Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that water companies reduce water waste and overflows.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have been repeatedly clear to water companies that they must tackle sewage overflows urgently, and the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan will deliver the largest infrastructure investment in water company history to clean up our rivers. Under the Environment Act we have improved monitoring and the transparency of data related to sewage overflows. Event Duration Monitors will be fully rolled out by 2023. This will help monitor sewage impacts and hold water companies to account to deliver rapid improvements.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 Department is taking to ensure sufficient arable land is available for the domestic farming industry.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of food security, which is why we published the Food Strategy earlier this year. The Food Strategy puts food security at the heart of the Government's vision for the food sector. It aims to broadly maintain the current level of food that we produce domestically and boost production in sectors where there are the biggest opportunities.
We announced in the Food Strategy that we will publish a Land Use Framework for England in 2023, which will set out land-use change principles to ensure food security is balanced alongside climate and environment outcomes. These principles will guide local authorities, land managers, and others across England to move towards a more strategic use of land. We are seeking to deliver as much as we can on our limited supply of land, to meet the full range of Government commitments through multifunctional landscapes.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 help ensure British farmers remain globally competitive.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to encouraging a thriving, innovative, and globally competitive farming sector where farms can be profitable and environmentally sustainable without subsidy.
In addition, the Government is supporting investment in productivity-boosting equipment, technology, and infrastructure. The Farming Investment Fund opened in November 2021 and provides grants to farmers, foresters, and growers (including contractors to these sectors) that will help their businesses to prosper.
Innovation also ensures British farmers remain globally competitive. Through our £270 million Farming Innovation Programme, farmers and growers in England can apply for funding to develop new, innovative methods and technologies. Amongst others, we are funding projects to develop robots that can pick fruit, vertical farms, and new ways to process slurry to convert it into fertiliser.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 plans to take to tackle littering in coastal areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils are responsible for keeping public land clear of litter and Defra is committed to supporting them in doing so. We published the Litter Strategy for England in April 2017, setting out our aim to deliver a substantial reduction in litter. We have almost doubled the maximum fixed penalty fine for littering to £150. Through a recent grant scheme administered by the environmental charity WRAP, we have also awarded almost £1m to local councils to provide new litter bins. We have been proud to support national clean-up days such as the Great British Spring Clean and the Great British Beach Clean, and we will continue do so in future. Measures in the Environment Bill, including the Deposit Return Scheme and restrictions on single-use plastic items, will also provide significant additional support to local councils in tackling this issue.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department and its agencies have made of the effect of residential gardens on biodiversity.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
There are a number of research studies that demonstrate the value of domestic gardens for wildlife. For example, a 2019 study led by the University of Bristol found that bees were more abundant in well managed gardens and allotments than most other urban land uses.
Under the National Pollinator Strategy the Government works with research, voluntary and private sector partners to develop advice so that everyone can provide and manage nesting and feeding habitat for bees and other insects in their gardens, window boxes, allotments or community gardens. We promote this advice through the “Bees’ Needs” website and through the annual “Bees’ Needs Week” campaign to celebrate and encourage nationwide action.
We are also addressing the needs of biodiversity in urban areas through plans to introduce a biodiversity net gain requirement. This will help to ensure that new developments include wildlife-friendly green spaces. The biodiversity metric that will be used to measure biodiversity net gain takes account of newly created gardens, so that this policy could help to incentivise the creation of gardens which have greater potential to become havens for local species.
We will continue to work in partnership with scientists and practitioners to review and improve the evidence base to inform our policy and we will be sharing examples of nature-friendly gardening during the 2019 Year of Green Action.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to maintain animal rights through legislation after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has been very clear that leaving the EU will not lead to a lowering of our high animal welfare standards, and is making good on our commitment to make the UK a world leader in the care and protection of animals as we leave the EU.
Our regulatory system will offer at least the same level of assurance of animal welfare following our departure from the EU as it does now. The EU Withdrawal Act will ensure that existing EU standards are maintained once we leave the EU. For instance, existing bans on imports of chlorinated chicken and hormone beef have been transferred into UK law and will remain in place after we leave.
We are actively exploring options for strengthening the UK system moving forward. These include plans to increase maximum penalties for animal cruelty from six months’ to five years’ imprisonment. We are also considering what more can be done to improve animal welfare standards in the context of our future agricultural policy and are looking to control exports of live animals for slaughter.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 mitigate the effects of tech farming initiatives on the livelihood of people employed in the farming industry.
Answered by George Eustice
The UK is home to world-leading farmers who have been producing high-quality food while playing a vital role in protecting the environment and keeping our rural areas and communities economically healthy. When we leave the EU the possibilities for healthy growth are all the greater and the Government is keen to work with industry so that agriculture is an exciting and forward looking industry that attracts talented people. The use of the latest and emerging technologies will play an important role in creating a profitable farming sector.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 ensure the continuation of UK clean air policy as provided for in EU Directive 2008/50/EC after the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government is fully committed to improving air quality and we published our new Clean Air Strategy this month, which has been praised by the World Health Organisation as ‘an example for the rest of the world to follow’.
We have already put into statute targets for 2030 and have also made the necessary technical amendments through statutory instruments for continuity of legislation for after leaving the EU.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 plans to introduce legislative proposals for statutory fisheries regulation to ensure a UK competitive advantage over the EU after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
The Fisheries Bill will provide the framework for the UK to take control of our fisheries and to deliver much needed reforms that better suit our fishing industries.
The Withdrawal Act ensures that that we have fully workable regimes in place from Day 1 and the Fisheries Bill will provide England with the necessary tools to deliver much needed reforms once we leave the EU.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
What steps he is taking to reduce plastic waste in England.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Our Resources and Waste Strategy, which we will publish in the autumn, will explain how we will eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. The Government intends to ban the sale of plastic straws, drink stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds. There are also plans to introduce a deposit return scheme in England. Both approaches are subject to consultation. This builds on the success of the carrier bag charge which has taken 9 billion carrier bags out of circulation. As stated in the 25 Year Environment Plan, we will review the producer responsibility schemes.