Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of Dr Geraint Coles’ proposals to reinstate the Chesterfield Canal’s route under the M1.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department has not made any such assessments. Responsibility for canals in England and Wales, including their operation, development or restoration rests with the bodies that own them and for which they are the navigation authority. The Canal and River Trust (C&RT) owns the eastern section of the Chesterfield Canal from the M1 motorway at Norwood to the River Trent, while to the west of the M1 motorway from Norwood the canal is owned by local authorities. The C&RT works closely with the Chesterfield Canal Trust and supports their canal regeneration plans.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 made an assessment of the potential merits of replacing the Chesterfield Canal's Norwood tunnel, which used to run under the M1.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department has not made any such assessments. Responsibility for canals in England and Wales, including their operation, development or restoration rests with the bodies that own them and for which they are the navigation authority. The Canal and River Trust (C&RT) owns the eastern section of the Chesterfield Canal from the M1 motorway at Norwood to the River Trent, while to the west of the M1 motorway from Norwood the canal is owned by local authorities. The C&RT works closely with the Chesterfield Canal Trust and supports their canal regeneration plans.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the air quality statistics are for Rother Valley constituency in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) provides measurements of air pollutant concentrations throughout the UK for a range of pollutants. Currently, there are 171 monitoring sites across the UK which provide data to measure compliance with the Air Quality Standards Regulations (2010).
There are no AURN monitoring sites in the Rother Valley constituency. Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council does carry out local air quality monitoring as part of the Local Air Quality Management process and produces annual reports on the status of air quality within the Borough area.
These can be accessed through the following URL: https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/download/229/2019-air-quality-report
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 merits of applying minimum pricing to (a) alcohol, (b) sugar and (c) other products in the food and beverage sector.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
No assessment has been made on minimum pricing for food or drink, but the Government is committed to tackling obesity.
The DHSC launched ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’ in July 2020. The strategy demonstrates an overarching, holistic campaign to reduce obesity, takes forward actions from previous chapters of the childhood obesity plan and sets out measures to get the nation fit and healthy, protect against Covid-19 and protect the NHS.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 reduce resource consumption in the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our plans for reducing resource consumption and preventing waste in England are set out in our draft Waste Prevention Programme for England - Towards a Resource Efficient Economy, which is currently out for consultation. This builds on the measures set out in the 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy and includes designing products which last longer and that can be reused, repaired or remanufactured, coupled with supporting systems and business models to keep goods and materials in circulation for longer.
As part of this we are exploring ways to help consumers and producers make more sustainable decisions for instance through information and labelling, incentives such as the carrier bag charge, introducing producer responsibility schemes, and looking at how government and local authorities can support reuse and repair as well as alternative models such as renting and sharing.
The devolved administrations are aware of our consultation on a new Waste Prevention Programme, and the policy proposals it contains are being discussed at official level.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many incidents of hare poaching have been recorded in (a) South Yorkshire and (b) England since 2016.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no requirement for the police to record incidents of hare poaching – it is a matter for individual police forces to decide whether and how they wish to do so. There is no national data on the number of hare poaching incidents in England.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 tackle hare poaching.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government takes wildlife crime seriously and is committed to ensuring the protection wildlife legislation offers is effectively enforced. We recognise the problems and distress which poaching and hare coursing causes for local communities.
We recognise the importance of preserving our iconic brown and mountain hare populations – and we are exploring a range of options to help drive their recovery across England.
Poaching (including hare coursing) is already one of the UK's six wildlife crime priorities. Each wildlife crime priority has a delivery group to consider what action should be taken and develop a plan to prevent crime, gather intelligence on offences and enforce against it.
The National Wildlife Crime Unit, funded partly by Defra and the Home Office, continues to support efforts to tackle poaching and hare coursing, assisting regional police forces in tackling these crimes by gathering and analysing intelligence, sharing this with the police and assisting police investigations.
Hare poaching is illegal under the Game Acts (the Game Act 1832 and the Night Poaching Act 1828). Enforcement is an operational matter for the police, and it is for individual Chief Constables to determine how their resources are deployed.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to amend the Game Act 1831 to enable the police to recover the kennelling costs incurred where dogs have been seized.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is aware of various proposals which have been made to amend the Game Act. and will continue its discussions with all those concerned, whilst considering what further action could be taken.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to oblige horse riders clean up manure from footpaths and roads.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils have a duty to ensure that public areas are kept clear of litter and refuse. This includes removing horse foul from certain types of land. Local authorities are not required to report on their specific costs related to cleaning horse manure from public roads and footpaths, and Defra has made no assessment of these costs.
Defra does not keep any information on offences or fines for statutory nuisances as local authorities are the main enforcers of the statutory nuisance regime. Individual local authorities may keep records of statutory nuisance offences and fines, but these are not held nationally by Defra.
There is no law requiring riders to pick up after their horses and we have no plans to introduce such a law. Manure from healthy horses is generally free of the pathogens that are found in dog faeces, such as the worm that carries toxocariasis, and there is not enough evidence of widespread nuisance from horse fouling to suggest that special legislative controls are necessary.
Councils already have powers to issue Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs). PSPOs allow councils to deal with a particular nuisance or problem arising in an area which have “a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality” by imposing conditions on the use of that area.
Those who breach the terms of a PSPO may be prosecuted in a magistrates’ court, which can lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £1,000 on conviction. Alternatively, the council can issue a fixed penalty notice of up to £100. It is up to each council to decide how and to what extent they use these powers.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of fines for statutory nuisance caused by horse fouling on roads and footpaths have been issued in the last year.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils have a duty to ensure that public areas are kept clear of litter and refuse. This includes removing horse foul from certain types of land. Local authorities are not required to report on their specific costs related to cleaning horse manure from public roads and footpaths, and Defra has made no assessment of these costs.
Defra does not keep any information on offences or fines for statutory nuisances as local authorities are the main enforcers of the statutory nuisance regime. Individual local authorities may keep records of statutory nuisance offences and fines, but these are not held nationally by Defra.
There is no law requiring riders to pick up after their horses and we have no plans to introduce such a law. Manure from healthy horses is generally free of the pathogens that are found in dog faeces, such as the worm that carries toxocariasis, and there is not enough evidence of widespread nuisance from horse fouling to suggest that special legislative controls are necessary.
Councils already have powers to issue Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs). PSPOs allow councils to deal with a particular nuisance or problem arising in an area which have “a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality” by imposing conditions on the use of that area.
Those who breach the terms of a PSPO may be prosecuted in a magistrates’ court, which can lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £1,000 on conviction. Alternatively, the council can issue a fixed penalty notice of up to £100. It is up to each council to decide how and to what extent they use these powers.