Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 impact of costs associated with extended producer responsibility on small businesses.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have made a full assessment of the impacts that implementing packaging extended producer responsibility will have. This includes assessment of the impacts on small businesses, which can be found in Section 8 of the impact assessment: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024.
Packaging extended producer responsibility cost obligations will only apply to large producers with a turnover over £2 million and who place more than 50 tonnes of packaging on the market. This threshold exempts around 70% of producers from paying these fees. Any large producers who supply the exempt producers with empty packaging will pay the fees associated with that packaging.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 additional steps to increase public awareness of how people can protect themselves from the impacts of air pollution.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is undertaking a comprehensive review of how we communicate air quality information to ensure members of the public, and vulnerable groups in particular, have what they need protect themselves and understand their impact on air quality. This review is being undertaken by the Air Quality Information Systems steering group; the group’s recommendations will be published summer 2024.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 provide additional funding to organisations that increase awareness of how people can protect themselves from air pollution.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The grant has been running since 1997 and regularly funds projects aimed at increasing the awareness of the impacts of air pollution. Around £53 million has been awarded across almost 500 projects through the Air Quality Grant scheme since 2010. Projects have included anti-idling campaigns around schools, raising awareness about the impacts of domestic burning, and measures to encourage active travel.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce the impact of air pollution on people in poverty.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises there is more to do to protect all people in our society and the environment from the effects of air pollution. This is why we are taking the significant and wide-ranging action to drive improvements to air quality as set out in our Environmental Improvement Plan 2023.
This action is supported by the Environment Act 2021, which makes sure that local authorities have the necessary powers to tackle emissions collaboratively in their local area to improve air quality. Through the Act we also introduced two new targets for fine particulate matter, the pollutant most damaging to human health, setting a maximum annual mean concentration target and a population exposure reduction target. This dual-target approach will improve public health for all by tackling the highest concentrations whilst ensuring all areas benefit from continuous improvement.
We continue to support local authorities in England to take action in their communities through the Local Air Quality Grant, which has awarded around £53 million to almost 500 projects since 2010.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce the impact of (a) incinerators and (b) air pollution on (i) Black and (ii) Asian communities.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises there is more to do to protect all people in our society and the environment from the effects of air pollution. This is why we are taking the significant and wide-ranging action to drive improvements to air quality as set out in our Environmental Improvement Plan 2023.
This action is supported by the Environment Act 2021, which makes sure that local authorities have the necessary powers to tackle emissions collaboratively in their local area to improve air quality. Through the Act we also introduced two new targets for fine particulate matter, the pollutant most damaging to human health, setting a maximum annual mean concentration target and a population exposure reduction target. This dual-target approach will improve public health for all by tackling the highest concentrations whilst ensuring all areas benefit from continuous improvement.
We continue to support local authorities in England to take action in their communities through the Local Air Quality Grant, which has awarded around £53 million to almost 500 projects since 2010
With regards to incinerators, in England all large waste incinerators cannot operate unless issued with an environmental permit by the Environment Agency (EA). The EA will only grant a permit if they are satisfied that the proposal would not give rise to any significant pollution of the environment or harm to human health, irrespective of the location of the plant. The EA also consults the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on every permit application they receive. The UKHSA’s position relating to incineration is that modern, well-run and regulated municipal waste incinerators are not a significant risk to public health
Under their permit, the operator must comply with the Best Available Techniques (BAT) conclusions for waste incineration. These BAT conclusions were reviewed and updated in 2019, introducing new standards which deliver an improved level of environmental protection. This includes even lower Emission Limit Values (ELVs) for oxides of nitrogen, particulates, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, dioxins and a number of other pollutants. All environmental permits for existing waste incinerators were reviewed and updated by the compliance deadline of 3rd December 2023 to reflect these new standards.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 conducted forecasting on the potential for England to meet the Government target of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Waste and Resources Action Programme published data showing a 18% reduction to 2021. To meet the Sustainable Development Goal target, we know we need to do more. A continued focus will be necessary on preventing household food waste, which forms the largest percentage of waste. We continue to support businesses to help citizens buy what they need and use what they buy through supporting WRAP in developing best practice guidance for industry and funding citizen campaigns such as Love Food Hate Waste and Food Waste Action Week. We regularly monitor and evaluate the progress of these interventions.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to introduce a requirement for (a) manufacturers, (b) supermarkets and (c) restaurants to specify which type of milk is used in their products.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Where prepacked food is made with milk as an ingredient, this must be declared in the ingredients list. If it is not cow’s milk but the milk of another mammal, this must also be made clear. Similarly, if any alternative products, for example oat or soya drink, are used in food, the ingredients list must state this accurately.
A full list of ingredients is not required for food sold in restaurants, however as milk is one of the substances causing allergies or intolerances for which information must always be available to consumers, its presence must be made available to restaurant consumers on request. Similarly, if alternative products, for example plant-based drinks, are made using ingredients that are among those allergens that must be indicated, for example oats or almonds, this information must be made available to consumers on request.
Food businesses that supply other businesses with food intended for supply to consumers or to mass caterers should also ensure that sufficient information is provided to enable, when required, the provision of mandatory information to the final consumer.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department made of the number of older people living in areas serviced by Thames Water who have been left without access to water for more than 24 hours in the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Under the Security and Emergency Measures Direction (SEMD), companies have to provide an annual self-assessment of whether their emergency plans include prompt identification and support of vulnerable customers, including transient vulnerabilities and customers who are not on the Priority Service Register. Assurance and enforcement of SEMD requirements is undertaken by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). However, neither DWI or Defra collects data on the number of vulnerable people in each water region.
All water companies have priority service registers, which customers voluntarily sign up to. The Priority Services Register is a free support service that makes sure extra help is available to people in vulnerable situations. The number of customers signed up to Thames Water’s priority service register has increased from 60,020 in 2017-18 to 284,379 in 2021-22.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the number of vulnerable people living in areas serviced by Thames Water who have been left without access to water for more than 24 hours in the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Under the Security and Emergency Measures Direction (SEMD), companies have to provide an annual self-assessment of whether their emergency plans include prompt identification and support of vulnerable customers, including transient vulnerabilities and customers who are not on the Priority Service Register. Assurance and enforcement of SEMD requirements is undertaken by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). However, neither DWI or Defra collects data on the number of vulnerable people in each water region.
All water companies have priority service registers, which customers voluntarily sign up to. The Priority Services Register is a free support service that makes sure extra help is available to people in vulnerable situations. The number of customers signed up to Thames Water’s priority service register has increased from 60,020 in 2017-18 to 284,379 in 2021-22.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with OFWAT on number of leaks, pipe bursts and sewage leaks reported by Thames Water in the past five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
My officials and I regularly discuss with Ofwat a number of issues across the water sector including the subjects raised in your question and the performance of individual companies.
Our Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat (SPS) published in 2022, and replacing the previous statement from 2017, sets out our expectations for water company action to renew and replace the water network. It outlines that Ofwat will promote good asset management and challenge companies to better understand the health of their assets and adopt a strategic and long-term approach.
In December I met with Ofwat to discuss its Annual Water Company Performance Report 2021-22, and had a subsequent meeting with Ofwat and Thames to discuss its performance, including leakage, mains repair, supply interruptions, sewer collapse and sewer flooding.
Ofwat have required all companies to produce an action plan to address their performance issues and I have been clear that I will be monitoring progress closely.