Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
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 equity of the transition to environmental land management payments for farms of different sizes.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The seven year agricultural transition period in England, as set out in the Agriculture Bill, will make sure there is a gradual transition from the current system to the new, avoiding a cliff edge for farm businesses of all sizes. It will give all farmers sufficient time to adapt and prepare for the new Environmental Land Management system which will be piloted and rolled out during the transition.
During the transition, we will apply reductions to Direct Payments in a fair way, with higher reductions initially applied to amounts in higher payment bands.
This method balances the views of those who feel recipients of the highest payments should initially face higher reductions with the strong calls for the reductions to be shared amongst all farmers from the start of the transition.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the report of the Committee on Climate Change entitled, Progress in preparing for climate change, published on 10 July, for what reasons good progress was not made in any of the 33 sectors assessed by that Committee on actions needed to manage climate change risks.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government welcomes the report by the Committee on Climate Change. We are committed to taking robust action to improve resilience to climate change, and will formally respond to the Committee’s detailed recommendations in October, in line with the timetable set out in the Climate Change Act.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative data and analysis his Department holds on (a) operational practice and (b) waste content in municipal waste incineration sites in (i) England and (ii) Italy (iii) Scandinavia and (iv) other Member States of the EU.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
None; however data and analysis on these systems is held on the European Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Bureau’s (EIPPCB) Best Available Techniques Information System.
Information on the operational practice of waste incineration plants across Europe is also contained within the current draft of the Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document published by the EIPPCB, available here http://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reference/BREF/WI/WI_BREF_FD_Black_Watermark.pdf
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page five of the Public Health England position statement on The Impact on Health of Emissions to Air from Municipal Waste Incinerators, what information he holds on the development of work in that area.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I refer the Hon. Member to the reply given on 26 June 2019 to PQ 266068, which details PHE’s research in this area. PHE undertakes various air quality research projects, working with academic partners, to review the evidence for the health effects of air pollutants, regarding the health effects of particulate matter (PM0.1 and PM1).
PHE is a partner in two health protection research units funded by the National Institute for Health Research, whose remit includes air pollution research. These projects can be viewed at the following link: http://www.hpru-ech.nihr.ac.uk/
PHE also draws on scientific studies and reviews published in the peer reviewed literature and by authoritative bodies.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
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 improve the quality of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in National Parks.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Our 25 Year Environment Plan commits to restoring 75% of our one million hectares of land and freshwater in protected sites to favourable condition including in National Parks.
We will continue to provide funding for the positive management of Sites of Special Scientific Interests through our agri-environment schemes. In advance of the introduction of the new Environmental Land Management System, we are using our tests and trials programme as a means to work with farmers, land managers and stakeholders, including the National Parks so that they can contribute to the contents and design of the new system.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect on local authority recycling rates of combining business waste with household recycling statistics; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Municipal waste is the combination of household waste collected by local authorities and household-like business waste. The impact assessment on consistency of municipal recycling collections produced by the Government and the Waste and Resources Action Programme estimates a baseline recycling level of 40% for municipal waste. Measures announced in the Resources and Waste Strategy can increase the overall municipal recycling rate to 65%.
Our consultation on ‘Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England’, which closed on 13 May, sought views on how to increase the quantity and quality of materials collected for recycling from businesses. We are analysing the responses to the consultation and will be publishing the Government’s response to it shortly.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
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 made an assessment of the effect of a deposit return scheme on the size of local authority household recycling collections; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The effect of a deposit return scheme (DRS) on household recycling collections is set out on page 32 of the DRS impact assessment: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environment/introducing-a-deposit-return-scheme/supporting_documents/depositreturnconsultia.pdf
The Department has recently consulted on introducing a DRS. This closed on May 13, and the Impact Assessment will be updated in due course to reflect any new evidence received.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations he has received from (a) the US Administration and (b) lobbyists from the US pork production sector on the import of pork products from pigs fed with the additive ractopamine.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
According to our records, the Secretary of State has not received any representations from the US on the import of pork products from pigs fed with the additive ractopamine.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by which date do operators of municipal waste incineration sites have to submit information to the Environment Agency on their emissions of (a) PM2.5 and (b) PM 10 for 2018.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Operators were required to submit information on the total annual emissions of all relevant pollutants (including PM2.5 and PM10) by the end of February 2019.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Environmental Land Management scheme pilots have been identified and agreed; what the names are of those pilots; how many of those pilots are (a) underway and (b) pending; and how many applications were rejected.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Environmental Land Management schemes (ELM) are scheduled to be rolled out from late 2024, with a national pilot beginning in late 2021. Detailed planning of the pilot is in train. The pilot will run for three years and will aim to assess the end-to-end operability and deliverability of the scheme, and allow us to identify and refine any issues or barriers that occur in practice.
To support the development of ELM we are undertaking a number of test and trials. The work is being facilitated by a range of stakeholders, including farmer groups, representative bodies and non-governmental organisations, and it covers a range of geographies and sectors. 47 proposals are being taken forward in phase 1. We are working closely with stakeholders to finalise these. Depending on the complexity of the test or trial we anticipate the first of these commencing shortly. We have received over 200 proposals for phase 2. We will prioritise those proposals that fill gaps in scheme delivery components, outcomes and land management sectors identified from the coverage of the first 47 proposals. At the present time, no proposals have been rejected.
We are working with stakeholders to understand how much funding they might require from the Government to support the delivery of the tests and trials in line with value for money principles.