Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 protect nature.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We have already announced a legally binding target to halt nature’s decline by 2030. We have an extensive policy programme, including environmental land management schemes, biodiversity net gain, woodlands for water, and more.
We have established over 360,000 acres of new habitat, helping to ensure we leave the environment in a better state than we found it.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 (a) protect and (b) expand hedgerows in urban environments.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Urban hedgerows are already offered protection through planning decisions. Local authorities have the ability to impose enforceable planning conditions on a developer to protect hedges or trees assessed as being worthy of retention, which might otherwise be harmed by construction or the new land-use.
Developments which are subject to the Environment’s Act biodiversity gain requirement will also have to measure their impact on hedgerows with the biodiversity metric. Any losses will have to be compensated for with new or enhanced hedgerows, either on the development site or elsewhere.
All wild birds, their eggs and their nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which prohibits killing, injuring, or taking of wild birds or taking or damaging their eggs and nests, providing further important protections for most hedgerows and wild birds.
Furthermore, when the delivering the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 biodiversity duty, which is strengthened in the Environment Act 2021, a local authority could consider whether to plant hedgerows in their area as a demonstration of positive, active commitment to enhancing biodiversity.
In addition, our £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund has kick-started a pipeline of 159 nature-based projects to restore nature, tackle climate change and connect people with the natural environment. In round 1 The Tree Council led the ‘Close the Gap’ Hedgerow Project which has planted 51km of new and restored hedgerow in urban and rural areas, working closely with farmers and community groups.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential (a) implications for her policies of differences between local council recycling policies and (b) merits of introducing a uniform UK-wide recycling policy.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Waste is a devolved policy and the devolved administrations have their own arrangements for household recycling and waste collections.
Following support at consultation, the Environment Act 2021 amends the Environmental Protection Act to stipulate that all local authorities in England will be required to collect a core set of materials for recycling. Last year we held a second consultation on implementation timelines, materials in scope and exemptions. We will publish a response and final impact assessment in due course.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 to extend protections to (a) urban and (b) countryside hedgerows that are deemed important to the character of local landscapes.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
HM Government recognises the importance and value of hedgerows, which have a key role in conserving and enhancing biodiversity.
Although there is local variation, research has indicated that, nationally, over 70% of hedgerows in England and Wales are 'important' and protected by the Hedgerow Regulations. The Regulations do not cover urban hedges which are covered by the planning system but do play a valuable role in providing statutory protection for a large proportion of hedgerows in the countryside. Although the risk of removal of Hedgerows is now extremely low compared to when the Regulations came into effect, we are currently exploring the best possible ways to further protect and enhance hedgerows as an important habitat.
In addition, through planning decisions, local authorities have the ability to impose enforceable planning conditions on a developer to protect hedges or trees assessed as being worthy of retention, which might otherwise be harmed by construction or the new land-use. Developments which are subject to the Environment’s Act biodiversity gain requirement will also have to measure their impact on hedgerows with the biodiversity metric. Any losses will have to be compensated for with new or enhanced hedgerows, either on the development site or elsewhere
Furthermore, all wild birds, their eggs and their nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which prohibits killing, injuring, or taking of wild birds or taking or damaging their eggs and nests, providing further important protections for most hedgerows and wild birds.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made for the implications of her policies of the outcome of the Client Earth court case on the Government’s net zero strategy.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Net Zero Strategy, which includes ambitious policies for my department, remains HM Government policy and has not been quashed. The judge made no criticism about the substance of our plans which are well on track and, in fact, the claimants themselves described them as ‘laudable’ during the proceedings. We anticipate publishing a more detailed response to the Court Order on the Net Zero Strategy in due course.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 deter directors of water companies from contravening legislation on sewage dumping.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We have increased the number of storm overflows monitored across the network from 5% in 2016 to almost 90% now, and we will reach 100% cover by end of next year. Following new data coming to light as a result of increased monitoring, the regulators (the Environment Agency and Ofwat) have launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water company sewage discharges ever, at over 2200 treatment works.
We have been clear with the regulators that they should not hesitate to use their existing statutory powers to hold companies to account. For example, this can include criminal prosecution by the Environment Agency for which there can be unlimited fines. Since 2015, the Environment Agency has brought 54 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of almost £140 million.
The Environment Secretary also held a call with water company chief executives on his first day in office, to outline that their current performance is not good enough, and that customers and the environment deserve better. We asked all water companies to write to HM Government on how they will significantly improve their environmental performance and are now working with them to establish where they can do more, and opportunities to speed up delivery.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact of LED streetlights on trends in the level of insect populations.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra has funded or co-funded national and international assessments of drivers of change on insects and wider biodiversity such as the global IPBES Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production. This report notes the effects of artificial light in general on nocturnal insects may be growing.
HM Government has not made any assessment of the impacts of LED streetlights or changes in spectrum on insect population trends. We will continue to work closely with researchers, NGOs and across HM Government to improve our understanding of the impacts of light pollution, from LEDs or otherwise.
HM Government is taking action to ensure that light pollution is managed for wildlife and for people, through controls in the planning system, the statutory nuisance regime and improvements in street lighting. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution on local amenity, dark landscapes and nature conservation.
Protecting insects is a priority, and we are taking action to support them and the wider natural environment of which they are a vital component. Our commitment to setting a legally binding target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030, underlines our ambition.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the Real Bread Campaign's proposals to necessitate the display of ingredients lists for products that are sold unwrapped.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 16 September 2022 to PQ 45032.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 make it his policy that reusable security tags are used rather than RFID tags; and for what reason there was a change made from reusable tags to RFID tags.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Our approach to using resources efficiently and reducing waste overall is set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy (2018). There is no specific policy relating to RFID tags and the decision by businesses on which tags to use would be a commercial one in which they are expected to apply the principles of the Waste Hierarchy. However, we intend to keep using our Environment Act 2021 powers to target throwaway culture and incentivise consumers and businesses to choose reusable alternatives.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require retailers to display ingredients lists for bakery products that are sold unwrapped.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has high standards on the information provided on food labels. Existing food labelling rules, including ingredient listing, ensure that food is produced safely and labelled effectively to enable consumers to make informed choices on the food they buy and consume. For practical reasons, there are fewer mandatory labelling rules when food is sold loose. For loose food, the name of the food and allergen information must be made available, and for loose meat products, the amount of meat in those products must be provided
The Government is committed to optimising the information that is available to consumers, and the Government Food Strategy sets out work that we will be taking forward on consumer information and transparency.