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Written Question
Fisheries: Quotas
Thursday 23rd June 2022

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2022 to Question 13027 on Fisheries: Quotas, if he will make it his policy to (a) follow the advice published in June 2022 by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas, in full and for all stocks, when (i) setting quotas and (ii) negotiating with the relevant countries in 2022 and (b) where that advice is not followed, publish the scientific advice he plans to follow instead.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The UK’s approach to negotiating total allowable catches (TACs) is founded on the best available scientific evidence. Once agreed, TACs and quota shares reflect negotiated outcomes that balance the objectives set out in the Fisheries Act 2020, including the needs of our fishing industry and the long-term sustainability of our fisheries and fish stocks.


Written Question
Fisheries: Quotas
Thursday 16th June 2022

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will commit to not setting future fishing quotas in excess of scientific advice.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The UK's approach is that Total Allowable Catches for all species should be based on the best available scientific advice. The goal is to seek to maintain fish stocks and fisheries at sustainable levels in the long term or to rebuild them to such levels, where necessary.

The objectives in the Fisheries Act 2020, the draft Joint Fisheries Statement and proposed Fisheries Management Plans collectively reaffirm our commitment to achieving sustainable fishing and protecting the marine environment. The Act enshrines in law the Government’s commitments for sustainable fishing, restating our commitment to fishing at maximum sustainable yield through the ‘sustainability objective’ and ‘precautionary objective’.


Written Question
Marine Protected Areas: Fisheries
Thursday 9th June 2022

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will set out the Government's timeframe for ensuring that all offshore marine protection areas designated for seabed features are fully protected from bottom trawling.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Crawley, on 20 May 2022, PQ UIN 1160.


Written Question
Water: Conservation
Thursday 26th May 2022

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on increasing the use of water efficiency devices in UK households to reduce carbon emissions.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In our 2021 Written Ministerial Statement on reducing demand for water, we committed to delivering a mandatory water efficiency label. We are working with BEIS to develop a label which could include energy saving information.


Written Question
Water: Conservation
Thursday 26th May 2022

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

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 effectiveness of mandatory water labelling on taps and non-electric showers on persuading consumers to be mindful of their water consumption.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra, Waterwise and the water companies commissioned The Energy Saving Trust to conduct a review on water labelling comparing the impacts on taps and showers only Water Labelling: Taps and Showers Only Comparison – EST (2020) – Waterwise. This builds on a previous Independent review of the costs and benefits of water labelling options in the UK Microsoft Word - 190626_WESTrategy001-EXT_SummaryReport_2.3 (waterwise.org.uk).


Written Question
Water: Conservation
Wednesday 18th May 2022

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on additional ringfenced funding for the roll-out of water saving technologies.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

There are no plans for additional ringfenced funding for the roll-out of water saving technologies. Some water companies are already funding water saving measures for their customers and we continue to work towards delivering the Written Ministerial Statement on reducing demand for water, including introducing a water efficiency label.


Written Question
Agriculture: Methane
Friday 3rd December 2021

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to reduce rural methane emissions from farms.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Greenhouse gas emissions from UK agriculture are predominantly associated with methane and nitrous oxide. The UK has a strong record on reducing emissions from methane, one of the main greenhouses gases warming our planet, with around13% of methane emissions cut from the agricultural sectors compared to 1990 levels. Since 1990 we are now producing a litre of milk with 21% less GHG emissions. However, we are not resting on this progress, and we will continue to take action to reduce UK methane emissions even further.

For example, livestock feed additives with methane inhibiting properties have the potential to reduce emissions, especially from housed cattle. Whilst this is an emerging technology, the Government is actively investigating the promising role these products may have in delivering emissions savings in the medium term.

As announced at COP26, the UK is also proud to be one of the first signatories of The Global Methane Pledge, a commitment to take voluntary actions to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030, against 2020 levels. More broadly our recently published Net Zero Strategy outlined our commitment for 75% of farmers in England to be engaged in low carbon practices by 2030, rising to 85% by 2035.

The Government will support the agricultural sector to reduce all emissions through the schemes set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan. We are introducing three schemes that reward environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery. Together, these schemes are intended to provide a powerful vehicle for achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, while supporting our rural economy.

Our plans include a range of policies and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. For example, our recently launched Sustainable Farming Incentive standards for soils can help create conditions for farmers to reduce the requirement to apply mineral fertilisers, so helping reduce emissions of nitrous oxide. In the future we are intending to introduce a Standard for Nutrient Management which will further incentivise reductions in the application of mineral fertilisers.


Written Question
Agriculture: Methane
Friday 3rd December 2021

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

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 is taking to encourage UK farmers to invest in on-farm methane reduction.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Greenhouse gas emissions from UK agriculture are predominantly associated with methane and nitrous oxide. The UK has a strong record on reducing emissions from methane, one of the main greenhouses gases warming our planet, with around13% of methane emissions cut from the agricultural sectors compared to 1990 levels. Since 1990 we are now producing a litre of milk with 21% less GHG emissions. However, we are not resting on this progress, and we will continue to take action to reduce UK methane emissions even further.

For example, livestock feed additives with methane inhibiting properties have the potential to reduce emissions, especially from housed cattle. Whilst this is an emerging technology, the Government is actively investigating the promising role these products may have in delivering emissions savings in the medium term.

As announced at COP26, the UK is also proud to be one of the first signatories of The Global Methane Pledge, a commitment to take voluntary actions to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030, against 2020 levels. More broadly our recently published Net Zero Strategy outlined our commitment for 75% of farmers in England to be engaged in low carbon practices by 2030, rising to 85% by 2035.

The Government will support the agricultural sector to reduce all emissions through the schemes set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan. We are introducing three schemes that reward environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery. Together, these schemes are intended to provide a powerful vehicle for achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, while supporting our rural economy.

Our plans include a range of policies and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. For example, our recently launched Sustainable Farming Incentive standards for soils can help create conditions for farmers to reduce the requirement to apply mineral fertilisers, so helping reduce emissions of nitrous oxide. In the future we are intending to introduce a Standard for Nutrient Management which will further incentivise reductions in the application of mineral fertilisers.


Written Question
Agriculture: Soil
Wednesday 1st December 2021

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

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 is taking to help improve soil health on UK farms.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive is one of three new schemes that reward farmers and land managers for producing public goods. The other, future, schemes are Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery, both of which we will begin piloting next year. These schemes will operate together and pay for sustainable farming practices, improve animal health and welfare, improve environmental outcomes, and reduce carbon emissions. They will create habitats for nature recovery and make landscape-scale changes, such as establishing new woodland and other ecosystem services, providing key means to deliver against our 25 Year Environment Plan goals and carbon net zero targets.

Our approach to environmental land management is the cornerstone of our new agricultural policy and will be realised through a combination of schemes, using public money to reward farmers and land managers for delivering environmentally sustainable actions. The schemes are intended to provide a powerful vehicle for achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, while supporting our rural economy.

We agree that healthy soils should be a priority outcome for our new environmental land management schemes in England, and to help achieve our commitment to sustainably managed soils by 2030, we are already taking action to support land managers and farmers to achieve sustainable soil management. Firstly, we are focusing on soil in two of the first standards to be rolled out under the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme next year – the Improved Grassland Soils and Arable and Horticultural Soils standards. Recently published details on the Sustainable Farming Incentive set out for which sustainable farming actions to improve soil health farmers will be rewarded, such as the introduction of herbal leys and the use of grass-legume mixtures and cover crops.

It makes sense to start the early roll out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive with these soils standards because healthy soils are the foundation of sustainable farming and underpin a range of environmental benefits, as well as production. The soil standards will be widely applicable and will therefore provide opportunity for many farmers to be rewarded for sustainable soil management. The standards and the overall scheme are designed to support a range of farmers; including those who are beginning to adopt sustainable practices as well as those who are already experienced in these, who will be rewarded for increasing the ambition of their land management. We will test these standards in the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot and release further information on our plans for the Sustainable Farming Incentive on gov.uk in December 2021.


Written Question
Soil and Water: Rural Areas
Wednesday 1st December 2021

Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)

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 is taking to encourage local action by farmer groups to improve soil and water resource management in rural areas.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Supporting sustainable farming is a fundamental part of our Agricultural Transition Plan published last year. As part of that, we are introducing three schemes that reward the delivery of environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, the Local Nature Recovery scheme and the Landscape Recovery scheme.  Together, they will be an important vehicle in delivering our 25 Year Environment Plan ambitions and our carbon net zero goals. The schemes will reward farmers for, for example, sustainable farming practices, improving animal health, welfare, and creating, managing, and preserving habitats including freshwater habitats and habitats that store water.

We have already confirmed that the Sustainable Farming Incentive will pay farmers for management practices that improve soil health by improving soil structure, soil organic matter, and soil biology. More detail on the Local Nature and Landscape Recovery schemes will be published shortly.

Through our new Farming Transformation Fund, Water Management Theme, we are offering support for farmers to secure their water supplies though the construction of on-farm reservoirs. We will also help improve the more efficient use of water through irrigation, by offering support for best-practice application equipment, such as boom or trickle irrigators.

We are exploring the approaches to how best to support collaboration, learning from examples such as the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund.