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Written Question
Thames Water: Land
Wednesday 5th July 2023

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the value is of land (a) given and (b) sold by the Government to Thames Water since 2010.

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

The available records show that the Department has neither gifted nor sold any land to Thames Water since 2010.

Our principal non-departmental public body, the Environment Agency, has a closer working relationship with Water Companies. The relationship arises under the Water Industries Act 1989. The Agency has confirmed that since 2010 it has completed two transactions involving the transfer of infrastructure land to Thames Water listed:

a) Land given

A zero-sum transfer of an observation borehole site located on High Street, Meysey Hampton, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 5JP on 31/07/2015. This borehole site (located at a Thames Water pumping station complex) was incorrectly registered to the National Rivers Authority (as was) in 1989, and ownership was subsequently transferred to Thames Water in 2015.

b) Land sold

Disposal of a pumping station site adjacent to 21 Esher Road, East Molesey, Surrey, KT8 0AH on 04/09/2013 for £100.


Written Question
Seals: Conservation
Thursday 22nd July 2021

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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 the safety and protection of seal populations along British coastlines.

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

Both native grey seal and harbour seal species are protected in the UK under relevant wildlife legislation. Please refer to the following link for details:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protected-marine-species/seals

In addition, recent Government amendments to the Fisheries Act 2020 offer stronger protection for seals. The amendments prevent the intentional or reckless killing of seals in English, Welsh and Northern Irish waters as a result of commercial fishing.

Together with the Seal Alliance, we launched a new Government-backed campaign ‘Give Seals Space’ earlier this year to reduce the impact that human disturbance can have on these vulnerable marine mammals.

Defra is also providing funding to understand better the specific threats that seals are facing along the UK coast. This includes additional surveys to strengthen our understanding of fluctuations in harbour seal populations and trialling non-lethal deterrents to reduce interactions between seals and fishing vessels.


Written Question
Chemicals: Regulation
Wednesday 23rd June 2021

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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 Environmental Audit Committee, Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Life, published in July 2019, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the regulation of toxic chemicals used in furniture.

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

Flame retardants which were used in soft furnishings that fulfil the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) criteria are banned from use or restricted globally under the UN Stockholm Convention. Other known harmful flame retardants have been identified as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) and are on the candidate list for authorisation. This is the first step for a harmful chemical to be banned subject to stringent controls under the UK REACH authorisation process.

The UK supports global action on harmful chemicals. The Environment Agency is a leader in understanding these chemicals and the UK has recently proposed another flame retardant, medium chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs), to the Stockholm Convention for consideration as a POP, which could lead to a ban on its use in the future.

The Government has announced that it will develop a new approach to the Furniture and Furnishing (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 which will focus on safety outcomes and will be underpinned by a set of essential safety requirements, which all upholstered furniture placed on the market must meet.

The current regulations do not specify the use of chemical flame retardants as a means of making furniture fire safe and the Government continues to welcome innovative approaches that deliver safe outcomes for consumers.


Written Question
Water Supply: Chemicals and Lead
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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 monitor the level of (a) lead and (b) other chemicals in the water supply.

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

Drinking water is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Water companies are responsible for monitoring the level of lead and other chemicals in public supplies and local authorities are responsible in private supplies. The drinking water regulations for public and private supplies set sampling frequencies and standards to be achieved. Water companies and local authorities are responsible for identifying risks to the quality of the water and are required to sample the supply for any element, organism or substance that may be at a level which would constitute a potential danger to human health.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate is the regulator for drinking water quality. They hold water companies to account and take action to ensure any failures are addressed. They also provide technical and scientific advice to local authorities.

In 2019, public water supply compliance with the drinking water regulations was 99.96% and private water supply was 96.6%.


Written Question
Agriculture and Food: Genetically Modified Organisms
Friday 21st May 2021

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to ease restrictions on (a) allowing the growing of genetically modified crops and (b) the use of other genetic technologies in food and farming.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Defra is committed to following a science-based approach to GM crop approval for marketing as food and feed. Under current rules, GM crops and the products derived from them must be authorised before they can be used. This authorisation is dependent on a favourable risk assessment from our independent scientific experts. Defra's policy is to maintain high standards that protect people, animals and the environment.

Defra is currently reviewing the responses to the Government's recent consultation on the regulation of genetic technologies, which also sought views on wider GM reform. The consultation ended on 17 March and a Government response will be published in due course.


Written Question
Fishing Catches: Nature Conservation
Monday 26th April 2021

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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 protect dolphins, porpoises and whales in the UK from fishing gear; and whether he is planning to implement bycatch solutions to protect endangered species.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The UK Government funds a comprehensive and well-respected bycatch monitoring programme which helps to protect sensitive marine species and to monitor and reduce any potential fisheries impacts on these species. The UK has an additional observer programme which collects data on fisheries catch and bycatch for scientific advice and management.

The Government also funds Clean Catch UK which is a collaborative research programme dedicated to better monitoring, reducing, and, where possible, eliminating bycatch of sensitive species in UK fisheries. We are taking a risk-based approach to implementing this, focussing on fisheries which experience the highest rates of bycatch in the first instance. As a known hotspot for bycatch, work is already underway in the South West of England. We are currently undertaking trials for a range of mitigation measures in different fisheries along Cornwall’s south coast and will be looking to include more fisheries in this over the next 12 months.

In addition, we also fund the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), which annually reports upon threats facing cetaceans through carrying out post-mortems on stranded animals. As of 1 April 2021, we let a new 10-year contract for this programme, which demonstrates our long-term commitment to monitoring and mitigating such threats, including bycatch.


Written Question
Waste Management: Business
Thursday 10th December 2020

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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 has taken to encourage businesses to (a) improve the recyclability of their products including plastic aluminium laminates and (b) reduce waste sent to landfill.

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

In our 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy we committed to review and consult on measures such as extended producer responsibility and standards for a number of products, starting with packaging.

In 2019 we consulted on proposals to reform the UK’s current packaging producer responsibility system. Government’s aim through this reform is to reduce the amount of unnecessary and difficult to recycle packaging and increase the amount of packaging that is recycled. Measures being considered to drive increased recycling through the reformed system include requiring producers to fund the full net costs of managing packaging once it becomes waste, setting higher recycling targets on producers and basing producer ‘disposal’ cost fees on the design and recyclability of packaging, making hard to recycle packaging more expensive to use.

We are taking new powers in the Environment Bill to enable us to introduce extended producer responsibility, as well as taking powers in the Bill on resource efficiency to enable government to set minimum standards for products, and to introduce requirements for improved labelling and consumer information focused on, for example, recyclability and recycled content.

We are also taking new powers in the Environment Bill to require waste collectors in England to collect a number of recyclable waste streams from households and businesses. We plan to undertake second consultations on extended producer responsibility for packaging and on consistency in recycling in 2021. Plastic aluminium laminated packaging will be in scope of each. Through achieving outcomes including improving resource efficiency and incentivising the recycling of packaging waste these proposals will contribute to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.

In addition, in October 2020 we introduced a statutory permit condition for landfill and incineration permit holders stating they must not accept waste paper, metal, plastic or glass that has been separately collected for the purpose of preparing for re-use or recycling, unless the waste results from the treatment of that material and landfill/ incineration delivers the best environmental outcome, in accordance with the waste hierarchy.


Written Question
Equal Pay
Tuesday 12th March 2019

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make an estimate of the number of companies that have not yet filed accurate gender pay gap data for 2017-18.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

100% of employers believed to be in scope of the regulations reported their figures by August 2018.

It is an employer’s legal responsibility to ensure that they report on time and that their figures are accurate. The vast majority of the over 10,500 that reported last year have completed the calculations correctly. In 2018, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) commenced enforcement action against 100 employers suspected of publishing inaccurate gender pay gap figures.

The EHRC enforcement found that they were a result of errors, rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead. They have worked closely with employers to identify and correct errors - all of whom have now either verified their figures or identified and corrected calculation errors.

Employers have until 30 March, for the public sector, and 4 April, for the private and voluntary sector, to submit their data for the second year. The data for the 2018-19 reporting year will be reviewed once the deadline has passed.


Written Question
Equal Pay
Tuesday 12th March 2019

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the Guardian article of 28 February 2019 entitled Lack of sanctions makes a mockery of gender pay gap reports, if she will make an estimate of the number of companies that have provided mathematically impossible figures for gender pay gap data for (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

100% of employers believed to be in scope of the regulations reported their figures by August 2018.

It is an employer’s legal responsibility to ensure that they report on time and that their figures are accurate. The vast majority of the over 10,500 that reported last year have completed the calculations correctly. In 2018, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) commenced enforcement action against 100 employers suspected of publishing inaccurate gender pay gap figures.

The EHRC enforcement found that they were a result of errors, rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead. They have worked closely with employers to identify and correct errors - all of whom have now either verified their figures or identified and corrected calculation errors.

Employers have until 30 March, for the public sector, and 4 April, for the private and voluntary sector, to submit their data for the second year. The data for the 2018-19 reporting year will be reviewed once the deadline has passed.


Written Question
Hunting Act 2004
Monday 12th September 2016

Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to amend or repeal the Hunting Act 2004 during this Parliament.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

The Government stands by its manifesto commitment to give Parliament the opportunity to repeal the Hunting Act on a free vote, with a Government Bill in Government time.