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Written Question
Food
Monday 6th December 2021

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government’s response to the National Food Strategy will consider the significant pressures that the food and logistics sectors are under and deliver strategies to tackle those pressures.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. There are well-established ways of industry and government working together to respond to risks that arise, including the recent challenges to our supply chains brought on by global pressures. The forthcoming UK Food Resilience Report will set out the detailed evidence around the resilience of our food supply chains.

The Government Food Strategy will build on the UK Food Resilience Report, and identify new opportunities to drive long-term change to make the food system healthier, more sustainable, more resilient, and more accessible for those across the UK. This will include consideration of the immediate pressures facing the sector.


Written Question
Food
Friday 3rd December 2021

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government plans to publish its response to the National Food Strategy.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The forthcoming Government Food Strategy is a once in a generation opportunity to create a food system that feeds our nation today and protects it for tomorrow. It will build on existing work across Government and identify new opportunities to make the food system healthier, more sustainable, more resilient, and more accessible for those across the UK. We will also look to drive growth and innovation across the agri-food chain and set a direction for key players within the food system.

The Government will consider the evidence of Henry Dimbleby’s independent review throughout the development of the Food Strategy.

The Food Strategy will be published in early 2022.


Written Question
Coal
Friday 6th March 2020

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that people in coalfield communities are not disproportionately economically affected by the proposed ban on coal.

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

As stated when we consulted on our proposals, we want to ensure that our measures achieve environmental and health benefits but do not have an adverse impact on vulnerable groups. Our response to the consultation on the cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood, published on 21 February, reflects this approach.

We know that the burning of coal for domestic purposes is harmful to human health and the environment. That is why we will be working to help households that currently burn the most polluting solid fuels to shift to the most suitable, cleaner alternative for them. We will use the phased transition period to work alongside coal merchants to advise and educate their direct delivery customers on the benefits of alternative fuels. Analysis has been carried out that shows cleaner alternative fuels, such as Manufactured Solid Fuels (MSFs), are more energy efficient than coal, making them cheaper to burn. MSFs are available to be purchased in all areas of England.


Written Question
Animal Welfare
Thursday 25th July 2019

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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

What steps he is taking to prevent animal cruelty.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

This Government is leading the way in promoting animal welfare by bringing forward legislation that will increase the maximum custodial penalty for animal cruelty in England from 6 months’ to 5 years’ imprisonment. We have also made it a requirement for all slaughterhouses to have CCTV; updated and improved the laws regulating dog breeding and pet sales; and banned the third party sale of puppies and kittens.


Written Question
Animal Welfare: East Midlands
Wednesday 17th July 2019

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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 adequacy of the number of animal inspectors in the East Midlands.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, Local Authorities, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the police all have powers of entry to inspect complaints of suspected animal cruelty and to take forward prosecutions.

It is for local authorities, such as those within the East Midlands region, to determine how to prioritise their resources as well as the number of animal inspectors they appoint under the Animal Welfare Act. Local Authorities must be able to make decisions based on local needs and resource priorities and the arrangements that work best for them.

We do not hold data centrally on the number of inspectors appointed under the Act.


Written Question
Pollinators: Midlands
Friday 12th July 2019

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken in the Midlands to support pollinators.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

The National Pollinator Strategy sets out actions taken across the country to support pollinators, underpinned by partnership delivery at the local level. Grow Wild at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are working on a range of projects re-creating habitats across the Midlands.

Natural England are working with conservation organisations and landowners on the Back from the Brink programme, a £7.7m partnership funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and others to put over 100 priority species on the road to recovery by 2020. Two Back from the Brink projects are supporting pollinators in the Midlands.

On 28 June, Butterfly Conservation, the project lead, announced that reintroduction work through the ‘Roots of Rockingham’ project in Rockingham Forest, Northamptonshire, has seen the Chequered Skipper become the first previously extinct butterfly to have bred successfully in an English woodland for more than 40 years.

Butterfly Conservation also lead Back from the Brink’s ‘Limestone’s Living Legacies’ project, working with landowners from the Cotswolds to Warmington in the West Midlands to restore and manage a network of limestone grassland sites which will provide suitable habitat to many species of pollinators.

The Government is also supporting the development and testing of pollinator habitat mapping to help voluntary bodies and land managers to create pollinator-friendly landscapes. This includes funding to support Buglife’s ‘B-Lines’ mapping project in the Midlands and other regions.

In 2018, our Bees’ Needs Champions Awards recognised a number of councils and community groups from across the Midlands for their own exemplary work to support pollinators.


Written Question
Air Pollution: Nottinghamshire
Monday 8th April 2019

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to tackle air pollution in Nottinghamshire.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

This Government has taken strong action to improve air quality across the UK, including in Nottinghamshire.

On 20 November 2018, the Government approved Nottingham City Council’s plan to deliver compliance with legal limits of NO2 in the shortest possible time by retrofitting 171 buses with technology to reduce emissions (funded through the Government’s Clean Bus Technology Fund) and changing the age and emissions policy for hackney carriages and supporting an increase in low emission taxis. £1 million from the Government’s Clean Air Fund has been awarded to provide a licensing discount for drivers, a taxi rank with charging points, fund home chargers and expand the council’s ‘try before you buy’ scheme. The Government has already provided Nottingham with funding to support the conversion of the Council’s fleet.[1]

In addition to Nottingham City Council’s plan, which addresses the worst NO2 exceedances in Nottinghamshire, the Government has provided funding for a range of initiatives across the region which will improve air quality, including:

- £1.4 million to retrofit 112 buses in Nottinghamshire County Council (Clean Bus Technology Fund)[2];

- £7.9 million to support the purchase of ultra-low emission buses and supporting infrastructure in Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council (Low Emission Bus Scheme 2015 and Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme 2018)[3]&[4]; and

- £6.1 million to support Nottingham City Council (partnering with Nottinghamshire County Council and Derby City Council) becoming a Go Ultra Low City[5].

[1] The Government approves Nottingham’s air quality plan: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-approves-nottinghams-air-quality-plan

[2] The Government funding boost for bus industry in drive to improve air quality: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-funding-boost-for-bus-industry-in-drive-to-improve-air-quality

[3] Low Emission Bus Scheme 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/541695/low-emission-bus-scheme-winning-bidders.csv/preview

[4] Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/774207/ultra-low-emission-bus-scheme-winning-bidders.csv/preview

[5] Go Ultra Low Nottingham: https://www.transportnottingham.com/driving/ultra-low-emission-vehicles/


Written Question
Air Pollution: Nottinghamshire
Wednesday 3rd April 2019

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of deaths that can be attributed to poor air quality in Nottinghamshire in each year since 2010.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants estimates that the mortality burden of the air pollution mixture (based on both PM2.5 and NO2) in the UK is equivalent to 28,000 to 36,000 deaths per year. Mortality burden is a statistical way of assessing the impact of diseases and pollution. Deaths of individuals are not attributed directly to air quality. The equivalent figures at a more localised level are not available.

Public Health England has, however, estimated the fraction of adult mortality attributable to long-term exposure to particulate air pollution at local authority level in the Public Health Outcomes Framework, available to view and search online at: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework.


Written Question
Plastics: Nottinghamshire
Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the feasibility of banning the use of non-recyclable plastics in Nottinghamshire.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the Rt. Hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, Tom Brake, on 25 February 2019, PQ 224037.


Written Question
Food: Nottinghamshire
Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to support the food and beverage sector in Nottinghamshire.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government works closely with the full spectrum of food and drink businesses across the country to promote growth, jobs, productivity and exports.

As elsewhere, we engage with businesses in Nottinghamshire, both directly and through trade associations, regional food groups and other businesses groups. We support them in their efforts to address economic challenges, understand and mitigate regulatory and compliance issues and prepare successfully for our departure from the EU.