Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is a difference between the responsibilities of a local authority for clearing, or paying to clear, waste illegally placed by third parties (1) within 10 metres of a public highway for which the local authority is responsible, and (2) more than 10 metres from such a highway; what is the legal basis; and what assessment they have made of whether there is sufficient legal certainty of those responsibilities.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Section 89 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 imposes duties on local authorities to ensure that certain land is, so far as is practicable, kept clear of litter and refuse. The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse provides guidance on discharging these duties. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-on-litter-and-refuse (attached).
Landowners are responsible for clearing waste from land that they own.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 29 October (HL11074), whether they will make an assessment of the responsibilities of local authorities in relation to clearing up fly-tipping that takes place on a private land more than 10 metres from the highway.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no plan to make an assessment of the responsibilities of local authorities in relation to clearing up fly-tipping that takes place on a private land more than 10 metres from the highway.
Landowners are responsible for clearing waste from land that they own.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits to (1) employers, (2) employees, and (3) the environment, of employer-based benefit schemes such as Climate Perks that encourage rail travel in place of air travel; what consideration they have given to raising public and employer awareness of those schemes; and what consideration they have given to adopting such schemes for public sector employees.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No such assessments have been made, but this government is committed to increasing awareness of/access to 'green' friendly schemes.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the duties of a local authority for clearing, or paying to clear, waste illegally placed by third parties (1) within 10 metres of a public highway for which the local authority is responsible, and (2) on private land more than 10 metres from such a highway; what assessment they have made of the implications where waste is illegally left by third parties (not the landowner or occupier) beyond 10 metres from the highway; and whether they intend to take any steps as a result.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities have a duty to keep their public land clear of litter and refuse and they have enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping. We encourage local authorities to investigate all incidents of fly-tipping, including those on private land, and make good use of their enforcement powers.
An assessment of the implications of waste illegally left by third parties beyond 10 metres from the highway has not been made.
Landowners are responsible for land that they own. We appreciate the difficulty and cost that fly-tipping poses to landowners and we are working with a wide range of interested parties through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, such as the National Farmers Union, to promote and disseminate good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land.
We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. We are also taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance for local authorities and are conducting a review of council powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times in the past 12 months National Highways or other body responsible for highway verges have been served a notice in respect of ragwort control; and how many times such a responsible body has been prosecuted for breaches of their legal obligation to control and remove ragwort as required by the Weeds Act 1959 and subsequent Code of Practice.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In the past 12 months, no notices in relation to ragwort control have been served to National Highways, and there have been no prosecutions under the Weeds Act 1959 or the Code of Practice.
The Department does not hold data on notices or prosecutions relating to ragwort control by local highway authorities.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to equip British soldiers with tactical drone detection capabilities; and what assessment they have made of available smartphone-based solutions.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The British Army continues to revolutionise its fighting capabilities, improving their range, persistence, precision and mass. Learning from ongoing conflicts as well as independent first-principle thinking, the ability of our Armed Forces to counter the threat of highly developed uncrewed air systems is of vital importance. For reasons of operational security and commercial sensitivity, I am unable to disclose further details.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to apply sanctions in relation to removal of children from Ukraine by Russia.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Russia's forcible deportation of Ukrainian children is a despicable and systematic attempt to erase Ukrainian identity, and with it, Ukraine's future. We are playing our full part in international efforts to reunite these children with their families. In November 2024, we announced a third round of sanctions targeting those involved in forcibly deporting and indoctrinating Ukrainian children. We do not comment on any potential future designations as to do so could lessen their impact.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to their Russian counterparts regarding the numbers and current locations of the children removed by Russia from Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
We have raised this issue with Russia on multiple occasions at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which meets at ambassador-level almost every week. On 29 May, our Ambassador reiterated the need for Russia to return forcibly deported children as critical to achieving a just and lasting peace. We have supported multiple invocations of the OSCE's fact-finding mission, the Moscow Mechanism, to examine Russian human rights abuses in Ukraine. Their May 2023 report focused on Ukrainian children. We have also raised this issue with Russia at the UN Security Council, most recently on 15 May and 8 April.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to support any cases going before any international courts relating to the removal of children from Ukraine by Russia.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued warrants of arrest for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for crimes linked to the deportation of children. It is an independent court and carries out its investigations impartially and without government interference. We are supporting the work of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and the ICC to ensure allegations of war crimes in Ukraine are fully and fairly investigated by independent and robust legal mechanisms. We welcome progress made by the ICC in its active investigation, including the arrest warrants for individuals connected to the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) biodiversity, and (2) the opportunities to intensify agricultural land use where other incentives are deemed uncompetitive, in upland areas relative to lowland areas.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The uplands are nationally and internationally important for biodiversity, and have significant agricultural, landscape, archaeological, recreational, cultural and natural resource value. We recognise the unique challenges that upland farmers face. In order to ensure we are giving farmers in the uplands the right support, we are engaging with a wide range of bodies through our Uplands Task and Finish Group. The group is looking at the particular challenges in the uplands and how they can be addressed.