Asked by: Ben Howlett (Conservative - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the prevalence of giant hogweed.
Answered by George Eustice
Giant hogweed has been present in the UK for over a century and is widespread. Biocontrol methods have been considered in the past but suitable candidates from the plant’s native range have not been found.
Giant hogweed is, however, listed on schedule 9 and subject to section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to plant, or cause this species to grow, in the wild. In addition, Local Authorities and the Police now have powers to issue Community Protection Notices under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, requiring landowners to take action to control species like giant hogweed where they are having a detrimental effect on local people’s quality of life.
Asked by: Ben Howlett (Conservative - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve air quality in order to assist people with lung diseases.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We are fully committed to complying with EU Air Quality Standards as soon as possible. We have already committed over £2 billion since 2011 in transport measures to improve air quality. On 12 September we launched a public consultation on our draft revised Air Quality plans for nitrogen dioxide, which set out a range of local, national and European actions to lower levels of harmful emissions. The consultation closes on 6 November 2015.
Government departments and agencies work together to prioritise action and offer the best advice to vulnerable groups to help mitigate the health effects of air pollution. Our daily air quality forecast includes accompanying health messages to the public based on advice provided by Public Health England.
Asked by: Ben Howlett (Conservative - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department made prior to laying the Flood Reinsurance (Scheme Funding and Administration) Regulations 2015 of whether the scope of the definition of home insurance in the regulations covered only those home insurers who explicitly protected against flood risk.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We consulted widely and worked very closely with the Association of British Insurers to ensure that the Flood Reinsurance (Scheme Funding and Administration) Regulations 2015 reflect the intended policy position. As set out in the Regulations, Flood Re will assess whether an insurer is liable for levy payments (and the amount of levy they are due to pay) based on the amount of domestic property insurance an insurer covers in the UK market.