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 his Department will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a mandatory minimum percentage of unrefined grain ingredients in products marketed using the word wholegrain.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government and the Devolved Administrations committed to carry out a review of Bread and Flour Regulations across the UK. The key proposals for change are outlined in a public consultation published on 1 September 2022 which is open for responses until 23 November 2022. The rules on bread flour already place restrictions on the use of the word 'wholemeal' and 'wheat germ'. The use of the term wholegrain covers a much wider range of foods and could be addressed within a planned update of existing guidance on food marketing terms.
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 the most recent results were of tests for PFAS levels in Thames Water.
Answered by Steve Double
In England and Wales, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has provided guidance to water companies since 2009 which ensured that two key PFAS substances were considered in their risk assessments. The guidance was updated in January 2021 to reflect current knowledge and include consideration of other PFAS:
In October 2021, the DWI wrote to water companies informing them of additional requirements for sampling, testing and monitoring for PFAS in raw water sources from which abstractions are used for drinking water. The Inspectorate is in the process of assessing the information provided by companies, so we are unable to provide specific results for Thames Water. Where appropriate, DWI will share any relevant learning on PFAS through the publicly available Chief Inspector's Report.
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 ensure that PFAS levels in Thames Water are safe.
Answered by Steve Double
In England and Wales, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has provided guidance to water companies since 2009 which ensured that two key PFAS substances were considered in their risk assessments. The guidance was updated in January 2021 to reflect current knowledge and include consideration of other PFAS:
In October 2021, the DWI wrote to water companies informing them of additional requirements for sampling, testing and monitoring for PFAS in raw water sources from which abstractions are used for drinking water. The Inspectorate is in the process of assessing the information provided by companies, so we are unable to provide specific results for Thames Water. Where appropriate, DWI will share any relevant learning on PFAS through the publicly available Chief Inspector's Report.
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 the Government has made an environmental impact assessment of the use of plastic grass in (a) residential and (b) commercial settings.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has not made an ecological assessment of the impact of the use of plastic grass in residential or commercial settings. We do however recognise that, in itself, artificial grass has no value for wildlife. Its installation can have negative impacts on soil health, biodiversity and drainage for flood prevention or alleviation if installed in place of natural earth or more positive measures such as planting flowers or trees or providing natural water features.
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 is taking to support the following sustainable farming techniques in the UK: (a) agroecological farming methods, (b) crop rotation and (c) microbial protein meat substitutes.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
(a) The objective behind the new Sustainable Farming Incentive is to support healthy soils and successful food production. That is why we are starting with two soil health standards this year. The SFI supports the choices that individual farmers make. Farmers can pick and choose the bits that work for their own holding and get paid for what works. In recent years we have seen an explosion of interest in regenerative farming practices such as mob grazing, the use of herbal leys, companion crops in arable fields to help manage pests and diseases and the use of cover crops and green manures like phacelia and nitrogen fixing legumes to reduce fertiliser input costs. The soil standards are just the first step. We are working on new standards for hedges, management of nutrients and Integrated Pest Management in 2023, and agroforestry in 2024.
(b) It is not Government policy to determine which cereals or other crops farmers should prioritise to include in their rotation. In 2021 we permanently removed Basic Payment Scheme 'greening measures' on crop diversification and ecological focus areas, meaning when farmers are making crop planting decisions, they are free to react to market signals.
Defra is keen to support farmers in their decision-making. We recently commissioned a research project which will look to identify underutilised, underdeveloped and novel crops with potential to be grown successfully in the UK within diversified cropping systems.
(c) Micro-organisms are used in the development of some alternative protein sources and can also be used as tools to develop novel or high protein products and substitutes. As stated in the Government's Food Strategy, Defra supports these innovative techniques by conducting farming and food science research and by creating and contributing to funding programmes open to industry. We will also work with the Food Standards Agency to develop dedicated guidance materials for approval of new alternative protein products while reviewing our novel food regulations.
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 help ensure that the Kept Animals Bill is passed into law as soon as possible.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was reintroduced to the House of Commons following the Queen’s Speech and will progress to Report stage as soon as parliamentary time allows. There is strong support for the Bill on all sides of the House and we are keen to ensure that its provisions get onto the statute book as soon as possible.
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 ensure the effectiveness of provisions the Kept Animals Bill on preventing puppy smuggling.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was reintroduced following the Queen's speech and will progress to Report stage as soon as parliamentary time allows. The Bill allows us to protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on the low welfare movements of pets into Great Britain. This includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation.
In August 2021, the Government launched an eight-week consultation on our proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. This included proposals to ban the commercial and non-commercial movement into Great Britain of puppies under the age of six months. We are currently analysing the responses to the consultation and will publish a summary response in due course. This will allow us to take onboard the views of the public and interested groups on puppy smuggling and low welfare imports in order to shape our future policy.
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 to give City Hall more power over air quality policy in London.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Responsibility for air quality in the capital is already devolved to the Mayor of London and as such, City Hall has a number of powers including:
- Oversight of London borough air quality action plans, including the power to issue guidance to which London boroughs must have regard when carrying out their air quality duties under the Environment Act 1995.
- The power to issue directions to require London boroughs to take action to address local air pollution as set out in section 85 of the Environment Act 1995.
Under the same legislation, local authorities in London are required to assess local air quality and to take action to reduce pollution if air quality objectives are not met. They must also report on their data and actions to the Mayor of London, to whom they are accountable.
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 an assessment of the potential merits of requiring manufacturers to show in plain English on all forms of product packaging whether and in what way that packaging can be recycled.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I would direct the hon. Member to the recently published response to consultation on Extended Producer Responsibility, where the Government set out its intention to introduce clear mandatory recyclability labelling on all packaging.
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 (a) holds data and (b) has undertaken a impact assessment into air quality in the boroughs of (a) Wandsworth, (b) Richmond, (c) Hammersmith and Fulham and (d) Hounslow following the closure of Hammersmith Bridge to vehicle traffic.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995, the Mayor of London has reserve powers and is responsible for air quality in the capital. Local authorities in London are required to review and assess local air quality and report their data to the Mayor.
In addition, the London Air Quality Network provides data on automatic air quality monitoring in London to the public.