Asked by: Lord Blencathra (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 impact of growth in the reuse and repair sector on opportunities for green skilled jobs.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No formal assessment has been made of the impact of growth in the reuse and repair sector on opportunities for green skilled jobs.
Defra recognises that repair and reuse are fundamental tenets of any circular economy, and a successful circular transition will deliver increased supply chain resilience, economic productivity, and economic growth. Furthermore, capitalising on the opportunity to effect a circular transition will attract investment into new product manufacturing and processing infrastructure; create new highly skilled green jobs in circular product design and development; and help our economy retain more of the critical resources on which it depends. We will consider the evidence for appropriate action right across the economy as we develop the Circular Economy Strategy for England.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that more products are designed to be reused and repaired to generate economic, environmental and social value for communities and businesses.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy. To support the Government in achieving this goal, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has convened the Circular Economy Taskforce to help us develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England, which will be supported by a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the government and others will make on a sector-by-sector basis. Through this work we are considering the evidence for interventions right across the economy, with an aim to eliminate waste and promote sustainability through reuse and resource efficiency.
We are exploring the circularity impacts of a wide range of levers, including encouraging reuse and repair, as we develop our strategy. The outputs of the strategy aim to support economic growth, deliver green jobs, promote efficient and productive use of resources, minimise negative environmental impacts and accelerate to Net Zero.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to support local authorities to focus on reuse and repair practices as part of a circular economy.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra recognises that repair and reuse are fundamental tenets of any circular economy, and a successful transition aims to eliminate waste and promote sustainability through reuse and resource efficiency. We will consider the evidence for appropriate action right across the economy as we develop the Circular Economy Strategy for England.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (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 (1) costs, and (2) benefits, to local authorities of reuse and repair practices.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There have been no formal assessments made on the costs and benefits for local authorities on reuse and repair practises.
Defra recognises that repair and reuse are fundamental tenets of any circular economy, and a successful transition aims to eliminate waste and promote sustainability through reuse and resource efficiency. We will consider the evidence for appropriate action right across the economy as we develop the Circular Economy Strategy for England.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what meetings of the Small Ministerial Group on Circular Economy (CE-SMG) have taken place.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Small Ministerial Group on Circular Economy has met twice so far:
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the terms of reference of the Small Ministerial Group on Circular Economy (CE-SMG).
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The terms of reference for the Small Ministerial Group on Circular Economy focus on:
Ensuring the Government’s circular economy agenda is always driving forward the Government’s five missions, with a particular focus on kickstarting economic growth and making Britain a clean energy superpower.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish a nationwide accreditation scheme for tested and repaired products similar to the Revolve programme in Scotland.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy. To support the Government in achieving this goal, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has convened the Circular Economy Taskforce to help us develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England, which will be supported by a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the government and others will make on a sector-by-sector basis. Through this work we are considering the evidence for interventions right across the economy. We are exploring the circularity impacts of a wide range of levers, including encouraging reuse and repair, as we develop our strategy.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (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 the Greater Manchester Renew Hub on circular consumer practices, and what plans they have to replicate this project in other areas.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have not made an assessment into the impact of the Greater Manchester Renew Hub. However, at the heart of the Circular Economy Strategy is delivering circular economy principles through local action; this is something the Secretary of State for Environment – a former Council leader – is passionate about. We recognise the Greater Manchester Renew Hub as an excellent example of local action that we can learn from as we work on developing the Circular Economy Strategy for England.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to lay the regulations on forest risk commodities; and if the regulations will subject to affirmative procedure.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The Government introduced new due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. We will operationalise these provisions through secondary legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows. The regulations will be subject to the affirmative procedure.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will include experts on migratory species from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee among the UK delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28 UAE).
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Joint Nature Conservation Committee staff, including experts on migratory species, are not part of the UK Government delegation to United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28. Joint Nature Conservation Committee staff will remotely provide scientific advice in advance and in real time as requested by the delegation and support side events online in the US Pavilion and the Virtual Ocean Pavilion. Joint Nature Conservation Committee staff have also provided pre-recorded videos to the UK Overseas Territories Association to support their side event in the UK Pavilion.