspect species. As well as being an important habitat in their own right, they act as wildlife corridors allowing dispersal between isolated habitats. Many are also important historical and cultural landscape features.
We are committed to maintaining standards and have domestic legislation which protects the environment, animal health and welfare, and plant health. We will continue to review this as necessary. We will look to use the most effective mechanism to deliver against environmental goals. It may be that another, non-regulatory mechanism is the most effective means to ensure that standards currently in cross compliance are maintained.
Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the results of the Darwin Plus projects whose initial applications were submitted between May and July 2019 will be announced; and whether the allocation of the funds to projects will be in line with the results of the consultation on ‘Safeguarding the environment in British Overseas Territories’ which concluded on 26 July 2019.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The successful projects for the recent round of Darwin Plus will be announced shortly.
I was encouraged that we received a strong response to the Call for Evidence on ‘Safeguarding the environment in British Overseas Territories', with 51 responses received from the Overseas Territories, NGOs and other interested parties. This was an important evidence gathering-exercise designed to inform the Government’s preparations for the next spending review. The summary of responses was published on 31 March 2020, after the application and assessment of Darwin Plus applications was completed. The findings of the Call for Evidence will be used to inform future funding for environmental support in the Overseas Territories.
Asked by: Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the announcement in Autumn Budget 2017, published on 22 November 2017, that “the Department for Transport, the Department of Health, the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Defence will adopt a presumption in favour of offsite construction by 2019 across suitable capital programmes”, how often offsite options have been (1) offered as part of the decision on a contract, (2) agreed, and (3) rejected, by each such Department.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The requested contractual information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office as these contracts are awarded by departments and their delivery bodies.
Since the announcement of the presumption in favour of off-site construction, the government has continued to drive the agenda of modernising construction by working with the Department for Transport, the Department of Health, the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Defence, as well as publishing documents such as The Construction Sector Deal and Transforming Infrastructure Performance, which outlines the government’s plan to improve the delivery and performance of infrastructure and boost construction sector productivity.