Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish a UK Ocean Recovery Strategy in summer 2021; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has an existing strategy - The UK Marine Strategy. The overall objective of the UK Marine Strategy supports the UK’s vision for ‘clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas’ and is consistent with our commitments in the 25 Year Environment Plan.
Achieving this vision is about protecting the marine environment, preventing its deterioration and restoring it where practical, while allowing sustainable use of marine resources.
In October 2019, we published the updated Marine Strategy Part One which sets out our assessment of the status of UK seas and our targets and indicators for the period up to 2024. In March 2021, we published our update to the Marine Strategy Part Two, which sets out the programmes we have in place to monitor progress against these targets and indicators.
We are currently preparing an update of the Marine Strategy Part Three, which sets out our Programmes of Measures designed to help us achieve or maintain the vision set out in Part One of the Strategy.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 has made of the reasons for the decrease in the export to the EU of (a) whisky, (b) cheese and (c) beef; and what steps her Department will take to tackle the decline in sales of those products to the EU.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
A unique combination of factors, including Covid lockdowns across Europe, and businesses adjusting to a new trading relationship, made it inevitable that exports of cheese and beef to the EU, would be lower during the first quarter of this year compared to last year.
The Government has always been clear that there would be new processes to export to the EU from 1 January 2021. We continue to work closely with traders and have provided extensive advice to support businesses as they adjust to the new arrangements.
The reduction in the export value of whisky to the EU was principally due to Covid-19 restrictions limiting demand from the hospitality sector. Excluding non-EU Europe, which saw a slight increase in exports, the EU saw the lowest percentage decline in exports of Scotch Whisky compared to other global regions. However, as the largest export market for whisky, the Government is working with industry to mitigate other more recent factors which may hinder exports to the EU, such as where EU member states have been requesting additional certification for whisky and other food and drink products.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 add veterinary workers to the list of critical workers.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Schools in England reopened for all pupils on 8 March 2021. The Cabinet Office previously confirmed that only vets providing services in the food chain are included as critical workers and had been able to continue to send their children to school prior to that date. This includes veterinary surgeons working in abattoirs and meat processing plants, at border control posts, and attending to livestock production.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to reduce the use of single use plastic in supermarket packaging.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Reducing the use of single use plastic packaging is important. In the 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy we set out our ambitions to double resource productivity and eliminate avoidable waste by 2050. To help us achieve this, we are reforming the packaging producer responsibility regulations and developing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging.
EPR for packaging will see packaging producers paying for the waste management costs associated with the packaging that they place on the market. This will ensure producers are thinking about the necessity of any packaging they use. Where producers use single-use packaging, it is important that it is easily collected and recycled. EPR for Packaging will see producers’ fees modulated (varied) to account for certain criteria, including recyclability. Producers who use easily recyclable packaging will pay less than those who use hard to recycle, or unrecyclable, packaging.
In developing EPR for packaging we will also take consideration of how EPR could be used to encourage packaging reuse and refill systems. We will consult on our proposals this year. This consultation will set out our proposals for the timing of implementing the reforms.
Industry, however, is already acting. The UK Plastics Pact is jointly founded between The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Ellen McArthur Foundation and is supported by the Government. The Pact brings together organisations from across the plastics supply chain with four key targets for 2025 that aim to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated. One of these targets is to eliminate single-use plastic packaging. Our proposed reforms will support the Pact in achieving those targets. Through the pact, work has been done to increase the sale of unpackaged products. The WRAP Fresh Produce Guidance was published in November 2019 which includes advice for retailers to help determine if fresh produce can be provided loose.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 have discussions with supermarkets to request that security guards act to encourage the use of masks by customers and restrict the number of customers in their stores.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK Government has regular meetings with the supermarkets, including at Ministerial level, on Covid-19 issues. This includes discussions about the measures that have supermarkets have put in place to ensure a Covid-secure environment for their customers and their staff.
We will continue to work with the supermarkets to support these activities, including how best to manage capacity in stores and to encourage the use of face coverings. On the latter we welcome the recent announcements from a number of supermarkets on the steps they are taking to encourage customers to comply with Government rules. The Secretary of State also wrote to those working in our food and drink supply chains recently, thanking them for the work they have done throughout the pandemic.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish a summary of responses from his initial consultation on cat microchipping.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government is committed to improving the welfare of cats and has a manifesto commitment to introduce compulsory microchipping of cats. In October 2019 Defra published a call for evidence on compulsory microchipping for cats, which attracted over 3,000 responses. We will be publishing a summary of the responses alongside the launch of a public consultation shortly.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 on tackling the Phytophthora austrocedri pathogen outbreaks that threaten the UK's juniper crop; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Phytophthora austrocedri was confirmed in England in 2011 and is an air and water borne pathogen of Juniper. We continue to monitor closely the spread of the pathogen and take measures to minimise its introduction, including statutory inspections and action on any findings in the plant trade, for example at nurseries. The Plant Health Service work closely with conservation organisations and other stakeholders to minimise the risk of spread in the wider environment by promoting good biosecurity practices and providing management guidance.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 ensure that the Environment Bill 2019-21 includes a requirement for slurries and digestates to be spread using low-emission equipment such as (a) trailing shoe, (b) trailing hose and (c) injection by 2025.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has made legally binding commitments to reduce ammonia emissions from 2005 levels by 8% and 16% by 2020 and 2030, respectively.
Over the next few years the Government will introduce legislation requiring farmers to reduce ammonia emissions and is already supporting farmers to undertake best practice and invest in the farm infrastructure and equipment that will reduce emissions.
The Clean Air Strategy sets out the actions that will be taken to reduce ammonia emissions in England. These include a requirement to spread slurry and digestate using low-emission spreading equipment by 2025, for slurry and digestate stores to be covered by 2027 and for manure to be rapidly incorporated into bare soil.
We have not included specific commitments to legislate in the Environment or Agriculture Bills because the Clean Air Strategy sets out the plans for legislation in this area and we have existing powers to enable introduction of the legislation to reduce ammonia emissions set out in the Strategy.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 ensure that the Environment Bill 2019-21 includes a requirement for slurry and digestate stores to be covered by 2027.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has made legally binding commitments to reduce ammonia emissions from 2005 levels by 8% and 16% by 2020 and 2030, respectively.
Over the next few years the Government will introduce legislation requiring farmers to reduce ammonia emissions and is already supporting farmers to undertake best practice and invest in the farm infrastructure and equipment that will reduce emissions.
The Clean Air Strategy sets out the actions that will be taken to reduce ammonia emissions in England. These include a requirement to spread slurry and digestate using low-emission spreading equipment by 2025, for slurry and digestate stores to be covered by 2027 and for manure to be rapidly incorporated into bare soil.
We have not included specific commitments to legislate in the Environment or Agriculture Bills because the Clean Air Strategy sets out the plans for legislation in this area and we have existing powers to enable introduction of the legislation to reduce ammonia emissions set out in the Strategy.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 including in the Environment Bill a requirement for all solid manure and solid digestate spread to bare land other than that managed in a no-till system to be incorporated rapidly within 12 hours.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has made legally binding commitments to reduce ammonia emissions from 2005 levels by 8% and 16% by 2020 and 2030, respectively.
Over the next few years the Government will introduce legislation requiring farmers to reduce ammonia emissions and is already supporting farmers to undertake best practice and invest in the farm infrastructure and equipment that will reduce emissions.
The Clean Air Strategy sets out the actions that will be taken to reduce ammonia emissions in England. These include a requirement to spread slurry and digestate using low-emission spreading equipment by 2025, for slurry and digestate stores to be covered by 2027 and for manure to be rapidly incorporated into bare soil.
We have not included specific commitments to legislate in the Environment or Agriculture Bills because the Clean Air Strategy sets out the plans for legislation in this area and we have existing powers to enable introduction of the legislation to reduce ammonia emissions set out in the Strategy.